Write a Scene: 5 Elements to Craft a Killer Scene

For so long now I have only focused on the BIG structure of a story here on Writers to
Authors.

But after conducting a survey from thousands of awesome WtA readers over the last
year, one of the questions that showed up over and over again was

How do I write a scene?

Thats an excellent question.

And one that we are going to tackle in todays post.

HOW TO WRITE A SCENE

Before we get started I want to throw a disclaimer out.

This is a LONG post.

And I know that long posts like these make it hard to easily digest in one sitting.

In knowing that, I have taken this post and provided an option to download the entire
post as a PDF version.

Along with this PDF version, you will also get a step-by-step checklist that goes
shows you the critical elements that need to be part of every scene.

Now back to our regular scheduled program.

In order to write a scene

you need to understand what a scene is and what it does for your story.

From there we will discuss the critical elements that go into writing a scene and how to
do each step along the way.
When it is all said and done, you will have the proven framework to craft your books
scenes.

WHAT IS A SCENE
A scene, in its most basic form, is a small story within a larger story.

Think of it as a micro-unit of a story.

Like a full-length book, a scene contains a beginning, middle, and an end.

And if crafted correctly, the scene accomplishes its purpose

moving the story along.

PURPOSE OF A SCENE
The main purpose of the scene is to move your story forward. Like a chain consists of
links, your story is a giant chain that is held together (or linked) by the scenes that make
it up.

Each scene in your story is a link to the next scene and these scenes continue to link
together until you come to the end of your story.

This is important to remember.

Your scenes are not isolated and done in a vacuum. They each serve a purpose of moving
the story forward by way of linking to the previous scene and to the next one.

And the main way that a scene moves the story forward is by conflict.

Keep the conflict up.

Keep the tension high.

You will keep the reader engaged.

But just because conflict is the MAJOR catalyst of a great scene

it is only ONE element of a writing scene.

There are four other elements that go into crafting and structuring a powerful scene that
moves the reader forward.

And the whole rest of this post is dedicated to showing you how you can do that through
a proven framework.

THE FRAMEWORK
I dont know about you but I love acronyms.

I mean they are just so fancy looking and given the way my brain works, they make it
easy for me to remember multiple items in an easy way.

And so I wanted to take what I have learned in the last four years of teaching and
coaching and come up with an acronym that would help you remember all the elements
of writing a scene.

Here is the acronym: S.C.E.N.E.

And it stands for this (see below).

Scene goals
Conflict
Enhanced conflict
New response
Ending prompt

Clever, yes?

Let's jump right in...

SCENE GOALS
Plenty of writing coaches and teachers only hit on one of the six goals that scenes have.
And when you leave out the other five you are really robbing yourself of writing a
powerful scene.

Here are the six goals of a scene.

1. The characters goal in the scene

2. Show more depth of character
3. Show relationship deepening between characters
4. Show more setting
5. Show more of MAIN story problem
6. Add to overall structure of story

As I said, usually writing teachers and coaches only hit on the first one listed and forget
to talk about the other five.

But it is the other five that help take the reader deeper into the story.

They make the characters realer.

The setting more vivid

and the plot more engaging.

We will hit on all six scene goals, but first, lets start with the one that is ABSOLUTELY
critical.

1) The Characters Goal

Before you start writing your scene you should have a clear idea of your characters
MAIN goal in the scene.
For example, if your character lost their dog, then in one of your scenes, his goal would
be to find the dog.

Simple enough, right?

The character needs a goal in every scene.

They need to have a reason for why they are doing what they are doing.

Otherwise, whats the point?

A character with no goal doesnt make for very exciting reading.

So give them a goal.

Give them something they are shooting for.

But the real reason to give the character a goal is because we need to keep them from
achieving it. This will be clearer once we get to the second point in this scene framework.

But for now, lets talk about the other goals in a scene.

2) Depth of character

Another goal of a scene is for you (the writer) to be able to show and add more depth to
your characters.

As you lead your character through the scene you will get a chance to show the reader
more and more about your character.

Use the conflict they experience, their goals, their reactions to situations, and their
decisions to add the characters depth.

Make them real for the character. You can have a great engaging plot with no holes but if
you have cardboard characters, your reader will not be happy.

So use your scenes to add to your character.

3) Relationship building between characters

Beyond adding depth to your character, your scenes have a chance to add to the
relationships between your characters.

Think about the resolution of your story. Are their relationships formed at the end of the
story that wasn't there in the beginning?

Probably.

So one of the goals of your scenes is to start moving your characters relationship with
other to that final outcome.

Each scene allows you to add more depth and bonding (or tearing) between the
characters.

Think of it as a relationship arc.

4) Show more setting

Another goal of a scene is to allow you to bring readers deeper into your story world.

It would be a shame to have these great characters and a killer plot but the reader cant
picture where it is all taking place.

And if they cant envision this world, it seems less real to them.

They want to be pulled in. They read fiction for a reason and one of those main reasons
is the immersion into your story.

