Article: Transistions

Tidy Transistions

by Lydia Filzen

A transition is how you get from scene to scene or from setting to setting in a manuscript. Transitions can be phrases such as "After three more miles the road petered down to a mere cow-path." "Two weeks later." or "The more John thought about what Sue said, the angrier he got."

Sometimes all you need is a break. Just skip a line, then pick up with a new scene or a new viewpoint. Or end the chapter and start a new one. You can keep it simple. Don't waste a lot of words on unnecessary action.

Once you start the new segment, establish right away whose viewpoint we are in, and what his/her situation is. Then take off until the new scene has done all it's supposed to do, and stop before you've satisfied every question. Once you've answered all the questions, the story is finished.

It's desirable to leave characters hanging!. In fact that is called a cliff-hanger, and was a device used in movie serials to make the viewer want to come back next week and find out how the hero gets out of his predicament. You can even leave the characters in mid-conversation, or mid-sentence, if it serves the story.

Following are some excerpts from FIRE TRAIL that illustrate types of transitions.

Location and viewpoint shift: Harry struck a match and lit off a curtain. The bright flames danced and leaped upward with a whoosh toward the wooden rafters. Nobody'd give a damn. The house was deserted and he was just following orders. He watched it, whistling "John Brown's Body" until the smoke got too thick and he had to leave. Chapter break The terrain lifted a little from the low country flatness as Blake continued to move his squadron north ahead of the enemy.

Time shift: "I already told them, they wouldn't believe me." Blake let his voice rise. "Said they're going to shoot me. Here I've been telling them and they're going to shoot me anyway."

Brewster gave him a searching look. then said, "Thank the Lord I got religion. You better set yourself straight with the Almighty while you got time. Winberry." Chapter break Blake did not welcome the night's halt because it was all the time Kilpatrick had given him.

Time shift, setting a scene: Next morning Judith sat on a trunk embroidering the last lea of a W on a handkerchief. A farm dog sunned itself near her wagon, and off to her right a picket of horses stomped and gnawed at their ropes and flicked their tails at flies. The camp smelled of dirty socks and horse dung and low-hanging campfire smoke. Male voices, shouts, some times laughter or singing, crackled through the camp. Jingling spurs, buckles and rattling sabres warned whenever soldiers walked near her camp site.

Same time, shifting viewpoint: Snipes stepped onto the porch. but Harry hesitated. Better let Snipes take the risks before he stuck his own neck out. A board creaked. The porch, just outside. A footstep?

Sam knelt behind the sofa and cocked the revolver. He wiped sweat out of his eyes. His gunhand shook. He brought the other hand up so he could hold it steady. Couldn't stop shaking.

So leave them stranded, stuck, and in a pickle. Then the reader should be eager to find out what happens next!