We’ve seen the old zoetropes that put pictures in motion. Perhaps we’ve even made flipbooks when we were at school. The picture changes a little and the motion unfolds. Even as we watch the leaf fall, the dancer move, the horse gallop… we know that it is just small individual images moving fast to make it look like movement.
We can do this in writing. In fact, it’s a useful technique when you can’t seem to get the horse to move at all. Instead of whipping it, consider where it’s moving.
Draw that next image. Write that next scene to give the story motion.
In writing, however, getting something to move is about the character’s desire. As Kurt Vonnegut said – Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
What does a character want?
Why can’t they have it, and what do they have to get over?
How do they get it, or how does desire that change?
What do they want after they get that?
Where do two characters have conflicting desires?
These are the images that chart the characters emotional arc. These images and scenes are what gives writing motion. It takes the character from one place to another. And if it doesn’t then you’re just making a zoetrope – an amusing spectacle that doesn’t really go anywhere.