IF Seal: How can I include breathing room in my IF?
hello seal! [gracefully places a fish into your mouth] i usually have a very good time writing my characters and overall plot, the start, middle, end, the character goals and journeys, but i have Always struggled with individual scenes and rushing the plot. i always want to jump from major plot point to the next straight away, and struggle to place my characters in actual scenes in actual places rather than the big important end story location. i hope this makes sense!! i would be grateful for any advice!!!
Dear Plotting Friend,
Thank you so very much!
Because of being a semi-aquatic mammal I am always thinking about breathing... and this may help you too because it sounds as though you are in need of breathing room.
This rings very true to me and will likely ring true to many others reading too, so you are certainly not alone.
One thing I recommend is that when you want your characters to have an involved conversation or minor interaction, try placing them in an environment in which they're doing something else. For instance, they might be trying to do group revision for an exam, track down quarry to catch birds for dinner, investigate a cursed occult item, work on a group art project together, working out in a gym class... any number of activities. This can help the scene feel grounded and that it's not simply two talking heads or cutout dolls chatting, and can feel more impactful rather than "argh why are they wasting time, we need to get to the next part!"
It can also be helpful to build in quieter moments into your plan. It sounds as though you have your story planned out, but try incorporating the slower scenes into the plan itself. For instance: Callie is having doubts about your mutual friend Libby, thinks she might have been tempted by your demonic adversary, and comes to see you - but also, she's harbouring feelings for your MC and can't help but express them! Or: Eric is convinced that the MC's been working too hard on your law course and comes to ask you out paintballing, but he's also grappling with his worries about his sister which comes out in an unexpected way. So if a quiet moment has some connection with your plot, it may feel like it flows more naturally when writing.
I would also always recommend giving the MC chances to express their feelings about what's going on in your faster-paced scenes: this can organically open up reflective scenes, either where they are thinking about their situation or where they express these feelings to those around them (or can take action alone, such as storming around the haunted house and trying to taunt the ghost into coming out - this would likely trigger a more high-action scene!) You may find that these inspire you to linger on your scenes for longer, helping them feel more grounded.
The other thing I would suggest is playtesting your game often. As you play, you will come across points where you think "this feels like it skims over a moment that feels important, I'll stay longer here" or "actually, I'd have liked my character to be able to do something else at this point".
On a descriptive note, may I give you a small assignment to try out? I'm not accustomed to giving out homework so I do hope I'm not overstepping! But I wonder if you might find it helpful to sit somewhere - preferably not inside your home, which may feel overly familiar - and write down what you're seeing, hearing, smelling, and so on. This can help with getting practice at grounding your characters in a scene.
I do hope this is useful to you, Plotting Friend. Good luck!