Too Many Players on the Field

[Razor7826]

I'm writing a story in which two of a woman's friends help her get revenge against her cheating boyfriend and his lover. Now that I've reached the big revenge scene, I'm having difficulties writing a scene that has five characters in it.

During the scene, the main character is tormenting her boyfriend, who is handcuffed to the bed, while her two friends work on the gagged girl. It helps that both of the prisoners are gagged, but I'm still having difficulties managing the scene.

Any advice for keeping the scene exciting? Should I frequently cut back and forth between the two victims, or should I tell most of one thread before jumping back chronologically and describing the other half?

[Dragon's muse]

Jump back and forth between the two, to maintain the chronological flow. Just be careful with POV -- maintain a steady narration. (meaning the distance the narrator is from the scene -- is he omniscent with one character only, or with all the characters. Head-hopping is easy to do, but very difficult to do well.) This is an instance where knowing your characters excrutiatingly well is imperative. Giving the speaking characters individual, distinct voices is the biggest challenge.

[Razor7826]

The story stays in Third Person, POV of the main character. The route I settled on was have her watch the ravishment of the cheating girlfriend before turning her attention to her former boyfriend. After she is finished him, she turns around to see that her friends are done with their prisoner- for the moment.

[TheVariableX]

If there is little interaction I would probably write the two scenes separately and then inter cut them. Other that that it depends on your writing style. For a complex scene I would at least work out high points that it will hit from start to finish, for something really complex perhaps getting most of it worked out in shorthand first.

If however you write when you are in the mood as I often do, planning isn't often a priority. In that case just go with your gut, do your best and be prepared to edit well.