0:47

the very , very first thing you need to do is

0:49

identify your story's content genre

0:51

. Once you know your story's main

0:53

content genre , you can dig in and find

0:55

those obligatory scenes and conventions that readers

0:58

are going to expect to see in a story like

1:00

yours , and then deliver those in your

1:02

story in a new and exciting way . This

1:04

is what's going to help you craft a story that works

1:06

. Welcome

1:10

to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast . My

1:13

name is Savannah Gilbo and I'm here to help you

1:15

write a story that works . I

1:17

want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have

1:19

to be overwhelming , so each week

1:21

, I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple

1:23

, actionable and step-by-step strategies

1:26

that you can implement in your writing right

1:28

away . So , whether you're brand new to writing or

1:30

more of a seasoned author looking to improve your

1:32

craft , this podcast is for you . So

1:34

pick up a pen and let's get started . In

1:39

today's episode , we're going to talk about obligatory

1:41

scenes and conventions and , specifically

1:43

, how to find the obligatory scenes

1:46

and conventions that readers would expect

1:48

to see in a story like yours . But

1:50

before we get into definitions and specifics

1:52

, I just want to do a little thought exercise , so

1:54

play along with me as we imagine this scene

1:57

. Let's pretend you're in a bookstore and

1:59

you walk over to the romance section

2:01

, and let's say that you grab a random book

2:03

off the shelf full of romance novels

2:05

. What would you expect from the

2:07

book in your hands before you even read

2:09

the first page ? Your answer

2:11

might include things like a scene where the couple

2:13

first meets , or a budding romance

2:15

between the two main characters , maybe

2:18

even a first kiss or more , depending on the

2:20

heat level and eventually you would probably

2:22

expect to get the answer to whether or not

2:24

the couple gets together by the end of the

2:26

story . Does any of that sound like

2:28

what you would expect from a romance novel ? I'm

2:31

going to assume so , and we'll keep going with

2:33

the example . So let's now imagine

2:35

that you bought that romance novel , you took

2:37

it home and you started reading it , but

2:40

it was missing one or more of those things

2:42

that you expected to see . So , for example

2:44

, maybe the focus of the story wasn't on

2:46

the budding romance between two characters

2:49

. If you were expecting that and you wanted to read a

2:51

romance novel , would a story like

2:53

this satisfy you or would it leave

2:55

you disappointed ? If you're like most

2:57

readers , I'm guessing you would feel disappointed

3:00

, confused and probably pretty unlikely

3:02

to recommend that book to your friends . So

3:04

in today's episode I want to talk about how

3:07

to make sure your readers don't have this experience

3:09

with your story . So we're going to look

3:11

at obligatory scenes and conventions , we're going

3:13

to talk about what they are and then I'm going to

3:15

share an exercise to help you uncover exactly

3:18

what readers will expect to see in a story like

3:20

yours . Now , for the purpose of today's

3:22

episode , we're going to say that a story quote

3:24

unquote works when it delivers on

3:26

and maybe even exceeds a reader's expectations

3:29

. So this means the very first thing we

3:31

need to figure out is exactly what a

3:33

reader would expect from a story like ours

3:35

. Right , and you won't be able

3:37

to do this if you don't know what kind of story

3:40

you're writing . So the very , very first thing

3:42

you need to do is identify

3:44

your story's content genre . I have

3:46

a whole episode on how to do that . It's episode

3:48

number two . I will link to that in the show notes

3:50

. But that's the very first thing . Once

3:53

you know your story's main content genre

3:55

, you can dig in and find those obligatory scenes

3:57

and conventions that readers are going to expect

3:59

to see in a story like yours and

4:02

then deliver those in your story in a new and

4:04

exciting way . This is what's going to help

4:06

you craft a story that works . Okay

4:08

, so we're going to go over some definitions in a second

4:10

, but I want to say really quick I did not come up

4:12

with these terms of obligatory scenes and conventions

4:15

. This is something I learned from studying

4:17

the work of Robert McKee . He talks about

4:19

this in screenwriting , and then Sean

4:21

Coyne , over at the Story Grid , adapted this into

4:24

a method for novelists . So if

