Writing Scenes That Work

Defining Beats, Scenes and Chapters

I’ve seen beats defined in different ways by different writing coaches and the screenwriting community also has its own, slightly different definition. For the purposes of this article we’ll use the definition set forth by Shawn Coyne of Story Grid.

Beat: a point of action in a story that propels the story forward. (Story Grid includes: active build-up beats, reactive break-down beats, world-building, transitional, camera-shifting) aka the smallest unit of story

Beats build to scenes

Scene: A scene is a unit of story that is told from one point-of-view (almost always romance is infamous for breaking this rule and switching to the other MCs POV midscene), and contains a mini-arc of change from beginning to end.

Scenes build to chapters (sometimes). Many editors, myself included, like one scene = one chapter, but this is not a hard and fast rule. If you are not sure when to end a chapter/scene just be sure your scene has accomplished it’s goal, or changed in some way. (More on this below.)

Chapters: A chpater is one of the building blocks of your story. It can help you to build story structure.

What if you can’t write compelling scenes?

• I know you love your story, or at least I hope you do. But your readers don’t, yet! If you can’t write a compelling scene readers won’t stick with your story

• They’ll give up before they get to the “good” part. Writers often say ‘yes, but the good part is coming. Keep reading It’s on page 23!’ Then you need to omit the first 22 pages! Start with the good parts!

• You’ll never write the book you want to write: A story so captivating your readers can’t help but talk about it to their friends.

• Readers will never get to hear your message. They'll miss out on experiencing your story.

• If you can’t write scenes that excite the reader to turn the page and keep reading, none of it matters!

What to do if your scenes aren’t working

*The following headlines (those in asterisks were written by Story Grid, the accompanying information is mine.*

1. *Your scenes have no direction*

If a reader can't figure out what's going on in your story, they will stop reading.

This is where the saying “Kill Your Darlings” comes in.

Most of my WIPs start with me jotting down a few scenes of my two main characters hashing it out over something that’s important to them. Unfortunately, it’s rarely the main point of the story.

I can waste as much time as I want writing out these ‘fun’ scenes. Letting the characters run off with the story in whichever direction they chose but if I want to write a cohesive story I have to eventually sit down and figure out:

1.     What is the main point of my story?

2.     Where would be a logical place to start my story (remember your MC has not learned the lesson yet, so how will we show that in a scene)

3.     Where/How should my story end?

4.     And then, eventually, sorry pantsers, I have to write a detailed outline of my story. That does not mean every beat of every scene. That does mean a detailed enough outline that an outsider could pick up the outline and get a pretty good idea of what’s happening in my story and more importantly why it matters to the MC(s).

A good outline will give your story the direction it needs. From there you can break it down into plot points and scenes and give each of those the direction they need. Remember, if you can write a great scene, you can write a great story.

2. *Your scenes are boring*

What makes a scene boring? Lack of reader engagement.

How do we fix it?

Many new writers fall into the mistake of filling their scenes with unnecceassary action, trying to convince the reader that their story is exciting. You don’t need car chases and shoot outs. You need: Reader engagement.

Q.: Anyone ever get bored editing their own work? If even you get bored when you read back through it.

And if it’s boring to you, imagine how the reader is going to feel!

--OR--

3. *Your scenes don't evoke emotion*

Same fix as #2 above: reader engagement

Again, the fix here is reader engagement. And the key to evoking emotion is allowing your reader in. How do you do this? But putting your characters’ thoughts and emotions on the page. If you want your reader to follow you to the ends of the earth—or even just to the ends of your story—you’ve got to let them experience the story right along with your MC(s).

This is the reason it’s so popular to write from more than one POV but also the reason it’s so hard to do. As a writer you have to become that character, at least for the length of that chapter, and as a writer who struggles just to embody one character outside of my normal everyday life, I can tell you adding in another isn’t easy.

4. *Too many details in your scenes*

You know you need to cut, but you’re not sure what to cut or why. I always say for a first draft just get the story on the page. Don’t be too concerned about word count, grammar, punctuation, etc. When you go back to edit however you know you’re going to have to make some cuts.

Lots of writers get lost here, not sure what to cut and what to keep. Here’s where it’s invaluable to have a clear goal or theme in mind for your story. And I say ‘in mind’ but I mean written out. If you can’t write your story’s theme in one succinct sentence you don’t have a good enough handle on it to be writing scenes yet.

And once again we come back to the need for a detailed outline that includes not only what happens in each scene but why it matters to your MC.

I’d recommend you read Story Genius by Lisa Cron. She also has a great chapter in her other book, Wired For Story (Chapter 8: Cause and Effect) where she describes in detail how to get it right.

5. *Too many characters in your scenes*

I couldn’t find a hard and fast rule in my research but The Hero’s Journey approach lists eight archetypal characters: The Hero, the Mentor, the Ally or Best friend, The Herald show up early in the story and announces the need for change, The trickster adds fun and humor to the story (again, this could be accomplished by a best friend character, The shape-shifter blurs the line between ally and friend often starting out as a friend and then betraying the hero, The Guardian guards a threshold of some sort and the hero must prove themselves in order to pass or go home defeated, The Shadow is the villain of the story they exist to create conflict internal and external for your hero.

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6. *Your scenes are full of exposition dumps*

Often this is a case of not trusting the reader. Fearing your reader won’t be able to “keep up” with your story, you describe every little detail to the point of beating them over the head with information.

It may also be—a very good—solve for writer’s block. Just one that should be corrected in edits. So to be clear, if you need to exposition dump to get a scene on the page do so, just be sure to correct the injustice in your next draft.

How to correct the injustice? Intersperse dialogue and description liberally throughout your story.

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7. *Your scenes do not have a clear voice*

You don’t feel locked into who you’re telling the story to and why, so the voice shifts as you write. Sometimes you use flowery prose and then switch into direct, simple language.

Have you heard the advice to write to a best friend? your mother, a sister, an imaginary friend or even a stranger. We don’t want you constrained because you’re embarrassed to admit your sins (or your characters’ sins) to your reader. Similarly, we don’t want you shying away from an intimate moment or what could be a great sex scene because you’re worried about your mother reading your words.

Become very clear about who you are writing to before you start writing but don’t let their judgement twist your words or sensor your writing.

8. *Your "camera" movement is confusing*

As you write, you bounce from a god-like view of the context to an up-close description of action, to dialogue, to a different character's vantage point. Writing like this will leave your reader unsure of where to focus.

If the movement is too jarring, your story will get lost in chaos.

A simple fix: 1. Be sure we are only in one character’s head per chapter. And if you have more than one POV character label your chapters.

2. Be sure you bring your reader along for the ride. Occasionally I have to tell a writer not to be quite so diligent in what they cut. Normally cutting your prose down to include only what is absolutely necessary is a good thing. But when it’s cut so close we need an extra read-thru to decipher your meaning you’ve cut it too close to the quick, now your story is bleeding out.

9: *You’re staring at a BLANK PAGE*

You would love to have these problems in your writing, as that would mean you were actually writing.

Instead, when you try to write, you end up staring at the endless blinking of the cursor unsure of where to start and what to write. I think we can attribute this problem to two main causes:

1.     1. Fear of being judged

2.     2. Writer’s block aka fear of imperfection

3.     3. Any other common problems I face while writing tend to fall in the physical discomfort bucket: hungry, too cold/hot, distraction, etc. I believe all these actually go back to one of the first two problems. I ‘m either afraid of being judged or afraid what I write won’t be good enough.

 STORY GRID GUILD

Until next time dear writer friends,

Happy Writing!