I’ve been working my assets off at my day job, so I haven’t had the energy to work in my novel or my new stage play. However, I can’t help thinking about my stories and thinking about the writing process. In this case, thinking about the two together has taught me something interesting about story versus writing.

In my outline for the new mystery novel, I’m using a question outline that includes the question each scene will answer. Another way to think of this is that each scene has a purpose. For example, one of my first scenes asks the question, “What is ordinary life for Chase and Kimbe?” After reading that scene, I want my audience to know what ordinary life is for my two lead characters.

Yes, he struggles with chronic illness, and she likes to get up early and go fishing. That’s the story. That’s what I want my audience to know about these characters when the scene is over. But that’s not enough. I nee to dramatize that information and THAT is what becomes the writing.

If I’m writing a novel, I can talk or tell about Chase’s illness. “Chase Lane woke half paralyzed–again. He wasn’t scared. He wasn’t upset. He could still move–a little–so it was same crap, different bedroom.” Not great writing, but you know Chase regularly has spells of morning weakness. That doesn’t work nearly as well for a stage play.

For a stage setting, I might choose a monolog: “Woes is me that I struggle daily and mightily with this affliction. For it strikes my heart as well as my limbs, and every hour is like a day pinned under the foot of an evil God.” Shakespeare wouldn’t be scared, but it does sound like a play. Or, I could just have him limp across the stage.

On the other hand, for a film, I can use the camera and show little tiny things that mean everything: Morning. Chase’s bedroom. Chase struggles to sit up. He pushes his feet off the bed. We see a close up of a pill box. The label reads, “Potassium Bicarbonate.” He struggles to open the box and pulls out a flat packet that looks like an orange Alca-Seltzer. He tries to rip the paper but doesn’t have the strength. He sighs and lets his hands fall into his lap. You can do that on stage, but you are really telling a story in closeups and that won’t play to the back of the house.

Even in the same genre, stage play, I could show Kimbe packing to go fishing. I could show her greeting people on a path near the river. I could show her getting coffee for Chase, but stopping to buy a fishing magazine. I could have Kimbe want to go fishing, but see how much Chase is struggling and have her decide to give up her morning and make him some eggs and coffee.

There is always The Story you want to tell, The Story that is there, all the time, in your head. The Story that lives and breaths almost without you–as if it were a separate living thing. But what scenes from that story do you choose to write about? Which moments best dramatize your story for the genre and medium you are writing? The moments you choose to write about affect your Writing much more than the exact words you choose.