Every Scene a Story

Perhaps the most valuable writing lesson I’ve learned: make every scene a story. That means purpose, shape and structure.

Every scene of every chapter needs the same essential elements in order to keep the reader turning the page.

• An inciting incident
• A turning point
• A crisis
• A climax
• A resolution

It’s not only the overall story that needs a satisfying structure.  Each scene is disrupted by the inciting incident, breaking the ordinary world with some kind of conflict. A turning point creates paths to resolution. But only when the characters experience a crisis can they move to action or a decision in the scene climax. This climax leads to a resolution. The resolution may provide only one small block in the overall story pyramid, or it may close an immediate plot point.

The important thing is that every scene has to be a complete story in itself. The reader may not appreciate its significance right away, but it has to tell part of the overall story in a form that readers recognize. Otherwise, the reader is baffled and loses interest.

When I started my first novel, so many years ago, I had no idea. Scenes stumbled around random dialogue and internal reflection and made no sense. Why? They didn’t tell their own story.

While I discovery-write a lot of scenes, there’s usually a couple of key plot or character points in the foundations. Scenes don’t always emerge fully formed on the page. Sometimes I have to rationalize scenes in the edit to make their purpose or structure clear. But I always tag the beginning and end of each scene so that I know my inciting incident resolution. That way every scene is a story.