4:26

you do want to go deeper into learning about these things

4:28

, definitely go check out Robert McKee's book

4:30

Story or Sean Coyne's book the

4:32

Story Grid . Now , without further ado

4:34

, let's go over some definitions and we're going

4:36

to start with conventions . So

4:39

conventions are a reasonably well-defined

4:41

set of character , roles , settings and

4:43

circumstances that are specific to a

4:45

genre , so they're things that the readers

4:47

will intuitively expect to be in a work of

4:49

genre fiction , whether they consciously

4:52

realize it or not . Obligatory

4:54

scenes , on the other hand , are the key events , decisions

4:56

and discoveries that move the protagonist

4:59

along their journey from A to Z . So

5:01

these key scenes are what's going to help

5:03

you evoke emotional reactions in the

5:05

reader and , when coupled with your genre's conventions

5:07

, they're going to help you give the reader the experience

5:10

they're looking for . So , as an example

5:12

, let's just pretend a reader has chosen

5:15

a murder mystery novel to read . They're

5:17

probably expecting to feel intrigue

5:19

as they work to solve the puzzle , right alongside

5:22

the sleuth or the cop . Right In

5:24

the beginning , they'll expect to see a scene

5:26

where the dead body is found , because it's a murder

5:29

mystery . At the middle they're going

5:31

to expect to uncover clues and learn

5:33

new information . And then , towards the

5:35

end , they'll expect to see a scene where the identity

5:37

of the murderer is revealed and by

5:40

the last page they'll expect to know whether that

5:42

murderer is brought to justice or not

5:44

. Okay , so this is just another

5:46

example of you know the key scenes and

5:48

conventions that readers are already expecting

5:50

when they go to a story of

5:53

a certain genre . So something

5:55

like a master detective that's a character role

5:57

right , that would be a convention of the crime

5:59

genre . Something like that

6:01

detective discovering the dead body

6:03

. That would be one of your key scenes or

6:05

obligatory scenes . Okay , now

6:08

, beyond the obligatory scenes and conventions

6:10

of your main genre or your global

6:12

genre , there are going to be things that

6:14

your readers expect from your commercial

6:16

genre as well . So let's take

6:18

the same example of the murder mystery and say

6:21

that you're writing a gothic murder mystery

6:23

. Readers of a story like this are going

6:25

to expect the story to be set in

6:27

or around an ancient castle in

6:29

the 19th or the late 18th century

6:32

. Right , that's what would make it a gothic mystery

6:34

novel . If you're writing something like

6:36

a supernatural romance , then readers

6:38

would expect all of the key scenes and conventions

6:40

of the romance genre , plus

6:43

those supernatural elements and settings . Now

6:46

, these things might sound simple or obvious to

6:48

you , but you would be surprised how many drafts

6:50

I see that don't include these genre-specific

6:53

elements or scenes that readers are expecting

6:55

to see . And when a story

6:58

doesn't include these key scenes and conventions

7:00

of its genre , it's just not going to work

7:02

. So now that we know what

7:04

obligatory scenes and conventions are

7:07

, the next question is how do I find

7:09

the obligatory scenes and conventions of my

7:11

genre ? And if you've been in the writing

7:13

world for any amount of time , you've probably

7:15

heard the advice to read more . And

7:18

this is solid advice , because by reading more

7:20

, you're subconsciously going to absorb all

7:22

of the different aspects of your genre , and

7:24

the more you read in your genre , the more these things

7:26

will become automatic when you outline

7:28

and write your next novel , you're going to

7:30

be able to see how other writers handled

7:33

those obligatory scenes and conventions

7:35

in your genre , which tropes have been done

7:37

to death and so much more . So that

7:39

is my primary advice to read

7:42

more . But beyond that , there are three

7:44

steps you can take to uncover the obligatory

7:46

scenes and conventions of your genre . And

7:48

step one is to identify three

7:51

to five comp titles or comparable

7:53

titles . And these are stories like yours

7:55

that would sit on the same bookshelf . So

7:58

, assuming that you already know your story's

8:00

content genre , I recommend finding

8:02

three to five books or movies that are similar

8:04

to the story you're writing , that are also

8:06

in that content genre . So

8:09

, for example , let's say that I was writing a young

8:11