Think about some of the popular works of fiction and I bet you have an image of what
the setting looks like.

Lord of the Rings

Hunger Games
 Harry Potter
Game of Thrones
Enders Game
Ready Player One

The list could go on and on.

But my point is, your scenes should have the goal of adding to this vividness of the
setting.

5) Show more MAIN story problem

Scenes dont work in isolation from the rest of the story. As I mentioned before, scenes
are link links in a chain that add to the overall chain.

And like links, scenes add to the overall story.

These little scenes, with their own goals, their own conflict, and their own mini-stories
all play into the larger MAIN story problem.

And one of the goals of writing your scenes is to help the reader see how these individual
scenes are moving the character and the story toward the end.

These scenes serve a mighty purpose.

6) Add to the overall structure of the story

In the same thought of scenes adding to the overall story problem, scenes also add
themselves to the overall story structure.

Im going to use the analogy of the links and chains again to drive home my point.

If youve been on Writers to Authors for any given of time then you probably know I am
a major proponent of story structure.
Not that it is an end all be all, but it does help beginner writers focus their story toward a
logical flow.

And another goal of scenes is to help with this flow between the major structure points.

If you think about it, you can see what I am talking about.

When you write your Hook, you then have several scenes that follow which are reactions
to that Hook. And these scenes all lead into the Inciting Incident (scene) which flows in
the First Plot Point.

And from the First Plot Point, there are several scenes that happen in reaction to the
First Plot Point and these new scenes start flowing toward the Mid-Point.

And on and on it goes until you write the words

The End.

Scenes add to the overall structure.

They help keep the flow steady and the reader moving along the line to the next major
structure point.

They also make sure you have momentum as you are writing.

Scene Goal Summary

I hope you can see that if you only focused on developing the goal of the character within
the scene you miss out on all the other chances to bring your reader deeper into your
story.

Scenes might be small units of fiction within the story, but they are powerful when the
goals are properly outlined.

And now that we have the goals outlined we then can add the element that makes the
reader more engaged.

Conflict.
CONFLICT
It almost goes without saying that conflict should be at the root of your writing.

If a story has no conflict.

If the character can just go about life without anything happening

then what is the point?

Give your story conflict. Make it hard for your character to reach his scene goal (see
above) and his story goal.

Keep it just outside of arms reach for him and the reader will keep reading to find out if
he ever succeeds.

However, where most beginner writers struggle is how to apply conflict appropriately.

Character conflict is only one element of the scene conflict.

Consider these additional items when constructing your scenes conflict.

The conflict between character and setting (think Mazerunner and Hunger
Games).
The conflict between character and plot.
The conflict between character and secondary characters.
The conflict between character and himself (internal conflict); what he wants vs.
what he has to do (e.g. Chief Brody hates water but has to go on a small boat in
the ocean to kill a shark).

Here are some questions that you need to keep in mind as you write your scenes.

Questions you need to ask

1. How does this conflict add to the overall story structure?

2. Does this conflict push my character forward in this scene?
3. Why cant the character resolve this conflict now?
4. How does this conflict deepen my character?
 5. How does this conflict deepen my readers engagement?
6. How does this conflict affect character relationships?
7. How does this scene conflict prompt the next scene (more on this later)?
8. How does this scene conflict add to the readers understanding of the setting?

Add some more questions to this list as you write. The more you explore your scenes
conflict with the overall story you should be able to come up with some additional
insights.

The goal, however, is to keep writing.

Here is a little caveat when it comes to writing your scenes conflict. Your character cant
always fail to achieve success in beating the conflict.

Some scenes he will win and some he will lose.

BUT

Even the scenes he wins, there needs to be something that happens that makes it worse.

Which brings us to the next scene crafting element.

ENHANCED CONFLICT
Scene conflict is good, necessary even, but the enhanced conflict is what keeps moving
your reader through the story.

For example, if we use the story from above about the guy searching for his lost dog it
might look something like this (without enhanced conflict).

Guy searches for dog and by the end of the scene, he either finds the dog (win) or
doesnt (fail).

If your conflict stays there, it doesnt really move the story forward.

But lets look at this scene with enhanced conflict.

Guy searches for dog and by the end of the scene he finds the dog (win) BUT he finds the
dog in an abandoned alley with a dead body.

OR

Guy searches for dog and by the end of the scene he doesnt find the dog (fail) AND he
stumbles into the middle of an execution of a mob boss.

See how this enhances the conflict?

If we only left it to either finding or not finding the dog, it doesnt keep the story
progressing.

But with enhanced conflict, we have reason to write another scene based on the NEW
conflict.

Try/Fail Cycle

A really good way to implement this strategy is to use the Try/Fail cycle.

The Try/Fail cycle basically asks one question that has two possible answers.

Question: Did the character solve the problem (conflict) in the scene?

