each scene is its own episode
on crafting scenes and how I try to make each one compelling
Every scene is a building block for the entirety of a book. While a single subpar scene won’t spell the demise of the whole, having compelling scenes overall keeps readers engaged and invested. So, here are the things I keep an eye out for while crafting my scenes, as well as a checklist I use when outlining each scene at the end.
Disclaimer: This isn’t applicable for every genre, writer, or scene. There are many types of scenes and a variety of different purposes one can serve. But this is what I find applicable to the majority of the scenes I write for commercial fantasy.
part one: the heart of the story
While I want my story to be compelling on multiple fronts, it’s emotions that make every plot twist strike the reader’s heart. And emotions inform the character’s motivations. Their wants and needs. Their decisions. Their external goals.
Without emotions, without motivation—to win, to survive, to fight, to discover— characters become mere vessels for a plot that lacks inner substance.
When I can’t connect to a scene I’m writing, 90% of the time it’s because I’ve forsaken the emotional heart of the story. I’m stringing my characters along for my ride instead of listening to what they want.
So I try to anchor every scene to my characters’ emotions, to their wants:
What do they want overall—but more specifically, within this scene?
How do they go about doing this?
What comes in their way?
What changes for them within or after this scene (their opinion on another character/their short-term goal/their long-term goal)?
All of these questions are ones I hope to address in every full scene (there are some scenes that are meant to be little glimpses into an event), so I never forget the emotional arc of the story.
Usually, figuring this out means I know the purpose of the scene. The reason it has to be written out instead of summarized in brief. The finish line I’m aiming for as I write (which is important for me to know as an overwriter).
part two: beginnings & endings
While this isn’t always applicable, I approach each scene like it’s an episode in a TV show. Unlike movies, shows deliver an arc within 10, 20, 40 minutes, and imagining my scenes like this is a great way to figure out not only how to tighten my scenes, but also what I need to round each one out.
I want every scene to tell a short tale of the characters seeking something and overcoming a small obstacle along the way. I want it to be compelling from beginning to end. I want it to immediately create a reason to read on from the previous scene and to end with a reason to smash that “next episode” button.
Beginnings & endings are particularly important, in my opinion, to keep readers hooked. Here are questions I ask myself:
1: Am I beginning at the correct time?
Am I bringing the reader into the thick of the action? The brief lull before events begin? Or treating them to a short story or lovely descriptions or philosophical musings, so they dwell in the atmosphere a bit? All are valid ways to start a scene, but each have pros and cons.
The first can be confusing if it’s not directly on the heels of a cliffhanger or if the reader isn’t oriented well. The third can be infuriating if we’re taking 10 minutes to describe scenery when limbs are flying around. And if every scene is go go go, readers will need slow starts sprinkled in to have space to breathe.
2: Am I orienting the reader?
Unless I want to draw out suspense or such, I want to let readers know as early as possible the who-what-where-when-how of each scene: Who is here? What are they doing? Where are they? How much time has passed/how much time is left to that ticking clock or deadline? What do they want/where are they headed/what’s the goal in this moment and how are they going to accomplish it?
Orienting the reader increases urgency and pace, even if none of the events or word count change, and makes the reader more liable to read on because they get a sense of this scene’s purpose & how it might satisfy their need to know what happens next. If I have no idea why the characters are here or what they’re doing after reading for a bit, I tend to set the book down for a break unless the prose is really engaging.
Readers of different genres and age ranges will want to be oriented within a different amount of lines/paragraphs, so “as early as possible” varies. In general, I believe it needs to be done very quickly when there’s a time jump or POV switch or the narrative is otherwise truncated, so the reader doesn’t lose interest.
3: How does this scene push into the next?
Scene breaks and especially chapter breaks are where readers are likely to set down the book, and generally we don’t want to create an easy spot to stop. Therefore, I try to end each scene with a push forward instead of wrapping things up too tidily.
Pushes forward include: an injection of information, a character revelation, a change in character motivation, a looming threat, the cusp of a bigger event happening…
That’s not to say every scene should end in a cliffhanger or such because that can feel cheap if they’re all fakeouts, and having the characters change motivations/emotions every other scene can give readers whiplash.
4: Are my scene/chapter beginnings and endings repetitive?
