Dinner scenes, getting ready for bed, etc: How do we make the monotony interesting?

Leyelle 2024-08-26 18:32:29 UTC #1

My editor says I'm going to develop a reputation for writing bath scenes into my novels, but I enjoy getting to write the thought processes people go through during dull moments like daily routines. How did you write these moments in your stories?

If switching harbor homes five times has taught me nothing else, it’s taught me that bathrooms are always the best place to hide, for an hour or so at least. If you want to avoid a conversation. If you want to let yourself pretend for five or ten minutes that you’re not being taken away again. I could tune out the voices and know Judith would never tell my harbor givers to ask me to hurry, assuming I was rehydrating instead of doing the exact opposite.

It can get impossible to find peace - hard to find quiet - but that’s why you learn every way to snag it - even for seconds at a time, in the most distasteful of places...

It seems dichotomous, the things I’ve learned to crave. Silence when there is none. Human conversation when there is none beyond meals brought. Doors locked and unlocked. Passing shadows and whiffs of perfume in eternally empty hallways.

I would cry when they were staring at me.

I would cry when I slept through the unlocking of my room and went a day without seeing anyone at all.

Vassia 2024-08-26 19:07:27 UTC #2

I think those type of scenes are more about what makes this one time different. Everyone can relate to going to bed or eating a meal, but when I use these scenes I highlight moments where that monotonous task is disrupted by the conflict. Like my character Vince has a had time falling alseep because he's in a different bed in a very different place. The dinner scene with Dore's family highlights the absence of his brother at the table. I guess I use them to highlight my conflicts or at least that's how I use them.

Vince tried to sleep. It didn’t work. His mind kept wandering as he stared at the flickering light. Even Stein had drifted to sleep at his workbench. Vince’s thoughts spun; nothing at this place made sense. Not the spouts, not Handi’s disdain for him, and certainly not Stein’s existence.

He needed to find a way off this island and back to sanity. Maybe if he could understand how the spouts worked he could come up with a way off the island.

He could figure it out. He’s supposed to be a problem solver, a Girdwood.

kyupol 2024-08-26 19:36:53 UTC #3

I change camera angles, make facial expressions intense, and also use darker colors... makes walking down the street look a little more interesting

Leyelle 2024-08-26 19:40:34 UTC #4

his makes sense. I think I usually use them to dig into emotional turmoil in my ocs

AmysGames 2024-08-26 20:11:53 UTC #5

I only include those sorts of scenes when it's relevant to the story—which, like @Vassia said, probably means there's something unusual going on. Maybe the characters discuss the latest plot happenings over dinner, or maybe character can't sleep because they're too busy thinking about their missing best friend, or maybe this is the first time in a long time a character has gotten to take a bath. Monotony itself isn't interesting, but it can be interesting when contrasted by turmoil.

ArtGremlin 2024-08-26 22:25:08 UTC #6

In one of my pages I have a scene of Xivian turning off a magical ceiling lamp and lying in bed. I originally didn’t plan for that scene but I added it in because for some reason I wanted to establish that he had a magic lamp. There’s also the scene where he’s sneaking out of the palace. Kinda boring routine type thing. but maybe these doesn’t count because it’s not monotonous, but establishing a routine. I guess it would only be monotonous if I had multiple scenes of him sneaking out. (Which I don’t)

Also when I was typing this I accidentally typed “Xivina” I guess would be his gender-swapped name.
Help now I have to draw Princess Xivina

Zyephen 2024-08-26 23:07:23 UTC #7

I did a bed time scene to do exposition on important lore early on in the comic utilizing a bed time story.

krazycafetales262 2024-08-26 23:11:36 UTC #8

I agree with this. I can also see doing this as a way to show passage of time. I've also seen someone rushing to get this basic things finished to show they're in a hurry.

skidiggy 2024-08-26 23:28:47 UTC #9

I'm big on making mundane events "important" through either what makes them different from usual, or increasing the stakes in an otherwise standard situation. Any dinner scene can become intensely dramatic based on what the characters are doing/feeling/concealing/revealing, especially when those individual dynamics clash from character to character.

For example, I have a scene with Zayzann and Byxx eating dinner with Iris at the table after a particularly hard day. Everyone is silent for different reasons (Zayzann has a secret, Byxx discovers the secret, Iris is struggling with mental health issues), and dinner has become awkward. Iris has an anxiety episode at the table, thinking that her roommates' collective silence is her fault. The other two frantically try and talk her down from panic. It is revealed that Iris has even more bad news, and the three roomies share character-building details with each other about themselves. It turns an otherwise "meh" setting into a ticking time bomb of tension.

I hope that helps!

Vikthetoonaddict 2024-08-26 23:32:42 UTC #10

I try to do more dynamic poses for everyday scenes to make them interesting...or give the characters something goofy to do in the setting. Tell a story within a story, I guess?

iamanerd 2024-08-26 23:33:06 UTC #11

The thing to keep in mind with these scenes is that they need to be impactful to the story.

