By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Transition issues are common problems in first drafts (later drafts, too). I’ve been guilty of a couple of different transition fouls in past manuscripts.
Transitions that are too long and boring:
When I was writing my first book, I had a lot of trouble with getting characters where they needed to be. This resulted in a lot of really boring, pointless scenes where the narrative went something like this: Jenny decided to head over to the restaurant to find out more about what Thomas was doing the night of the murder. She found her keys and hurried out to her car. On the trip to the Italian restaurant, she mulled over what she was going to ask Thomas. Upon arrival at the restaurant…blah! Dreck.
I think I believed it would be too choppy to suddenly pick up with the character at the Italian restaurant. Or that it was cheating. I’m not sure what was going through my head, but it took an editor to tell me to get rid of it all.Continue reading