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1000th Sun

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I've always had problems with flow. According to one person I know, flow is the worst part of my writing. I asked the person what she thought of my most recent beginning of a story. She said that it needed flow, if it just had flow it'd be great. I was trying to not make it flow perfectly to help fit the message of the story but I think I could probably put in some flow.

So my question to you all is; how do I increase flow? How do I entirely gauge it? Is it that important?
 

CaroGirl

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I think you might need to clarify what you mean by "flow." Do you mean pacing, maybe? Or you might mean using segues to connect scenes and chapters.

An example might be helpful.
 

fireluxlou

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Maybe your writing is disjointed? Things don't connect? Things are missing from the sentences to connect paragraphs with one another? Is that what you mean by "flow"?
 

1000th Sun

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I think you might need to clarify what you mean by "flow." Do you mean pacing, maybe? Or you might mean using segues to connect scenes and chapters.

An example might be helpful.

I just asked her to clarify and she said, "just fix it so it doesn’t seem blocky"
 

IWannaWrite

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I just asked her to clarify and she said, "just fix it so it doesn’t seem blocky"
Then it sounds like transitioning is the problem you are having.

It would be hard to help you fix it without seeing the writing. Why don't you post it on SYW?

ETA - I see you have less than 50 posts. Maybe do some searches here on this topic and post some more until you get your 50 posts and can post your work on SYW.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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I read your linked sample to try to understand what you mean by lack of flow. You've got chunks of one character's backstory, then another's. It's mostly in tell, so, it reads like "Here's the backstory on Jim. Here's the backstory on John. Here's the backstory on Joe." These chunks of unrelated information are what makes it seem "blocky."

Try this instead: Create an integrated, active scene that shows the reader who the characters are. Give them a problem they must work through together, and have their interactions and reactions reveal who they are. Say for example, heavy rains flooded their office last night. How does each react? Is Jim overjoyed because it means he can go home and play videogames? Does Joe throw a tantrum because a crucial project was ruined? Does John chuck his shoes, roll up his pant legs and wade in clean up the mess? That's characterization.

Have you ever seen The Big Lebowski? That movie is a study in great characterization. Take Walter Sobchak. Nobody stops the story to say "Walter Sobchak never got over his divorce. He was a converted Jew and a Vietnam vet carrying a lot of unresolved rage and he had a short temper." No, because that would be boring. Instead we have Walter showing up at the bowling alley with his ex-wife's delicate show dog – he's minding it for her while she's away on vacation with her new lover. Walter pulls a gun on a competitor he thinks is cheating and says, "This is not 'Nam, Smokey. There are rules." When his team is scheduled to bowl on a Saturday, he has a fit because he doesn't roll on the Shabbos.

That's the difference between show and tell. Characterization and storytelling are best achieved in active, flowing scenes that show rather than dossier format chunks of backstory (tell). Tell has its place, but if too much story is in dull tell it falls flat. There's no "flow" because there's no scene, no tension, nothing to be resolved, no characterization taking place.
 
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Stanmiller

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Try this instead: Create an integrated, active scene that shows the reader who the characters are. Give them a problem they must work through together, and have their interactions and reactions reveal who they are. Say for example, heavy rains flooded their office last night. How does each react? Is Jim overjoyed because it means he can go home and play videogames? Does Joe throw a tantrum because a crucial project was ruined? Does John chuck his shoes, roll up his pant legs and wade in clean up the mess? That's characterization.

This!
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Sentosa

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Try this instead: Create an integrated, active scene that shows the reader who the characters are. Give them a problem they must work through together, and have their interactions and reactions reveal who they are... That's characterization.

Characterization and storytelling are best achieved in active, flowing scenes that show rather than dossier format chunks of backstory (tell). Tell has its place, but if too much story is in dull tell it falls flat. There's no "flow" because there's no scene, no tension, nothing to be resolved, no characterization taking place.
Sorry DL, cutting you post is my responsibility.:D

1000th Sun, The advice given above could well be some of the best advice you will ever receive. I'm serious.

In my early novels I used to have too much backstory, often written as info dumps. Pages of it. Chapters of it. Stuff I thought was vital to my story. Do you get my point?

Now, in a first draft I don't worry about having an info dump. I just write it and leave it. As I write the rest of the story, and include scenes, a light suddenly goes off in my mind, and I think: This is a great place to include that piece of backstory. I make notes. This goes on for the whole first draft.