adult coming of age romance , I

8:13

might identify these three books as my

8:15

comp titles . So number one , the Fault

8:17

in Our Stars by John Green . Number

8:19

two , everything , everything by Nicola Yoon

8:22

, and number three , simon vs the Homo

8:24

Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

8:26

. So that's step one , just identifying

8:29

three to five comp titles . And if you're having

8:31

trouble figuring out what genre you're

8:33

writing in or what your comp titles are , I

8:35

don't want you to give up . It is worth the

8:37

time and the effort to figure it out , and you

8:39

can even work with a developmental editor

8:42

or book coach if you need one-on-one assistance

8:44

. But you can ask yourself what story

8:46

am I really trying to tell here ? So

8:49

focus on that main storyline , find

8:51

similar stories to the one that you want to tell

8:53

and then figure out what the genre of those

8:55

three to five stories are . And

8:57

then , just by going through the rest of the steps that we're going

8:59

to go over now , you're going to learn so

9:01

much about your story and build a really awesome

9:04

framework . So it is totally worth the effort

9:06

. Okay , so that's step one identify

9:08

those comp titles . And then step two

9:10

we want to figure out what your comp titles have

9:12

in common . So as you read those three

9:14

to five books that you've chosen , or watch

9:17

the movie version of those books because that

9:19

counts too I want you to write down everything

9:21

you notice that they have in common . So

9:23

think of this list that you're creating as the

9:26

first draft of your obligatory scenes

9:28

and conventions . You're going to edit and refine

9:30

this list later as you go through each

9:32

of your comp titles . Then , once you're done , you're going

9:34

to organize your notes into scenes and conventions

9:37

and then you can summarize and combine those

9:39

notes where appropriate , to get a

9:41

statement that expresses the idea in a generic

9:43

way in as few words as possible . So

9:46

let's say that you're watching these movies or reading

9:48

these books and you notice there's always a scene

9:50

in a romance where two characters

9:52

come together and meet for the first time . You

9:54

might write something on your list like the two characters

9:57

meet or something like that , just a short

9:59

little generic phrase . And the goal of this

10:01

is to create a list that you can easily

10:03

work with and apply to other stories

10:05

. So it's not to come up with the most perfect

10:07

list . Okay , as you read more

10:09

books in your genre or watch more movies

10:12

, you can continue to refine this list

10:14

, making changes or deleting things as

10:16

needed . So that's step two

10:18

. Step number three

10:20

is to refine your list of obligatory

10:22

scenes and conventions . So once you've

10:24

read all the books or watched all the movies and

10:26

made your list , it's time to refine that

10:28

list and complete your final list of obligatory

10:31

scenes and conventions . So you

10:33

want to ask what character , roles , settings

10:35

and circumstances do all of your comp

10:37

titles have in common ? Those will

10:39

be your conventions . And then you want to ask

10:42

what scenes do all of your comp titles

10:44

have in common and which ones had the most

10:46

impact . These are going to be your obligatory

10:48

scenes . Now , yes , this is

10:50

going to take time and , no , this is not

10:52

actually button chair writing . However

10:56

, the depth of insight and knowledge that

10:58

you're going to gain from studying stories

11:00

in your genre is going to be huge

11:02

. It's going to give you a better understanding of

11:04

how to craft a story that works and delivers

11:06

on reader's expectations . Plus

11:09

, once you've done this exercise for multiple stories

11:11

, you're going to have an invaluable reference kit

11:13

for all the stories you write in the future , and

11:15

that is a pretty neat thing to have . If

11:17

you ask me Now , if you've been listening to

11:19

this podcast for any amount of time , you know

11:21

that I've done a lot of this work to uncover

11:23

the obligatory scenes and conventions of

11:25

each genre already . I'm going

11:28

to link them in the blog post that goes along

11:30

with this episode . You can find the link

11:32

to that in the show notes . But remember , unless

11:34

you have seen these obligatory scenes

11:36

and conventions in action , a

11:38

list can only help you so much . Okay

11:41

, you need to see how other writers have tackled

11:43

these scenes and conventions and then

11:45