Sometimes this speaks to a deeper issue. For instance, if a lot of scene endings or chapter endings include a villain appearing out of nowhere to stop the main character, it might mean too much of the story is controlled by them instead of the protagonists.
But besides that, I personally like to switch things up and have my scenes start and end in a variety of ways, so it feels more fresh and less predictable (without contradicting the overall tone of the story). For instance, I mix up my beginnings with scene description, dire/funny declarations, short anecdotes, and philosophical musings instead of jumping into the action all the time.
part three: tension and conflict
Again, imagining each scene as an episode of a TV show, I create mini-stakes and tension in each scene that don’t necessarily tie in with the main plot—it could be a romantic subplot, a bit of subterfuge, or characters bickering. (But the tension of the main plot shouldn’t be discarded for too long.)
I ask myself a couple of questions:
What does the POV character “want” or “expect” to happen?
What interferes with the character’s goal or what “actually” ends up happening?
I don’t think every scene needs huge tension or a great disparity between what the character wants and what actually occurs, since that can tire out a reader by constantly having them going AHHHHHHH.
A scene that unfolds exactly as expected can feel dull without creating a hook such as interesting world-building, strong emotional reaction, or perfect execution of a plan, but in that case I believe the reader should be surprised even if the character isn’t.
part four: layering elements
As an outliner, after I have a rough idea of what’ll happen in each scene, I make note of the progression of these elements in each scene:
World-building & backstory
Recording this helps me remember what’s been said so I don’t repeat myself. This is especially important in the starting portion of the book.Emotional arcs & relationship development
This helps me remember the events of the scene should change or deepen my characters’ emotions/relationships so I don’t lose sight of the emotional anchor.Foreshadowing
Helps me keep track of what’s been hinted at so I’m not forgetting clues entirely or laying them on too thick.Various subplots
I try to keep my main plot flowing instead of diverting too much into side plots, so I fold subplots or relationship-developing conversations into main events. It requires a lot of scratching my head as I peer through my scenes to see where I can fit in a particular stage in a cult uprising.
In some drafts I color code these elements to track their progression throughout the novel and make sure I’m not repeating myself. A lot of this finessing comes after the initial draft, but I still keep track even in the first draft because it makes plotting the next one a bit easier.
part five: every scene pulls double duty
I want my scenes to multitask, which is especially important to me as an overwriter. Aside from advancing the main plot and layering world-building and backstory and foreshadowing, I want each scene to also advance the protagonists’ emotional arcs and character relationships and show things brewing in the background.
One thing I do to increase pace and urgency and *drama* is ask myself: How can I pull these different events/reveals into one scene to create a big splash instead of spread-out ripples? Is the protagonist revealing their dire secret to family, then friends, then the antagonist? How about having all of that happen in one sequence of events?
Here’s an example from poppies:
Original: MC’s injury leads her brother to tell her parents her secret (a curse on her). After she recovers, they insist on taking her to someone who they believe can help her, which she doesn’t want to do and involves bargaining on both ends. They have a conversation with this person.
Edited: As MC is unconscious during her injury, her family takes her to this someone (who can help with healing her), during which her brother tells everyone her secret and they segue directly into the conversation.
This change cut 2 scenes while keeping the important event: the secret’s reveal and the emotional/practical aftermath, thus creating a more dramatic sequence.
part six: outlining and my scene checklist
To wrap up how I approach crafting each scene:
I’m an outliner, partly born from necessity of being an overwriter, so after I’ve nailed down the cause-and-effect chain/sequence of events for the act I’m working on, so the beginning and middle and end tie together, I section them into scenes.
Then I describe each scene with just one sentence pertaining to the main plot. I mull over that for a bit and try to pull things together into an efficient and dramatic sequence.
After I’m happy with the broad strokes of the scenes, I move in to figure out the beginnings and ends to connect my scenes in a compelling way. Then, I jot down what happens in the scene, first keeping to the main event I want to occur, then layering in my other elements bit by bit (as mentioned in part four).
My scene outline and checklist ends up looking something like this:
I fill this out before writing each scene, but of course this isn’t for everyone, especially during a first draft. It’s a lot when sometimes I want to jump right into my scene. But unless I have a clear idea of what I want to do, I try to hold myself back, since filling the checklist (especially the first four questions) does help me write better scenes.
Hopefully this is helpful! I also have posts on my revision process as well as how I approach line edits.