Every writer has them, that annoying scene that has to be written despite all attempts to avoid it. For me, they are courtroom scenes. I know there are millions of people out there in the world that love a good courtroom scene, but I am not one of them. I find them void of action. Perhaps that’s my ADHD kicking in, but honestly, unless I’m the one getting to argue the case, my attention span turns toward the doors and I begin wondering what more exciting things could be happening outside the courtroom. Why debate what happened when you could write a scene describing the action itself?

I thought with writing epic fantasy I would get away with having to write a courtroom scene. I was so very, very wrong. Here I am, writing the First Draft of Alignment (Book 2 in my series), and I find myself unable to get out of it. A particular character has to appear before a court in order for major plot points to intersect. The challenges before me are as follows:

• Keep the scene sounding like something out of the world I’ve created versus a modern courtroom
• Make it entertaining enough so that both me and my readers don’t find ourselves wanting to chuck the book across the room out of boredom

Only two bullet points, so it should be easy, right?

Technically, I could keep things vague and not go into detail. Plenty of authors do it and their books turn out great. But what’s the fun in that? Where’s the challenge? The whole reason I enjoy writing epic fantasy is because I love world building. Worlds will have kingdoms, governments, and various laws, so I need to push through my reluctance on writing these types of scenes.

For me, keeping it sounding like something out of the world I created means dreaming up an entire system of law for the location within my world where the trial takes place. I ended up creating a list of terms for the judicial system, laws, and location. Once I was happy with those, I moved on to creating actual laws, how they are enforced, and what their pitfalls are. Thankfully, I managed to get through all the above while keeping my sanity. I even went the extra mile and drew up several blueprints for the building where the scene takes place.

However, I’ve now reached the second bullet point, and I’ll be honest, I’m nervous. The last thing I want is for Book 2 to fall into the terrible sequel category, like one of those sequel movies we all pretend doesn’t exist. At this juncture I need to begin writing the scene and, in my opinion, the entire success of Alignment rests on my ability to write it well. <Pours some Old Pulteney> Yes, I’m writing the First Draft, and there will be plenty of time to edit the scene in the many revisions to come. Yet I still feel the pressure of wanting to get it right.

Instead of procrastinating with a fourth blueprint drawing, I need to get on with writing. Someone somewhere said something I’ll never forget: “You can’t edit a blank page.” I think in this instance that statement rings true. How can I improve my writing if I never write anything? To succeed, I have to be willing to fail in order to learn from my mistakes.