I’m not sure whether other writers do this, but there’s a step I perform in the final rewrites of all of my books that I call ‘Playing the Movie’.
As the name implies, the idea is to read through the manuscript while picturing the characters, setting in detail.
For me, the exercise is an essential step in ensuring that the setting, characterizations, and action playing out in the book actually work.
I picture the characters in whatever setting I’ve chosen for them, in whatever positions they occupy relative to each other, including whether they’re sitting, standing, riding a horse, or whatever. I literally watch an imaginary set of images corresponding to what’s been written. Doing this often shows up errors in people’s actions – pointing at a white board when they’re actually sitting in a chair, looking up at someone when they’re actually standing over them, etc.
It also highlights problems with the character interaction – is a character’s reaction to an event too abrupt? Is their body-language wrong? Is the timing of a conversation off? Are the emotions expressed appropriate? Are there people present who haven’t been accounted for, who shouldn’t be there, or who might have something to say?
The movie includes the background – the room, steam bath, field, dungeon, or wherever the action is taking place. Picturing the actual scene can be a big help in deciding whether you’ve included enough (or too much!) detail. You might even decide that a location is too boring, and switch it to something more interesting.
The difficulty in this process, at least for me, is maintaining concentration. It’s incredibly easy to become absorbed in the story (I hope that means that my books are actually good!) and forget what your original intention was. I’ve found that I can only concentrate on the process for an hour or so at a time. It’s fairly time-consuming, but in my experience, worth the effort.
I try to do this for the entire manuscript, usually near the end of editing, when everything should, in theory, be in place.
If you’ve never tried it, I’d highly recommend it as a way to bring additional realism to your stories.
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