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As you work on scenes- especially those in 1st person or 3rd person limited- it’s essential to nail down the character whose perspective you’re working from. I’ll call this the point-of-view (POV) character. You have to write from that head. You have to convey the sights, feelings, thoughts, and actions that are available to them.

In the process, it’s easy to forget about doing the same for all the other characters in the scene: I’ll call them NPCs (non-player characters). Ever read something that feels like one character interacting with a bunch of cardboard cutouts who pop up to say and do the right things at the right time? This is what happens when you write exclusively from the POV mindframe, and forget all the others.

“Well of course Miss Pennywright would give Ace Bedford the info he needs when he drops by her apartment unannounced!” Would she, though? Why? Is Bedford a friend of hers? Does she have an interest in Bedford solving the case? Even if she does, is there a chance she’d be creeped out by this guy showing up at her apartment out of the blue?

You must make sure your NPCs are thinking, feeling people too. They shouldn’t be doing things just because that’s what the POV character needs them to do.

Once you’ve outlined a scene- but before drafting it- play out the scene in your head, once for each NPC present, as though they were actually the POV character. Try thinking about the following:

• What’s their mood when the scene begins?
• How does their mood change as things happen? How are these changes conveyed? Is this true to the character?
• What is their relationship/temperament toward the other characters present?
• What do they want out of the other characters and current situation? What do they do to get it? Is this true to the character?

If you find any inconsistencies, iron them out.

Sometimes, playing this game, I surprise myself. I assume things are gonna happen one way, but when I really think about it from the NPC perspective, I realize it should be quite different. Often, it takes the scene- sometimes the entire plot– in a way more interesting direction.

Returning to our example above: suppose Miss Pennywright does want to help Bedford, but is paranoid given earlier events in the story. When Bedford shows up without notice, she assumes he’s an intruder, and prepares to hide/defend herself. Now we’ve injected conflict and suspense into a scene that would’ve been pretty tame otherwise.

This seems like a lot of work, but it can be really helpful to have these notes about WHY each character is doing what they’re doing- especially when you return much later for rewrites, and can’t remember what the heck you were thinking when you drafted this stuff. You can use comments to insert such notes in most word processors. Scrivener also has several places where you can attach notes to a scene. If you’d rather not do it that way, you can always maintain a separate document with scene notes.

The more thinking and planning you do up front, the better- but don’t worry about having every little detail mapped out. You’ll undoubtedly surprise yourself while drafting, and have to make changes to your outline- and to how all your characters respond.

Do you have any favorite tricks for keeping track of every character’s motivations? Drop me a line in the comments!