also experience them as a reader or

11:47

a viewer would to really understand

11:49

why they're necessary and why they matter

11:51

. So I do have those available

11:54

for you on my website , but I still recommend

11:56

going through this exercise to really internalize

11:58

them and cement them in your brain . Now

12:01

, with all of this being said , you might be wondering

12:03

well , what about science fiction and fantasy

12:05

? You've done a lot of the genres

12:08

on this podcast before and I haven't heard

12:10

you go over the obligatory scenes of science

12:12

fiction , fantasy or even historical

12:14

fiction . And if you're wondering this , then

12:16

I do want you to go back and listen to episode

12:18

number two , where I talk about the difference between

12:21

content genres and commercial genres

12:23

, because fantasy and science fiction

12:25

and even historical fiction , those

12:27

are commercial genres or consumer-facing

12:30

labels . Okay . So fantasy and science

12:32

fiction and even historical fiction , they

12:34

will definitely have their own set of requirements

12:37

and rules that need to be followed in order

12:39

to satisfy readers . For example

12:41

, in fantasy stories , there's usually some

12:43

kind of magic , maybe even a mentor

12:45

character and a lot of world building

12:48

, right . But as writers , what we need

12:50

to identify is what kind of story

12:52

happens within that fantastic or

12:54

magical setting . So this is why

12:56

you need to know your story's content genre

12:58

. Your fantasy or science fiction story

13:01

needs to include the key scenes and

13:03

conventions of whatever content genre

13:05

best suits your idea . So , for example

13:07

, you can have an action story set in a fantasy

13:09

world , a romance that takes place

13:11

in outer space , or any combination

13:14

that you want If you are writing science

13:16

fiction or fantasy . I have another episode

13:18

I want you to go check out . It's episode

13:20

number 95 , called how to Start Writing

13:22

your Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel , and

13:24

we will link to that one in the show notes as well

13:27

. Another question I get asked when I talk

13:29

about obligatory scenes and conventions

13:31

is won't using these as a framework

13:33

stifle my creativity or won't

13:36

this make me write a formulaic novel ? And

13:38

my answer to this is always no , and that's

13:40

because figuring out how to present

13:42

the obligatory scenes and conventions of

13:45

your genre in a new and innovative

13:47

way actually requires a lot of creativity

13:50

and imagination . So , as an

13:52

example , just think about Agatha Christie

13:54

. Right , she writes Amazing Mysteries

13:56

. She took a tried and true convention

13:58

of the crime genre , which is a master

14:00

sleuth , and innovated on that

14:02

convention when she created her amateur

14:05

sleuth , miss Marple . So she

14:07

didn't eliminate the central clue hunter

14:09

from her story , she just changed

14:11

the personality and the background of the investigator

14:14

and came up with something new . So

14:16

she abided by the convention but delivered it

14:18

in a really new and fresh way . And

14:20

the cool thing is is that you can do this too . So

14:22

once you learn the obligatory scenes and

14:24

conventions of your genre , you can

14:26

use them as a framework to craft your story

14:28

and then , inside that framework , you can

14:30

take whatever you need from those more traditional

14:33

quote unquote rules of the genre

14:35

and innovate them by adding your

14:37

own preferences , experiences , values

14:40

, worldview , etc . Right , this

14:42

is the really fun part about writing genre fiction

14:44

. And something else I get asked all

14:47

the time when talking about obligatory scenes

14:49

and conventions is how do I handle them

14:51

for subplots ? Do

14:53

I have to write all of those on the page

14:55

? Do I have to include them all in questions

14:57

like that ? Now , the obligatory scenes

14:59

and conventions of your story's main

15:01

genre or your global genre

15:03

, those do have to be on the page . So

15:06

, in other words , these moments or those conventions

15:08

, they can't happen off page where the reader

15:10

can't see or experience them . And

15:13

that's just because your readers have signed up for a

15:15

particular reading experience . Right

15:17

, if you leave out the key elements

15:19

of the story they expect to see or put

15:21

them off the page . It's likely

15:23

going to be a disappointing experience

15:25

. But speaking to subplots

15:27

, specifically the obligatory scenes and

