Ringing The Changes on Standard “Candy Bar” Scenes

The ‘candy bar’ scene is one that ups the temperature in your novel or movie – whether that’s a love scene that hits the emotional highs, a massive battle, a shoot-out, the discovery of a hidden domain or secret passage, or a car chase. The trouble is, these scenes are standard – we all know how they’re meant to work – and writing them so that the idea seems fresh, and you spring surprises on the reader, is tricky.

Let’s take that example of a car chase. A car chase scene is almost obligatory in any heist or gangster movie. The format is simple and easy to understand. But how do you make a car chase memorable?

For instance, in film we remember the fantastic escape scene in ‘The Italian Job’ for several things. The cars are all Minis – an iconic car but not usually one considered as a high-powered getaway vehicle. There’s the landscape, including the episode through the covered shopping arcade and down the flight of steps in Turin, and over the roof of the Palazzo a Vela – and finally, there’s the marvellous moment that the Minis power up the ramp into the converted bus that acts as a ‘mothership’. The ingenuity of the robbers, the surprising nature of the getaway route, and the cleverness of the plan, all transform this from a dull car chase scene into a marvellously high spirited and memorable one.

Ways you could think about changing the car chase scene to make it work for you might include:

• Humour. Have continuous obstacles that need to be overcome – traffic lights, roadworks, dead ends. Show the reactions of passers-by rather than just the car chase itself. Include, perhaps, a Harley Davidson rider who decides to take on the getaway car to prove he can go faster…
• Have dialogue that works against the action. While the car chase is going on, the two guys in the front are talking about something completely different – perhaps something totally mundane like who is going to fix the washing machine and whether it’s worth fixing, or getting a new one. Maybe the guy in the back can’t hear, and is leaning forwards to try to get in on the conversation.
• As in ‘The Italian Job’, use the local landscape to good effect so that the car chase becomes almost a hymn to your setting’s individual qualities.
• Have a surprising twist. What would happen for instance if the car didn’t start at all – if your car chase had to turn into a foot chase? Would your heroes/gangsters be adequately prepared? Would they be able to use buses, taxis, the Paris Metro system, to evade their pursuers?
• If your characters have an interesting relationship then use the car chase to explore that relationship. Does A not trust B’s map reading? Have him actually grab the map off his companion while driving – and then get something badly wrong and run into a cul-de-sac. If you make this work properly, it can be a marvellous way to make the scene come alive.
• The ending is perhaps your best bet for making the chase memorable. In ‘The Blues Brothers’ the Bluesmobile actually falls to pieces at the end – a moment both triumphant and sad. Try to build a surprise into the ending.
• Try to keep the car chase in the same theme and tone as the rest of the work. For instance the car chase in ‘The Italian Job’ fits with the very upbeat, self-consciously clever feel of the film – we’re meant to admire the cleverness and style of the gang. It wouldn’t work in a grittier film. The outrageous moments in ‘The Blues Brothers’ car chase, again, are just right for a film about two larger-than-life, crazy guys. This is probably the part of your scene that will take the most work – and will have the greatest effect.

These ways of livening up a car chase will work for other scenes too. Humour, bystanders’ reactions, the surprising twist, the use of your characters’ relationship to deepen the scene, a surprising ending – all can help to make a standard ‘candy bar’ scene fresh and new.