What Exactly is a Scene? And How To Write One?

Scenes are the building blocks of every bestseller that’s ever been written. There is not a successful fictional book without scenes. There just isn’t. Even classical literature has well-written scenes, and yet… no one in the writing community really talks about them? Writers plow through writing craft books, go to writing conventions or training sessions, but still have no understanding of scenes. A teacher will drone on and on about plots, plot devices, character arcs and literary devices, but what good is any of that when the author doesn’t utilize scenes?

Contrary to popular belief, scenes are not inherent to the writing process. And, they’re not necessarily easy to write, understand, or identify. There should be more people in the writing community talking about scenes and how to write them. So that’s what we’ll do today. Take this Editor’s tips, and you’ll find it easier to write more powerful, immersive scenes! 

So if you’re panicking and wondering ‘Wait…Do I not write scenes? What exactly is a scene? How do I write one?’ Don’t worry, we’ll cover all of it. Just keep reading.

Are Scenes Really That Important?

Scenes are a crucial component of any story. Trust me. Your story will live and die by the strength of its scenes. Every successful novel ever written has great scenes. A Literary Fiction book with no clear plot? –Betcha it still has strong scenes. An Epic High Fantasy novel with too many subplots? –I guarantee people kept reading because the scenes were immersive. Listen, if you don’t write scenes, your plot, your characters, your themes will not matter to readers. Listen again, they WILL NOT MATTER. I am speaking from experience here. I have actually read manuscripts that were written without scenes. At those times, I struggled greatly to finish the manuscript. The time it took to read just two pages of a book without scenes was equal to the time it takes to read 20 pages of a book with them. I am not exaggerating. If you’ve written a book without scenes, the average reader is definitely gonna put that sucker down in the first ten pages. 

By the way, as an Editor, I don’t usually struggle to finish reading manuscripts. Plot all over the place? No problem! Characters unlikeable? No worries! Absolutely no scenes? yeah–I’ll be reading at a snail’s pace. That’s how vital a scene is. Not just for me, for everybody. Readers will occasionally keep reading even with a bad plot or characters, but they won’t keep reading without scenes. Scenes are where things happen. It’s where all the action is. It can be argued that if you don’t have scenes, you don’t really have a story.

What It Feels Like to Read a Book Without Scenes

Imagine a movie where the narrator drones on and on for 79 minutes and the footage is filmed at a constant 5 meter distance from the main character. The narrator says, ‘The girl dumped her boyfriend, got a job, rose out of poverty, and found happiness in a library.’ And only after we’re told this do we see footage of her walking out of a trailer park, and filling out a job application. But the footage is always at a 5 meter distance from her. Not close enough to see the tears welling up and her shaking pen as she fills out the job application. Not close enough to see how the dust cakes her feet because she’s been barefoot most of her life. Not close enough to even see if she’s smiling at her new job. That’s what it’s like to read a book without scenes–you’re kept at a distance and never have a chance to see the detailed action as it’s happening.

If you saw that movie, would you be impacted? Would it feel immersive? Would you relate to the main character? Probably not. Don’t make your readers feel this way, please. Don’t keep them at an arm’s length. Let them see the character’s actions and feelings as they’re happening. How do you do that? By writing scenes.

Scenes are the backbone, the building blocks, the essence of any story. What’s more, scenes are powerful! Scenes are where the action beats happen, but they’re also how you let readers in. With a powerful scene, readers are right there with you–seeing the story as you imagined it in your mind. A scene allows readers in where they can not only see the action beat by beat, but can also be immersed in the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions that you wanted them to be immersed in. A scene is how you do that–not a perfect character arc, plot, or beat sheet, a scene.

What is a Scene? Two writing examples

Okay, now let’s discuss what exactly a scene is. A scene is simply a series of progressive action beats (or even dialogue) that move the story forward, are motivated by a main character’s goals, and that happen in a particular place or time. 

A scene will immediately immerse readers in an imaginable setting, and will pique their interest by subtly sharing the MC’s goal or perspective. A scene will utilize dialogue or action beats to move the story forward. A scene will also lead into another scene organically, in a cause-effect sort of way. A scene will show natural, organic action-reaction-interaction beats. A scene will feel immersive, be rich with sensory details, and every action or dialogue will be easily envisioned by the reader. 

It might be easier to understand scenes by looking at examples. Please read each of the writing samples below. Try to discern which one is a “real” scene.

A

B

It was the first blustery day of winter in Minnesota, and her dad was changing the car tires. When her mom said “Hun, take these cookies to your pop.” The little girl nodded and ran outside. She was happy to have something to do besides watch the snow fall.  Her dad smiled at her but then something terrible happened. She screamed and the neighbor came running. Her screams were triggered by the fact that she saw her dad’s hand between the tire and the car.  She realized later that the car jack failed and the car had slipped off the jack. It was a terrible experience. Her mom didn’t even know what happened. Thankfully, the neighbor that came quickly fixed the problem. But that day was difficult even though she was excited for winter.