The import part of what I'm saying here is this: I am now associating important backstory at a point in the story where it is relevant; I also ensure that I include it with some action. Takes more work, but well worth it.

I don't know whether you've noticed, but much backstory is often static.
 
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1000th Sun

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Thanks for the advice guys, I'll try to rewrite it. I guess I often make things blocky to try to shorten my stuff so I don't have to do long things. :p
 

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One theory of scene structure that is very effective is the MRU. This is the Motivation-Response Unit and it concerns itself with making sure that your scenes unfold in a logical manner.

The basic theory is this, start with objective, tactile information about the surroundings, events taking place, or actions occurring around your POV character. Then detail the response to that sensory information. Motivation, response, motivation, response, and so on.

A better explanation can be had here: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/scene.php
 

leahzero

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(Not directed at the OP, just a general thought.)

Can we start the process for formally banning the word "flow" when discussing literature? It's so open-ended as to be useless.

I see "flow" talked about in book reviews all the time, and it tells you so little. What doesn't flow? One word to the next? One sentence? Action? Scene? The problem could lie anywhere, from the basic mechanics of the prose to the pacing, scene structure, characterization...

When readers say writing doesn't "flow," they're describing their reaction to the problem--being jerked out of the narrative--rather than the problem itself.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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(Not directed at the OP, just a general thought.)

Can we start the process for formally banning the word "flow" when discussing literature? It's so open-ended as to be useless.
I don't think flow is any more open ended than terms like motivation, structure, characterization, plotting, etc. All of those could mean a lot of things in a lot of different situations. That is to say, they're all open ended but they still help us discuss writing.

I wasn't sure what the OP's critic friend meant by it, but when I read his sample it became quite clear.
 

Ambri

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I wanted to mention to the OP that the advice above is awesome, but when you go back to revise your work, Don't delete those backstory chunks. Save them in another document, title it "Notes" or "Background Info" or what-have-you, and save all miscellaneous notes on characterization, backstory, setting, plot, details, etc., there.
 

whimsical rabbit

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I read your linked sample to try to understand what you mean by lack of flow. You've got chunks of one character's backstory, then another's. It's mostly in tell, so, it reads like "Here's the backstory on Jim. Here's the backstory on John. Here's the backstory on Joe." These chunks of unrelated information are what makes it seem "blocky."

Try this instead: Create an integrated, active scene that shows the reader who the characters are. Give them a problem they must work through together, and have their interactions and reactions reveal who they are. Say for example, heavy rains flooded their office last night. How does each react? Is Jim overjoyed because it means he can go home and play videogames? Does Joe throw a tantrum because a crucial project was ruined? Does John chuck his shoes, roll up his pant legs and wade in clean up the mess? That's characterization.

Have you ever seen The Big Lebowski? That movie is a study in great characterization. Take Walter Sobchak. Nobody stops the story to say "Walter Sobchak never got over his divorce. He was a converted Jew and a Vietnam vet carrying a lot of unresolved rage and he had a short temper." No, because that would be boring. Instead we have Walter showing up at the bowling alley with his ex-wife's delicate show dog – he's minding it for her while she's away on vacation with her new lover. Walter pulls a gun on a competitor he thinks is cheating and says, "This is not 'Nam, Smokey. There are rules." When his team is scheduled to bowl on a Saturday, he has a fit because he doesn't roll on the Shabbos.

That's the difference between show and tell. Characterization and storytelling are best achieved in active, flowing scenes that show rather than dossier format chunks of backstory (tell). Tell has its place, but if too much story is in dull tell it falls flat. There's no "flow" because there's no scene, no tension, nothing to be resolved, no characterization taking place.

What more need be said?
:e2headban
 

Jamesaritchie

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Flow is nothing ore than how seamlessly each sentence moves to the next sentence, how each paragraph moves to the next paragraph, how each chapter moves to the next chapter.

Choppy writing completely kills flow on the sentences by sentence level, and blocky writing without smooth transitions kills it on the paragraph level.

Flow simply means there are no stumbling blocks, no reason for the reader to stop reading, be it from constant chop on the sentence level, to confusion on the paragraph level and above. Each sentence draws the reader seamlessly to the next, each paragraph draws the reader seamlessly to the next, each chapter draws the reader seamlessly to the next.

Flow is important. Extremely important, and it means just what it says. It's just like a river flowing to the sea. Put up a dam of any kind, and you lose flow.

Pace is not at all the same thing. Pace is simply how fast the story and events unfold. But slow pace of fast pace, you still must maintain flow, or you lose readers.
 
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