The Surprising Truth About MRUs: Where They Work—and Where They Don’t
And more importantly, should you use MRUs everywhere? What if you don’t want to use MRUs everywhere?
Not sure what an MRU is? No worries, I’ll explain that before I answer these burning questions.
Kimbra posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page:
HI Randy, great site. I’m enjoying reading your blog.
My question is: How do you approach the MRU pattern rule when building in back story and providing character introductions? I understand the need for a constant driver pushing the story forward, and I try to integrate backstory into motivations and reactions, but sometimes I have a hard time forcing an MRU onto a brief exchange that conveys needed information–especially in the early chapters. There are other times that seem to require “quiter” moments, breathers almost in the rhythm of the story. I believe these can still be broken into MRUs, but they stretch. Can you give me an example of an MRU from a more mundane part of a novel than the moment a tiger attacks?
