Scene order makes a huge difference. Sequences of events shouldn’t necessarily be either chronological or based on merely the order in which you came up with them. When you introduce a concept can make a huge difference to how your audience perceives a character.


Ordering your scenes mindfully can help you either create a clearer impression of how you want your audience to feel about a character or even be used to cleverly trick your audience into misinterpreting your characters so you can introduce a twist later.


I'm currently starting to turn my historical/fantasy/romance novel Scroll of the Last Empire into an audiobook podcast. While reading it for the recording I noticed a crucial mistake in my scene order that altered how people may respond to, Uyanga, one of the main characters.


It’s an enemies-to-lovers story, so we start with them on opposing sides. I wanted to dive right into the action to grab the audience in chapter 1, but this inadvertently made Uyanga feel like a villain on first impression, as we’re inclined to see them black and white until we get to know them better.


Ultimately this character needed a “save the cat” moment before the action sequences so we know that despite their opposing sides she’s someone we can empathize with. A "save the cat" moment is a part of a story designed to help us see a character in a positive light by putting them in a scenario where are on their side immediately. For example if a character literally saves a cat in the first scene, we're inclined to view them as a kind hearted person.


I did have such a scene in the 2nd chapter. Simply moving that to the prologue so it happens before the first chapter’s battle scene, entirely alters the first impression of the character.

A show like Lost used this to their advantage by intentionally introducing characters in ways that made you get a false impression about them. For example in the first few episodes John Locke rarely talks, he stares off into space often, and happens to have a collection of knives. All these elements of his introduction lead us to assume he's a crazy murderer. But as his backstory is revealed in small doses in later episodes, we have our impression of him changed multiple times.

What are some stories you've read where you got the wrong impression of a character in the beginning?

You should make some absolute garbage.
 
Here is what I mean.
 
When we are new to creative pursuits, inevitably what we make at first isn't going to be that great or at least not our best work.
 
Before I made my audio drama Shadows & Daylight I made another series called The Circuit. It's not valuable for people to listen to per se, but it was valuable for me to make. The end product wasn't valuable, but the process was valuable for me. I learned how to use Cubase as a software. I learned how to use Celtx for writing scripts. I learned how to manage a team. I learned how to direct. I learned a lot about sound design. I learned a lot about comedy and dramatic storytelling. I also learned a lot about what not to do.
 
I could have said, “You know what I'm not very good at this. No one's gonna want to listen to it.
And since no one's gonna want to listen to the end product, what's the point of making this show at all? Maybe, maybe I'll just won't do it.” But then I never would have gotten better at my craft. 
The only way to get better at something is by doing the thing.

I want to encourage you today. I'm not trying to say that your productions will be bad, but some of them will be. I'm sure there's lots of things I'm working on in the present that in the future I'll look back on less than fondly. But it did give me the experience that I need for the future.

That's why absolute trash productions are actually worth your time.

That's why making something terrible is actually valuable.

I want to encourage you today to make some absolute garbage so that you can make some good stuff in the future. I'm being tongue-in-cheek here, of course. I'm not saying to intentionally make something bad. I'm saying that some of our stories and art, no matter how sincere our efforts, won’t be great, but they will be stepping stones. And those stepping stones are necessary to become the storytellers and artists we aspire to become.
 
Go make some trash.

What is something you learned from “trash” projects? Comment your lessons below!