What makes a perfect scene? My five winning tips
Do you have scenes from stories you’ve read that you’ll never forget? What is it about those scenes that’s stayed with you? That’s the kind of magic you need to create scenes like that for your own story.
For me, the scenes I most remember are scenes that took me by surprise, scenes that felt like a punch in the stomach, scenes that made me cry, scenes that were so funny I had to read them out loud to whoever was near me at the time. Notice I never said scenes that explained the story, scenes that described settings or characters. Scenes that I remember are scenes with action, they’re scenes where things happen!
So here are my top tips for writing a scene that will impact your readers and have them turning the pages to see what happens next.
1. Orientate your reader into the scene without a long narrative.
As authors, we worry that our readers won’t ‘get’ what we want to tell them so we find ourselves explaining everything to them as though they’re fools. Give your readers credit and assume they’re intelligent when you write – they will catch on, I promise! There’s no need to go into a lengthy description of time and place in setting a scene, you can let the character do that through dialogue, action and their response to the setting. For example, if it’s a dark wood, instead of a paragraph describing to your reader what the wood is like, have your character demonstrate fear by looking around and taking in the dark shadows or hearing unsettling noises, or have them brush up against a tree branch they didn’t see or step on a twig and jump in surprise. It’s important not to leave readers completely bewildered and spending the whole scene trying to figure out where your character is, so don’t be too vague and cryptic, but it’s equally important not to take up too much of the scene orientating the reader. Just get straight into the action.
2. Something must change in every scene.
In every scene something must happen to your character that facilitates a change in them – whether it’s a change in what they believe (for example they discover the truth about something or someone), a change in how they feel (something happens that makes them upset/happy/angry/satisfied/scared etc) or any other kind of change. If the character is in exactly the same position at the end of the scene as they were at the start of the scene, then what’s the point of having that scene in the book?
3. Your characters must have a goal.
In each scene your character must want something. Your reader needs to know what your character hopes will happen in that scene so that they’re right there on the page with them. Let the reader into your character’s thoughts (again not through long and boring narrative but through action/dialogue/response) so that it’s clear what the character’s hopes are for the outcome of the scene.
4. Raise the stakes in each scene as the story unfolds.
The further your readers are into the story, the higher the stakes for your character need to be. Building up to the climax in your story, each scene should hold more weight than the one before it – think of what your character stands to lose and make sure it’s something significant. The more your readers become attached to your character, the more they will care if things don’t go right for them, so use this vulnerability in your readers to create tension by having what the character wants not being what the character gets. Keeping that conflict and traction going in each scene doesn’t mean each scene has to have unhappy events for your character. You can craft happy scenes with an undercurrent of tension, your character can have a happy experience with the stakes still there hanging over their heads. Just make sure, that the threat is lurking somewhere in each scene.
5. Leave the reader wanting more.
End your scene with a line that will guarantee your reader doesn’t put a bookmark in on that page. Make your reader have to keep flipping pages. This doesn’t mean that each scene has to end on a cliff-hanger, but what it does mean is that each scene needs to have created an emotional response in your reader that drives them to need to know what happens next. If you’ve created characters readers care about, made their goals clear, kept narrative traction strong by not giving the characters what they want and made the stakes high and if you haven’t bored readers to death with long narratives, if you’ve created change in the scene and the reader has to know the follow through of that change, then that bookmark will stay far away from the pages of your story and your reader will flip to the next scene where you get to do all of that again!
For me, the scenes I most remember are scenes that took me by surprise, scenes that felt like a punch in the stomach, scenes that made me cry, scenes that were so funny I had to read them out loud to whoever was near me at the time. Notice I never said scenes that explained the story, scenes that described settings or characters. Scenes that I remember are scenes with action, they’re scenes where things happen!
So here are my top tips for writing a scene that will impact your readers and have them turning the pages to see what happens next.
1. Orientate your reader into the scene without a long narrative.
As authors, we worry that our readers won’t ‘get’ what we want to tell them so we find ourselves explaining everything to them as though they’re fools. Give your readers credit and assume they’re intelligent when you write – they will catch on, I promise! There’s no need to go into a lengthy description of time and place in setting a scene, you can let the character do that through dialogue, action and their response to the setting. For example, if it’s a dark wood, instead of a paragraph describing to your reader what the wood is like, have your character demonstrate fear by looking around and taking in the dark shadows or hearing unsettling noises, or have them brush up against a tree branch they didn’t see or step on a twig and jump in surprise. It’s important not to leave readers completely bewildered and spending the whole scene trying to figure out where your character is, so don’t be too vague and cryptic, but it’s equally important not to take up too much of the scene orientating the reader. Just get straight into the action.
2. Something must change in every scene.
In every scene something must happen to your character that facilitates a change in them – whether it’s a change in what they believe (for example they discover the truth about something or someone), a change in how they feel (something happens that makes them upset/happy/angry/satisfied/scared etc) or any other kind of change. If the character is in exactly the same position at the end of the scene as they were at the start of the scene, then what’s the point of having that scene in the book?
3. Your characters must have a goal.
In each scene your character must want something. Your reader needs to know what your character hopes will happen in that scene so that they’re right there on the page with them. Let the reader into your character’s thoughts (again not through long and boring narrative but through action/dialogue/response) so that it’s clear what the character’s hopes are for the outcome of the scene.
4. Raise the stakes in each scene as the story unfolds.
The further your readers are into the story, the higher the stakes for your character need to be. Building up to the climax in your story, each scene should hold more weight than the one before it – think of what your character stands to lose and make sure it’s something significant. The more your readers become attached to your character, the more they will care if things don’t go right for them, so use this vulnerability in your readers to create tension by having what the character wants not being what the character gets. Keeping that conflict and traction going in each scene doesn’t mean each scene has to have unhappy events for your character. You can craft happy scenes with an undercurrent of tension, your character can have a happy experience with the stakes still there hanging over their heads. Just make sure, that the threat is lurking somewhere in each scene.
5. Leave the reader wanting more.
End your scene with a line that will guarantee your reader doesn’t put a bookmark in on that page. Make your reader have to keep flipping pages. This doesn’t mean that each scene has to end on a cliff-hanger, but what it does mean is that each scene needs to have created an emotional response in your reader that drives them to need to know what happens next. If you’ve created characters readers care about, made their goals clear, kept narrative traction strong by not giving the characters what they want and made the stakes high and if you haven’t bored readers to death with long narratives, if you’ve created change in the scene and the reader has to know the follow through of that change, then that bookmark will stay far away from the pages of your story and your reader will flip to the next scene where you get to do all of that again!