Transitions in
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...
are words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or
punctuation
Punctuation marks are marks indicating how a piece of writing, written text should be read (silently or aloud) and, consequently, understood. The oldest known examples of punctuation marks were found in the Mesha Stele from the 9th century BC, c ...
that may be used to signal various changes in a story, including changes in time, location,
point-of-view character,
mood,
tone
Tone may refer to:
Visual arts and color-related
* Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory
* Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color
* Toning (coin), color change in coins
* ...
,
emotion
Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...
, and
pace. Transitions are sometimes listed as one of various
fiction-writing modes
A fiction-writing mode is a manner of writing fiction, imaginary stories with its own set of conventions regarding how, when, and where it should be used.
Fiction is a form of narrative, one of the four rhetorical modes of discourse. Fiction-writ ...
.
Purpose
Transitions provide for a seamless
narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...
flow as a story shifts in time, location, or
point-of view. They aid the internal logic of a story by moving readers from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, idea to idea,
scene to scene, and
chapter to chapter with grace and ease. Transitions in fiction also refer to how the trajectory of characters changes according to the various factors that affect them. The spatial and temporal changes affecting the characters help in the plot development. This shift can also denote a parallel transition that takes place regarding the state of mind of the character.
Techniques
Screenwriters Trey Parker and Matt Stone created ''the "but and therefore" rule'' to create transitions that eliminate
writer's block
Writer's block is a non-medical condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown.
Writer's block has various degrees of severity, from difficulty in coming ...
and keep narratives engaging. The "but and therefore" rule consists of an approach of replacing the words “and then” with “but" and "therefore” in a story. Thus, because all events become portrayed as challenges and solutions, the narrative has tension, and thus becomes engaging. The "but and therefore" rule applies for all transitions between scenes as well as transitions between actions and reactions within scenes.
Types
Transitions in fiction may take any of several forms, including
chapter breaks,
section breaks, and
summarization.
Marshall
Marshall may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria
** Marshall railway station
Canada
* Marshall, Saskatchewan
* The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia
Liberia
* Marshall, Liberia
Marshall Is ...
, 1998, p
137-8
See also
*
Style (fiction)
In literature, writing style is the manner of expressing thought in language characteristic of an individual, period, school, or nation. Thus, style is a term that may refer, at one and the same time, to singular aspects of an individual's writing ...
*
Transition (linguistics)
A transition or linking word is a word or phrase that shows the relationship between paragraphs or sections of a text or speech. Transitions provide greater cohesion by making it more explicit or signaling how ideas relate to one another. Transiti ...
*
Writing
Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...
Footnotes
References
*
*
*
*
{{cite book, title = Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time, first = JE, last = Rosenfeld, publisher = Writer's Digest
''Writer's Digest'' is an American magazine aimed at beginning and established writers. It contains interviews, market listings, calls for manuscripts, and how-to articles.
History
''Writer's Digest'' was first published in December 1920 und ...
Books, location = Cincinnati, OH, year = 2008, isbn= 978-1-58297-479-8
Writing
*
*