Possible Answers:

1. Yes, but
2. No, and

See the video below (5min 50sec) of Brandon Sanderson (author of Mistborn, Way of
Kings, and Wheel of Time) explaining how to utilize this concept of TRY/FAIL.

Wow powerful stuff!

This Try/Fail cycle will continue to move your story along until your character gets to
the end and he succeeds.

But before he starts saving the world, he needs a new response to this NEW conflict.

NEW REACTION
So your character either solved the scene conflict or he didnt, but either way the conflict
was enhanced somehow which leads him to react in a new way.

When your character experiences this new setback it causes your character shift his
reaction and response to the situation.

The Pause

Sometimes this looks like him going away for a while to contemplate the new situation.

Example #1 Rocky goes home to think about whether he should fight Apollo Creed for
the heavyweight title.

Example #2 Harry Potter decides if he wants to leave the Dursleys to go to Hogwarts.

Example #3 Darrow contemplates whether he will go with the plan of becoming a

Gold and infiltrating their camp for revenge.

The Quick Draw

Sometimes the situation doesnt afford the character to contemplate and decide what to
do next. Sometimes he just has to DO and figure it out later.

Example #1 Katniss Everdeen decides to take her sisters place in the Hunger Games.
Only later does she contemplate her decision and her new reaction.
Example #2 Bilbo Baggins decides to leave the Shire in a hurry with Samwise before
the Ringwraiths find him. Its later that he slows down to think about what to do next.

The main point to remember when throwing your character through the gauntlet of
scene conflict and enhanced conflict is that it SHOULD cause your character to react
and respond to it somehow.

Situations and conflict shouldnt be blindly happening to your character without some
kind of reaction and response

And with this new reaction and response, comes the final piece of the SCENE creation
concept.

ENDING PROMPT
So lets review what we have covered so far.

1. We figured out what the various scene goals are.

2. We crafted a killer conflict for your character.
3. We enhanced that conflict to push the character and your story forward.
4. We decide how your character will respond to this new conflict (i.e. contemplate,
jump in, or a mixture of both).

And that now brings us to the final step.

Writing the Ending Prompt.

Your character made a decision in the last step, and now this decision presents a new
goal.

In other words, a new prompt for your reader to keep reading.

Lets see this played out in our fictional story of a guy and his lost dog.
Scenario

Jake discovers that his apartment door was left opened and Spot, his 2-year-old lab, is
missing (conflict). He searches the grounds for his lost dog and as he moves down the
sidewalk he hears a whimper coming from down the alley to his left. He moves down the
alley and turns a corner to another alley and finds his dog standing over a dead body.

As Jake moves to get his dog a door opens from the back of the building and two men
exit. Each man is carrying a gun and they notice Jake. The first man out the door raises
his gun and points it at Jake (enhanced conflict). Jake reaches down and grabs the dog
and begins to turn (new reaction). As Jake spins, his foot catches some loose cardboard
and he slips. He crashes to the ground and when he wakes up he sees the two men
standing over him.

End scenario... (no animals were hurt in the writing of this fiction tale).

This would be normally where to end a scene.

Which in turn creates an ending prompt for your reader to keep reading.

They need to know what happens next.

Congratulations!!

Your reader is now mad at you because they were hoping to go to bed but now they have
to stay up longer to figure what happens.

Now this is just one example of how to do an ending prompt.

Not every ending prompt needs to revolve around something going horribly bad (like
our story above).

It could be, after deciding his new reaction, the ending prompt is about the character
beginning a new journey toward a resolution of this new conflict.

For example, maybe the guy came around the corner to see his dog being taken by the
men (theyre part of a puppy mill). Then our guy has to decide what to do next (new
reaction). He might decide to track down the truck (ending prompt) or go back home
and call the police but finds out the police are involved too (ending prompt).

There are several ways to craft the ending prompt. But the key point to remember is to
prompt the reader to turn the page.

And keep turning until the end.

Here are some ways to craft your prompt:

New information is added to the story.

There is an information gap between what the reader knows and wants to know.
Something goes horribly wrong for the character.
The character decides on a new direction that takes him away from the main
story goal (sub-plot).

Thats just few ways to prompt the reader to turn the page. As you write your scene you
will have to decide what your scene prompt is.

When you write your scene ask yourself these questions.

Would I want to keep reading to figure out what happens next? Why?
What about this scene makes the reader keep reading?
Why should the reader care what happens next?
Does this prompt flow logically from the characters new response?
How does this prompt link to the next scene?
What would be the MAIN scene goal of the next scene because of this ending
prompt?
Why does my character need to keep moving? Or in other words, why does the
character feel prompted to continue his journey?

HERES THE NEXT STEPS

There you go!

You have learned all 5 elements to write a scene that engages and hooks your readers.
Like I said this is a long post and one I hope you bookmark and come back to repeatedly
as you write your scenes.

In addition to bookmarking this page, I have also created a PDF version of this post so
you can download it and view anytime you need to.

Along with this PDF version, you will also get a step-by-step checklist that helps you
outline each element in your scene before writing.