You’ve heard it before: Scenes are the building blocks of story. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But it isn’t. Those blocks have complexity.Scenes are stories within the story and charged with energy. Whole books are written about how to write effective scenes, and we can spend our whole lives learning to write better and better ones. But here’s something for starters: Ten things to know about writing scenes.
- A scene is a small story. It has a clear beginning, middle, and end.
- Scenes begin and end in one place, time, and point of view.
- Scenes ground the reader in a particular time and setting.
- Effective scenes do not dramatize trivial or routine matters. (If such matters must be conveyed to the reader, they are better summarized.)
- Scenes are populated by compelling characters doing significant things, often at odds with each other. (People getting along don’t make for riveting stories.)
- In scenes, characters act and react.They have clear (to the reader) goals that are either met or thwarted. Something happens, and they have an emotional and intellectual reaction to that event.
- Every scene reveals something new and essential that serves the story as a whole. For example, it may introduce a new plot point, reveal a new aspect of character, or set something in motion that develops later.
- By the end of a scene, a character or situation has changed in some way.
- Scenes come to life through sensory detail, dialogue, and action that convey plot and characterization, rather than through narrative that merely tells the reader what is happening.
- Scenes have an energy (sometimes referred to as a pulse) that draws the reader into it and creates momentum. Scenes engage readers and immerse them in the story.
Shutta Crum
Nice! Succinct. Thanks.
richard jeppesen
Good advice. Personally, when an author spends too much time describing a scene that does not promote where the story is going, it is the main reason I throw a book across the room.
Frank T Masi
Mary Ann, when writing a scene, if the person speaking has an accept, (Italian, Irish, black, ete), how would you write that?
Feel free to call me to discuss it…if you wish.
Frank T Masi
(407) 656-0920
Mary Ann de Stefano
How to write accents and dialects? Very carefully! (If at all.) There are so many ways for it to go wrong. Phonetic spelling for accents can become tedious and distracting for readers — or cringe inducing.
Here’s one of the best how-to articles I’ve seen in this topic. https://www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/blog/how-to-convey-accents-in-fiction-writing-beyond-phonetic-spelling
Frank T Masi
MAD, when writing dialogue for characters with an accent (Irish, Italian, Black, et al, how do you reflect that?
ken pelham
You’ve laid it all out nicely for us, Mary Ann! Well done.
niki kantzios
Thanks for this, Mary Ann. I find I write certain key scenes first, not even in order, because it’s so much more fun than the linking stuff!