15:29

conventions of your subplots

15:31

, those can happen off page and

15:34

or be alluded to on the page , so

15:36

readers don't always have to see them exist

15:39

or unfold in real time , although

15:41

they certainly can , but what we want is

15:43

to know that they are there , even if we didn't

15:45

see them unfold in real time . Okay

15:47

, so , for example , if you have a romantic subplot

15:50

, you don't necessarily have to have

15:52

a scene where the lovers first meet , but

15:54

you do have to let the reader know that they've met

15:56

and kind of how they've met . Right , we need

15:58

to know that context and this can be

16:01

included through a conversation , a

16:03

flashback context in a different

16:05

scene or things like that . So

16:07

hopefully , this episode gave you a nice

16:09

little overview of obligatory

16:12

scenes and conventions , why they're important

16:14

, how to find them for your genre and things like

16:16

that , and we'll do a really quick recap

16:18

before I let you go . So the first key

16:20

point is that in order to write a story that

16:22

works , we do need to include the obligatory

16:24

scenes and conventions of our story's primary

16:27

content . Genre Conventions

16:29

are the character , roles , settings and circumstances

16:32

that are specific to a genre and

16:34

obligatory scenes are the key moments

16:36

, decisions and discoveries that move

16:38

the protagonist along their journey from

16:40

A to Z . And including all the conventions

16:43

and obligatory scenes of your genre is

16:45

going to help you give the reader the experience they're

16:47

looking for and write a story that works

16:49

. Key point number two we talked about

16:51

three steps to finding the obligatory

16:53

scenes and conventions of your content genre

16:56

. So step number one was to identify

16:58

three to five comp titles or

17:00

stories like yours that would sit on the same

17:02

bookshelf . Step two was figuring

17:04

out what those comp titles have in common

17:06

. So , remember , we want to make a list . And

17:08

then step number three was refining that list

17:11

into one list of obligatory

17:13

scenes and conventions for your primary genre

17:15

. And the last key point , or key

17:17

point number three , is that using these

17:19

obligatory scenes and conventions is

17:21

not something that's going to stifle your creativity

17:24

or make you write a formulaic novel

17:26

. Instead , they're really just there to help

17:28

you write a story that works and give you a container

17:31

for your ideas . And then it's up to you to bring

17:33

your creativity and your imagination

17:35

to that framework . So

17:38

, remember , we always want to be including those key

17:40

scenes and conventions , but delivering them in

17:42

a new and innovative way , and

17:45

what this all boils down to is that if

17:47

you don't do the work to understand your genre

17:49

, then you are going to have a hard time getting

17:51

your book into the hands of readers , and

17:53

without readers , your story will never be experienced

17:56

, which is probably a terrible thought to most

17:58

of us , right ? So to avoid this happening

18:00

, know your genre and give your readers what

18:02

they're expecting in a new and exciting

18:05

way , and if you give them the emotional experience

18:07

they're looking for , you will earn loyal

18:09

fans for life , which is what most of us

18:12

want . So hopefully you enjoyed

18:14

today's episode . We will link to the other episodes

18:16

mentioned in the show notes and I will see

18:18

you same time , same place next week . So

18:23

that's it for today's episode . As always

18:26

, thank you so much for tuning in and for showing

18:28

your support . If you want to check out any

18:30

of the links I mentioned in this episode

18:32

, you can find them in the show notes , listed

18:34

in the description of each episode , inside

18:37

your podcast player or at savannahgobocom

18:39

. Forward slash podcast . If

18:41

you're an Apple user , I'd really appreciate

18:43

it if you took a few seconds to leave a rating

18:46

and a review . Your ratings and reviews

18:48

tell Apple that this is a podcast

18:50

that's worth listening to and , in turn , your

18:52

reviews will help this podcast get in front of

18:54

more fiction writers just like you . And

18:56

while you're there , go ahead and hit that follow button

18:58

, because there's going to be another brand new episode

19:01

next week , full of actionable tips

19:03

, tools and strategies to help you become

19:05

a better writer . So I'll see you next

19:07

week and until then , happy writing .