Dealing with Multiple-Character Scenes

I came across a post I thought might be of interest to others.  I always dread writing scenes with multiple characters.  They can become quite confusing, with too many voices flying about, or readers might be wondering, “What the heck happened to so-and-so?”  I’m always relieved to find others have the same issues I do–misery loves company?  More a case of camaraderie.  Those of us who write are in this boat together, so why not help each other paddle.

When I’m writing a scene with multiple interacting characters, it helps me to visualize the scene, playing it like a movie in my head.  The camera pans to different characters and pieces of the action, and I know where everyone is and what they’re doing.  I try not to overuse dialogue tags, going for a mix of tags and character action instead.

The blog post below has some great tips.  Are there any you’d like to share?

Wordplay: Don’t Let Multiple-Character Scenes Run Away With You.