By this, I mean they need to move the story along and add something new. It isn't interesting to watch someone get ready for bed in a movie, but it would be interesting to see that as they are getting ready for bed they break down into tears or just start screaming.

What if during dinner someone makes snide comments or we learn that a character is allergic to peanuts?

JoshRaed 2024-08-27 00:58:18 UTC #12

I think you should only include it if there's something different about it and it signifies something.

Shanny8 2024-08-27 01:51:18 UTC #13

I mean do you REALLY wanna chronicle every iota of that process? Maybe just a scene with a dinner conversation between bites, or a couples converstion before bed with one person brushing their teeth or putting on moisturizing cream while the other is already in bed.

You dont have drag the scene out- just enough of it to get to the next important part of the story...

Lensing 2024-08-27 05:05:04 UTC #14

I would ask myself what the story of that scene is and if it helps to communicate the main story.

A character can have an interesting monologue during a scene of monotony.
Or the monotony can be the story like in Aki Kaurismäki movies.
I can also imagine Charles Bukowski writng an intersting scene where nothing
much happens except him getting drunk and smoking and being Charles Bukowski

Leyelle 2024-08-27 12:49:29 UTC #15

oh lol, wasn't asking for suggestions, just wondering how other people do it. I know how it works when I'm writing my own works, but I'm curious about other authors

aye, every scene is stressful for my female lead in Crystal Blue for this reason lol

yep, though every story determines what the important scenes are. For my action novel, I don't wanna drag routines out most of the time, for my novel "Damsel in the Red Dress" tho, the monotony is crucial because of my lead's struggle to care for herself

UrMom 2024-08-27 14:17:21 UTC #16

I love doing mundane scenes, and find them nice as a reader/viewer... although I imagine they're easier to pull off in a visual medium than text since the art or cinematography can carry a lot of the scene. As someone who likes tragedy, human dramas and horror, the mundane is like taking a breath. They're those quiet moments, or casual character exploration moments you can't do during the big stuff, and they can be really important depending on the story you're tackling.

Like, my comic is a heavy drama, a lot of the focus is on dark themes so when I draw out a mundane scene it's to give the characters and readers a break. Sitting around shooting the shit, taking a warm shower, working in a garden, curling up near a lit fireplace, napping on a Sunday, it keeps the characters feeling human, you know? (Unfortunately I can't sift through pages to see if I have any atm, I'm typing this from my phone.)

Vassia 2024-08-28 20:33:31 UTC #17

I also feel like it's insanely difficult to write something without a single eating scene. They're such easy social settings for characters sometimes I have to take a moment and think about how many dinner/lunch/coffee/etc scene's I'm using lol. It doesn't help that I love food and cooking irl

Leyelle 2024-08-28 20:41:51 UTC #18

lol, i love cooking too. Honestly tho, because my female leads routine is so erratic, there are very few real meal scenes in the novel and I'm two and a half books in

Leyelle 2024-08-28 20:44:17 UTC #19

When I said I did a lot of bath scenes,

I wasn't kidding:

I pour in almost twice the suggested amount of bubble bath, filling my little bathroom with the overbearing scent of green tea leaves and cinnamon. I consider opening the window, then think better of it. It’s nearly 15 below.

I pull up my stress-free playlist, and turn the sound way down, letting the vibrations make the plastic buzz as I leave my cell laying facedown on the toilet lid.

Shedding my 8-day dirty jeans and sweaty socks, I toss them onto the wicker hamper lid, preparing my willpower for the first real bath I’ve been able to take since the wounds on my legs sealed off, relieved to finally have the green light… I’m long past ready for this-

-Don’t think I would have had the energy to try to stand in the shower today, going through the tedious steps of cleansing my ravaged carapace. I know I wouldn’t have had the patience to be gentle, and that would’ve set the whole process backward again. The last thing I want is an infection - to be hospitalized all over again. Or…maybe the second to last thing…

I take a deep breath and ease my body into the warm water, forgetting the nurse’s instructions to test the water temperature first, to avoid any sort of shock. Fortunately, it’s cool enough, but even the slightest stimuli trigger the panic. I’m not sure if it hurts or if I just think it does. My skin begins screaming at me, as I grit my teeth, and submerge my body up to the neck. It’s a little better after the initial alarm. Like the first chill of diving into a frigid river. I leave the water running, churning soap into a layer of foam like the froth on a vanilla latte. I steep. Steaming my cinnamon skin into “Lady Tea.” Thick bubbles shimmer on the surface with little rainbows, a thousand shades of glory, as if someone captured Iris in a bottle. The simplicity is dazzling.

I think of taking a picture of that and sending it to Kattar, but I doubt he’d count it.

And yet, they each play a different and important role in the story

BoomerZ 2024-08-28 20:54:01 UTC #20

Mundane scenes really don't belong in a story. You are wasting the readers time if it doesn't advance the story. Having something important happen while doing a mundane thing is the opposite. An important conversation at lunch is part of the story.