= THE COMSIE METHOD # =

[Comicality]

 

 

Now...this week, I want to start off by saying that I DO often get some flak for this in my writing, but I do it anyway cause it's mine! Hehehe! So it's up to you whether or not you want to incorporate today's tip with your own work. It's just how I write, and I'll explain why.

 

At the beginning of every story (and a little bit at the beginning of every chapter), I always always ALWAYS set the stage before getting into anything else. And by 'set the stage', I mean I try to describe what's going on and set the overall tone of the story, before starting. Even with chapters, I don't really do a 'recap' of the last chapter, but I definitely try to get everyone in the same frame of mind that they were in when the last chapter left off before starting again. It's definitely something that I look for when I read other people's writing too, so it's something that I try hard to put into my own projects as well. As I've mentioned before, a great deal of a reader's experience is fantasy. They're 'imagining' your plot as it unfolds in front of them. As a writer, it's your job to give that fantasy some structure. An outline for them to go by. So, while it may seem like my stories start off with the big multi-paragraph monologue from hell or whatever, I really am doing that for a few distinct reasons.

 

The first part is physical. Meaning that the cast of characters (at least your main character, if no one else) are presented clearly to your audience, and a setting is given. The last thing you want is to pull the old switcharoo on your readers, because it kind of destroys the fantasy. If someone is reading, and they're picturing a tall 19 year old blond surfer boy, and you wait until page 25 to say, 'Oh, by the way...he's really a short 14 year old husky kid with dark hair and glasses...then your readers are going to be thrown off course. Now they have to suddenly erase the whole image of him that they had in their minds and start all over from scratch. They might even have to read the whole first 25 pages over again with this NEW stranger in place of who they were thinking of the first time around.

 

One example, there was a story that I reviewed for someone once, and it was a good story, but I kept having to go back and redefine my idea of what was going on and who was who. The look of the main character kept changing over the first few chapters. Things were being added later that I didn't know were there before. So my mental picture had to be readjusted again, and the character that I had invested my emotion in had to vanish and be replaced. I also thought that he lived in a typical suburban house, but somewhere in the second or third chapter, it was revealed that his house was a lot bigger with hired help to keep it clean, and his family was pretty well off financially. So I went back and fixed and recreated those details in my head...and then in the third or fourth chapter, the author mentioned that it was 'Winter' time, with snow on the ground. I was picturing the whole first few chapters during the Summer, but now that too had to be re-imagined from the beginning. So you do you sort of see what I'm saying? Some major details have to be given early enough on so that your audience's imagination can stay with you and enjoy the scenery as it was meant to be seen without having to look backwards or making adjustments later on. If your story takes place in the 80's, find a way to work that information into your story as early as possible. If it takes place in Tokyo, let your audience know that it's in Tokyo, and not New York City or rural Mississippi or a small island in Fiji. If your character is a blond hottie, make it a point to say so. If he's an average looking red head, make a note of that too. Create a physical outline that the reader can work with to build the 'right' fantasy for your story to connect to.

 

The second reason I set the stage first is emotional. I like to set the 'tone' of the story right away. Even if it's bound to change later on, I try to put everyone reading into the same state of mind of the main character. If he's lonely, if he's sad, if he's overjoyed, if he's angry at the world...basically, who is this person and why should anyone care? What kind of story is this going to be? If you look at stories like "Gone From daylight", "My Only Escape", or "Jesse-101", you'll notice that the first page or two is completely devoted to 'setting the stage'. It puts the characters, the details of their environment, and their current situations, right out there for people to see before anything else about the story is really explored at all. It gives you the basic setting of where they are, how they fit in (or don't fit in), it gives the story an instant theme for readers to follow. Right away. If you read "On The Outside", right off the bat you're being shown 'this is a story about a boy who's struggling with the idea of being a homosexual, and he is trying to keep it secret at all costs.' There you are, the stage is set, now you can read the rest of the story without having to ask any questions about who the main characters are or what's going on. So both the physical and emotional sides are there for the audience to pick up on, and further details won't end up suddenly popping up later on in a future chapter. Like, "What? This whole time Sam was a GIRL??? It's chapter 15! Arrgh!"

