The 8 Elements of a Good Scene
Does each scene have a specific storytelling purpose? As you go into writing a scene, ask yourself: What does this scene accomplish?
What valuable information does this scene provide? Carefully pace out your reveals so that each scene brings a small piece of new information to light—such as a main character’s backstory or a rival character’s thoughts and motivations. These subtle reveals shift the course of the narrative—sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically.
Does your scene offer a close point of view?
Does this scene enhance your character development? When possible, use each scene to deepen your readers’ understanding of your protagonist. Have you put your character into situations that are tricky? Have you forced your characters to reveal their true colours.
Do you use obstacles to test them? Are these a little thin? Can you make more of these in certain scenes? Are you giving your character the capacity to grow and change?
Are the tense moments shown and not told?
Is your character active/has agency? What we mean by that is, is your character actively driving the story forward or are things ‘just happening to them and they are reacting?’ We need our characters to be active to keep the reader turning the pages.
Does each scene have a distinct beginning, middle, and end? Does the end of a scene—particularly a long scene—start a transition into whatever comes next in your story?
Is each scene like a novel in miniature? If you’ve reached the last paragraph of your scene and you haven’t completed such an arc, go back and revise. While they may not be able to articulate it, readers have an inherent sense of when a scene ends in a satisfying manner and when it does not.
Photograph: Picture of Moniack Mhor, Scotland.
Thanks to Jericho writers, Curtis Brown Creative and Masterclass for a culmination of their writing tips.