From Life to Page: Why Your Social Skills Are Your Secret Weapon
Starting a new writing project can feel as complex as navigating a challenging social gathering, with characters and conflicts demanding careful consideration from the first page. In both this blog and my next subscriber-only Monday Writing Motivation mailer, I explore how the social skills we’ve developed throughout our lives can help us craft more authentic and engaging scenes.
Writing Tips:
- Before writing your opening scene, take time to truly know your characters as if preparing for a dinner party. List not just their basic traits, but their relationships, vulnerabilities, and the invisible tensions between them – just as you might brief your partner before hosting guests.
- Layer your scene with subtext by identifying multiple lines of conflict. Like a real social gathering, your story should contain both obvious tensions (the protagonist vs antagonist) and subtle frictions (environmental challenges, personal insecurities) that create depth.
- Remember that you, as the author, have foreknowledge your characters don’t possess. Use this omniscience strategically to plant seeds of future developments while keeping your characters authentically in the dark about what’s to come.
Writing Exercise:
Choose a social gathering from your own experience. Write a scene from it twice – first as it appeared on the surface, then rewrite it revealing all the underlying tensions, unspoken thoughts, and hidden agendas you noticed or suspected. Compare how these layers of meaning deepen the narrative.
The Pollyannas of this world who wish us to believe that they enjoy unsullied serenity, that nothing ever disturbs the placid surface of their pond, are lying. There are always storms of one sort or another buffeting us, and true happiness results only when we make peace with this.
Want to master the art of crafting authentic opening scenes that capture the full complexity of human interaction? Sign up for our Monday Writing Motivation email for exclusive insights into how your life experiences can enhance your writing, plus in-depth techniques for weaving social dynamics into your story’s beginning.
