As the Author, Are You Writing or Directing?
By Evan Braun

We all love movies. Is there anything better than sitting in a theatre, waiting for the start of a film you’ve been anticipating for weeks, months, or years? There’s something magical about that experience.

Unless you’re in the business, it’s also common to not fully understand how they’re made. For most books, there is one author. For most movies, there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of filmmakers; the credits can roll for ten minutes or longer. What do all those people do?

You may be asking, “Evan, this is a writing blog. Why are you talking about movies?”

I think there’s a valuable lesson to be learned when it comes to our role as authors in the creative process, and we can use filmmaking as a helpful metaphor.

In a movie, there are many creative forces in play, but the two most easily appreciable ones are the writer and the director.

The writer writes the script. That much is easy enough to grasp.

The director, though? What do directors do? Well, they’re in charge of the set. They decide where the actors stand, how they move through the frame, and how the camera will move to capture the action, among many other things.

Let’s simplify that a little bit and just say that the director decides how the written story is visualized. The director is in charge of making the words of the script leap off the page and come to life, as it were.

How does this translate to a book?

As the book’s author, are you the writer or the director? Or both?

Well, you are most definitely the writer. Obviously! Just like a screenplay writer, you conjure up the words and set them down on the page. You create the characters, the backstory, the plot, the setting, and everything else that goes into crafting a great book.

So who’s the director? Who decides where the characters stand, how they move through the proverbial frame, and how the camera (or, you know, the mind’s eye) will move to capture the action?

Some authors think that’s their job, too.

It’s not.

As the author, you are not the director. That job belongs to the reader.

And here’s the fun part: no two readers are going to direct a novel in exactly the same way. The movie you see in your head when you read a book is entirely your own interpretation. Yes, the words are the same for every reader, but the experience of the book is always unique.

Why is this important?

The problem is that authors can feel the urge to force a reader to experience the book in a particular way. This often manifests with unnecessary character blocking. The author exerts great control over every aspect of the character’s movement, as though they’re a puppet on a string. They look to the right, then further to the left, then to the right again. They take eight steps, then turn to the left, rotate ninety degrees, then take another ten steps, like an actor hitting their mark.

This is called character blocking, and it’s the term used on film sets to ensure that actors and cameras move in sync to execute the director’s vision flawlessly.

But this is an example of authors being overly intrusive, robbing the reader of that all-important creative freedom to conceptualize the scenes of the book as it best suits them.

Yes, it’s a problem. If you try to force a reader into too small a box, they will feel that pressure. They may not be able to tell exactly why the book isn’t working for them, but they won’t be enjoying themselves the way they should.

You don’t want to trample over the reader. It’s best to give them some creative liberty. Don’t try to block the action of a novel like you would a film, or a stage play.

Leave out the stage directions. Your reader won’t benefit from learning about every single motion your character makes. They only need enough to grasp the overall shape of the movements in a scene.

By the way, this is especially true when it comes to writing fight scenes. Getting overly specific about movement can slow the action to a crawl.

Pay attention to words like “looked” and “turned.” Characters are constantly turning and looking at things in books, but these are trivial and repetitive details. They can be minimized or left out entirely.

And you don’t need to tell your reader that the characters are looking at each other all the time while they’re speaking; you can generally assume that characters in conversation with each other will make a lot of eye contact. Only describe that eye contact when it’s of special significance. That way, it’ll stand out and grab the reader’s attention.

As the writer, you decide what’s happening on the page. There’s no disputing that. But sometimes it pays to employ a light touch.

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For more great writing tips check out Evan's other posts, here.

About this Contributor:

Evan Braun is a full-time author and editor. He has authored three novels, the first of which, The Book of Creation, was shortlisted in two categories at the 2012 Word Awards. He has released two sequels, The City of Darkness (2013) and The Law of Radiance (2015), completing the series. Braun is an experienced professional editor, and has worked with Word Alive Press authors since 2006. He is also a regular contributor at The Fictorians, a popular writing blog.