Listen to Your Novel
AKA the Music Video Analogy
How is writing a novel like making a music video? You have to listen to its music.
I’ve made fan music videos for years. It involves the editing of existing footage (anime, a TV show, a movie) to a song I like. No matter how many wonderful scenes exist, I can only put in enough clips to match the length of the song.
sometimes meWhen I was cutting a recent fan music video, I wanted to show the action that took place over 15 minutes of the movie. It’s a five minute song. Therefore, those 15 movie minutes had to be condensed into about one and a half minutes, because there were a lot of other scenes from the movie I wanted in my mv.
I spent over an hour editing the footage down. It was still three minutes long. I then reviewed each scene used in those three minutes and asked myself if they supported the song. If I cut that scene, would the mesh of images and music still be as strong? Would anyone be confused if they didn’t see that scene?
With that criteria, I edited that segment down to just under one and a half minutes.
This is just like writing a novel. The song for a novel is, in my home-made metaphor, the plot; the action that keeps your reader turning the page.
If a scene doesn’t advance the plot, it shouldn’t be in your novel. No matter how much you love that scene, no matter how beautifully you think it’s written – it must go. You only have room for the scenes and sequels, the actions and reactions that move the story along.
A song is only so long, and so is your book. Stay true to its music.
Space Ghost: Will you please keep your mind on the music?
- Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Feb 4, 2010
Categories: writing
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