By Lynette Eason
I’ve been writing for about twenty years now. It took me eight years to
catch an editor’s eyes with a cold submission. That first year, I sold three
books. Then a year later, sold five more. When I first started writing, I wrote
off the top of my head—or by the seat of my pants. Now, my brain is much older!
LOL. I need to do a little more planning to work my way through a book and have
it actually make sense. One thing I was working on the other day was content
for a workshop that’s coming up. I started looking at how to teach someone how
to craft a scene.
I came to the conclusion that scenes were mini stories. They all need a
beginning, middle and end, just like the full novel. Someone else may have
already pointed this out somewhere, but it’s the first time it occurred to
me. You see, I write mostly from
instinct. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve studied the craft, I’ve attended the
conferences and the classes and even had one of the best mentors a writer could
have.
But because I write instinctively, it can be harder for me to put into
words exactly how to convey a topic about writing to an audience. I have to
look at exactly how I craft something and then put it into words other writers
can understand. Yesterday, I was working on Scene Building and trying to put a
name to the elements that every scene needs.
I finally narrowed it down to these things:
1.
Purpose or motivation: This is the scene’s reason for being.
Why are you including this scene in the story? How is this scene going to move
the story forward? What are you trying to accomplish with this scene?
2.
Suspense – It doesn’t matter if you’re writing comic relief, a thriller,
an historical or a women’s contemporary novel. Every book needs suspense and
intrigue. This creates tension and causes the reader to ask questions and
desire to know more. It’s really what keeps the readers flipping the pages to
see what happens next.
3.
Fluidity – The scene has to make sense. It has to flow and not jar the
reader out of the story. This is where a lot of writers make their biggest
mistake and the scene doesn’t flow or there’s something illogical about it,
then the reader gets frustrated at constantly being jarred out of the story.
4.
Relevance of content – This is a bit different than the purpose of the scene. You
can have a scene with a great purpose, but the content of the scene needs be
there for a reason. If it’s not important to the scene leave it out. Start your
scene in the middle of the action. Leave out the nonessential stuff and boring
narrative that the reader doesn’t need. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t
want your scene rich with details that give the reader a sense of time, place
and being right there in the story. It’s all about balance.
5.
Transition – The end of every scene must lead the reader into the next
using some of that fluidity I just mentioned. Yes, you need fluidity inside
your scenes, but also at the end of every scene. The transition must seem like
a natural, chronological segue into the next scene or chapter. This is another
even bigger mistake some writers make. When there’s no transition, then we get
what editors call episodic writing. Meaning, you may have some great ideas for
scenes, but that’s all they are—separate scenes that don’t seem to have any
kind of connection.
6.
Hook or cliffhanger – Be sure to have one of these at the end of the scene. This is
what’s going to keep the reader coming back—and is also part of that whole
suspense thing.
I hope
you found this helpful! Good luck with all of your writing projects. Now go
craft the most amazing scenes ever!
Lynette Eason is the bestselling
author of Oath of Honor, as
well as the Women of Justice series, the Deadly Reunions series, the Hidden
Identity series, and the Elite Guardians series. She is the winner of two ACFW
Carol Awards, the Selah Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award. She
has a master’s degree in education from Converse College and lives in South
Carolina. Learn more at www.lynetteeason.com.
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