 

However, one thing you DON'T want to do is drag it out for too long. You just want to 'set' the stage. Not clutter it up with unnecessary junk. Just focus on the basic stuff for the beginning page or two. Are you in the city, or on a farm, or by the beach, or in a log cabin in the woods? Figure that out, put it down. Is this present day, is it a story from your childhood 'way back when', or is it a historical piece from a forgotten era? Figure that out, put it down. Is your character a sexy boy who's popular in school, is he someone who's shy and withdrawn but searching for a way to be better, is he out and proud or in the closet, who are his friends, does he have siblings, one parent, both parents? A dog named Rex? Figure all of that out, and put it down. Don't wait until chapter three, and suddenly have your character being asked to watch his little brother for the weekend if there was no little brother mentioned in the first two chapters. It comes off as...'HUH?' Not good. Avoid those 'HUH?' moments as often as humanly possible. Set the stage and keep it consistent. It can be taken care of with a sentence or two for each major detail. Then, once you have the skeletal structure written out, use the rest of the story and the situations involved to give further details as you go along. Once the foundation is built, stretch it out and use it to keep the story interesting. You don't have to put EVERYTHING in the first few pages, just enough for people to get a handle on the picture your trying to paint with THEIR imagination.

 

And that's all there is to it. Hook your readers early, briefly explain the look of your characters and the environment they live in, and set the tone and feel of the story you're trying to tell. But keep it basic, so as not to overdo it and bore your audience to tears before they get into the meat of the story itself. Avoid surprises that interrupt the flow of the story. Like I always say, the number one thing to always try to achieve is a level of 'comfort'. For both writer and reader. The smoother it reads, the better the fantasy will be. And, as always, practice makes perfect! So give it a shot. Maybe it'll work for you, maybe it won't. Either way, I hope this helps!

 

 

***Just A Humble Lesson From The 'Comsie-Method'! Enjoy!***

 

 

 

[Nephylim]

When I read 'The Comsie Method' for some reason I wasn't thinking about writing... strange that

 

I agree about this. I think that some people go too far the other way with regard to recapping and going over things which have already been explained before but also there are others who keep changing the goalposts and both can be equally annoying. Again it's getting the balance right.

 

As my writing is so organic I hardly ever think about what I'm doing but I do try and scene set. I hope it works

 

 

[Agincourt]

I think it is a very context- and genre-related issue.

 

This particular category of story calls for this particular kind of stage-setting. We expect it. Still, it needs to be handled with some deftness or else it calls too much attention to itself.

 

My view is that it is awfully easy to overdo the stage-setting. It is very common to read Nifty stories that begin with a sentence or two of action, then the author immediately says, "Oh, by the way, I should introduce myself. I'm 15 years old, blond, not bad looking, pretty good abs that I've worked on a lot. Oh, and by the way, I'm gay." It's very intrusive.

 

The story I'm currently writing begins as follows:

 

15-year-old Ryan Brady was not accustomed to receiving any mail, much less formal-looking envelopes such as the one he now held in his hand. Its engraved return address showed that it was from the "Watkins Research Institute," with an address he recognized as being located just south of the UCLA campus in Westwood. The elegant ivory envelope was bulky, and clearly contained several sheets of paper.

 

The letter, of course, contains a proposition that turns this character's world upside down. But you don't need to know much about him in order to get into the story.

 

I also think there is a massive difference between writing in a first-person versus third-person point of view. In the third-person POV, it becomes easier to let the details of setting unfold in a natural and organic manner. In my story, for example, we hear Ryan's mom call him to dinner, and at the dinner table we learn that he has a younger brother and that his father is gone most of the time, traveling on business. But these details come out as part of the dinner events; they are not announced.

 

In first person, I think it takes a lot more contrivance to set the stage. Either the narrator has to lay it out for the reader, or there has to be an early encounter with another character who brings up the stage-setting issues in conversation that the narrator reports.

 

Much depends, also, on the kind of narrator we have. Elizabeth Peters, in her Egypt-based Amelia Peabody mystery novels, has them narrated mostly by Amelia, an adult with a literary flair, who can lay out her thoughts and opinions on what is happening and how she feels about it because it is in character for her to do so. Teenagers, on the other hand, are not known for their verbality. Having a 15-year-old expound on things the way Amelia Peabody does would be ludicrous.

 

On the whole, I don't mind a little initial mystery as the story and setting unfold. I certainly agree that you must be consistent throughout; there is no excuse for changing horses in midstream.

 

A

Edited October 26, 2010 by Agincourt