Amateur To Published: The Fiction Writer's Guide To Publishing

9 - Use Scenes & Sequels

Most novels are divided into chapters, but these chapters will often be further divided into scenes. A scene is a section of your novel where characters engage in action or dialogue. Think of it as a story of its own since in general it has a beginning, a middle and an en i.e a mini-story arc. The action takes place in a single place without a break in time.

An example of a scene in a mystery novel would be where the detectives are interrogating one suspect. The scene starts with the detectives and suspect in an interrogation room, staring down each other. In the middle of the scene the suspect breaks down and starts to confess everything he saw and did. By the time the scene ends we learn that though the suspect is suspicious they are just a re-herring and not the real culprit. The next scene will start with the detectives re-analyzing their clues.

Scenes are supposed to contribute in moving the story forward. To make sure that that's what the scenes in your story are doing, you need to:

STEP 1: DECIDE ON THE SCENE'S PURPOSE

Why is this scene important to your story? Will it push the story forward or your character towards another conflict? If it's a scene that you're just putting to pass time because you don't know what to write next; If it's a scene you think will be funny but isn't really relevant to the story; If it's a scene that just tells us all about the character's past which has no particular relevance to what will be happening in this story, you're wasting precious writing time and boring us. Each scene must advance the story and push your character towards another complication.

STEP 2: IDENTIFY YOUR SCENE'S START, MIDDLE & END

The scene is a mini-story therefore it should read like one with an intro, middle and end. Where will the scene start? Obviously by giving your character's reaction to whatever problem the last scene introduced. If the last scene ended with Dani discovering that Rachel is her mother, the next scene needs to show Dani's reaction. It will probably be an intense reaction. She starts yelling, storms out, goes into cardiac shock or whatever.

The middle of the scene will show your Leads still trying to resolve the situation in a more calm state of mind or thinking about it. Rachel may try to explain why she didn't say anything before. Dani may kick Rachel out. Dani may have a conversation with her best friend explaining what just happened.

The end of the scene will introduce a new problem or a new question or show the character's plan to deal with the current problem so that in the next scene the cycle starts again. You want your readers to keep turning to the next page to find out what will happen next.

STEP 3: KNOW THE SCENE'S SETTING

Where will your story be taking place? Understand the layout of the place so that you can control your character's movements. You don't want to have your character's arguing in a bathroom stall only for one of them to suddenly sit down at the table (what table?) mid-argument.

Note that you don't need to describe a location in depth twice. If he's already been to Kelly's house a scene before and we saw all the potted plants, the leather seats; the plasma TV just mention one key feature like the magazines are spread out all over the coffee table then skip to the action.

STEP 4: DECIDE ON THE POV CHARACTER

You know what the scene is about and who will be participating in the scene. It's time to decide from whose point of view that scene will be told. A good rule of thumb is to make the Point of View character the character who is most emotionally involved in the story. Who will be the angriest, or the most scared, or the saddest?

You can break this rule if you want to develop a particular Lead more. For instance if Dani caught her husband in bed with another woman in the previous scene, though in this new scene she'll be the angriest, you can show the scene in her husband's POV (who is also a Lead in the story) because you want to show that he is actually sorry or  not. Basically, you're setting up the readers to either hate him completely or feel sympathetic for him even though he's the douche in this situation.

Once you choose a POV character, there's no going back, stick to that character's head and avoid trying to hop into other people's heads within the same scene.

STEP 5: PACE THE SCENE

There are four main elements to any scene; the action, the dialogue, the introspection and the description. If you're writing an intense, adrenalin filled scene where the character is racing against a clock, then you need to speed up your pace. This you can do by focusing on more dialogue and action and cutting down on the internal thought by the POV character.

If you're writing an emotional scene where we get to see how the character is feeling, focus on having more introspection and description. The character can now think as much as they want, talk to other people about the situation and enjoy the scenery. These scenes allow the reader to connect with your character. If you're writing a Romance you need more emotional scenes.

STEP 6: SPREAD OUT THE BACK-STORY

Don't tell us everything about your Lead's past in Scene one. Spread it out between different scenes as needed. We only need to know that your Lead was abandoned in front of a church when the hero asks them why they are so afraid of commitment. We only need to know which school they went to if they're invited to speak there. Be stingy with back story and only share it when it's something the readers must know. Reveal something new with each scene.

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