Her hand squeaked as she rubbed the fog away from the window and watched her dad outside. Surrounded by a car jack and winter tires, he breathed into his hands and rubbed them. In his brown parka, he looked something like a small, huddled squirrel preparing for winter. Her attention shifted to the snowflakes melting on the windowsill until her mom’s gentle hand touched her shoulder. She looked up and saw her mom holding a plate of freshly-baked cookies. “Here. Take these to your pop, would you hun?”  A blur of frizzy auburn hair and freckles, she grabbed the cookies, dashed outside and yelled “Pop, cookies!” Though he was in the middle of changing a tire, his eyes looked at hers and crinkled up in a smile. While her dad’s eyes were locked with hers, she heard a horrible “ker-thunk” as the car slipped off the jack, and trapped her dad’s hand between the car and the tire.  His body jolted and his quickly reddening eyes searched hers. He coughed out a broken “Help!” She tried to run but the air around her felt like a plaster mold from which she couldn’t move an inch. All she could do was scream.  Running footsteps crunched across their yard, “What? What is it?” their neighbor yelled.  “The jack. Bob, the jack. My hand!” her father gasped.  Mr. Bob grabbed the jack and fit it properly beneath the car. He pushed the handle until the car lifted. Her father fell backward, grabbing his bloodied hand. The door opened as her mother said, “What in the world is going on out here?” Three relieved, shocked faces stared back at her as blood fell silently on the fresh snow.

Which one has a proper scene?

Okay, so which one had the proper scene? If you’re thinking ‘B’ you would be right! ‘B’ is a scene. ‘A’ is composed mostly of summary sentences, which we will cover in the next section. I wrote both examples, and ‘B’ could still be edited for concision and more sensory details. It could also be made more compelling by making the girl the reason the father’s hand gets trapped–perhaps she falls and hits the jack, etc. There are still ways to make the scene better, but the components of a great scene are there. That’s how it will be with your own writing too. So, I didn’t edit it heavily because I want you to be able to identify what is and isn’t a scene (or a potential scene) in your own writing–no matter if it is edited to perfection or not.

A Quick Note on Summary Sentences

Before we discuss why ‘B’ is a scene, let’s discuss why ‘A’ is not. Although there is still action happening in ‘A’, it is absolutely not a scene because it is mostly composed of summary sentences. Summary sentences are just that– sentences that summarize the action rather than let us in on the action as it’s happening. Summary sentences tell readers what happened after it has already happened. Summary sentences keep readers at a distance. Summary sentences don’t leave much room for details or sensory descriptions.

Summary sentences are sometimes necessary, in fact most manuscripts will have around 10-15% summary sentences. They’re useful when your story changes seasons or when too much detail would be boring. Summary sentences can even be used as literary devices or a way to subvert the genre, but you’ve got to know how and when to use them. They’re not always bad, but a manuscript composed only of summary sentences is bad–very, very bad. A summary sentence tells readers: “She met her future husband under the football stands.” You know it happened, but didn’t see it happening. That’s why scenes are preferable. A scene shows readers the action beats of them meeting: “She ran under the stands, hiding her tears under her hoodie. That’s when she saw him; the drumline leader laughing and walking straight towards her…Etc.”

Why is ‘B’ a Scene?

Okay, so why is ‘B’ a scene? Well, there are a few reasons, stay with me folks! 

First,’B’ is a scene because things happen in real time. The sentences don’t serve as summaries of the action–instead the sentences let us in on the action as it’s happening. In ‘A’ the lines “She screamed and the neighbor came running. Her screams were triggered by the fact that she saw her dad’s hand between the tire and the car. She realized later that the car jack failed and the car slipped off the jack” doesn’t even give readers the most important causal action (the car slipping off the jack) until the last sentence! Don’t do that to your readers. If something important happens, let them discover that action as it happens in real time… don’t give it to them as an afterthought. 

Second, ‘B’ is a scene because there is a main character’s POV and goal. We start by reading the little girl’s perspective–hear her squeaking hand as she rubs a circle on the foggy glass, see her father as a squirrel doing winter preparation, etc. We understand that her goal (though it’s more of a want in this example) is to be with her dad, so she runs to give him cookies and then a conflict occurs. We see her inner conflict and feelings when the car slips off the jack and her goal then becomes to help her dad, but she can’t move.  

Third, ‘B’ is a scene because it shows a progression of related action beats that are motivated by a goal and happen within a certain setting. (The girl watches her dad. The mom realizes the girl misses her dad. The mom gives cookies. The girl runs outside with them. The dad looks at her while the car slips off the jack. The girl wants to help. She screams. The neighbor hears and runs over. The neighbor helps. They stare in shock when the mom opens the door.) Each action beat progresses naturally from the one before it and leads into the one after it. The initial action is motivated by a goal or want. And all of the action happens in an imaginable setting. We can imagine it because there are more descriptive and/or sensory details. (The snow on the windowsill, her father in a parka, the red blood that drips into the snow.)

‘B’ is also just more fun to read, right? Again, I only moderately edited it, but it should be more pleasurable to read even though it’s four paragraphs longer than ‘A’. You may have even read it faster--or felt like you did. Also, the content of both ‘A’ and ‘B’ is the same, but ‘B’ takes readers by the hand and immerses them in the action as it happens. Which one would you rather read for 100+ pages? ‘A’ or ‘B’? Yep, readers will also prefer to read your novel if it’s full of effective, action-driven, sensory-filled scenes. So, what's the secretto writing great scenes?

How Can You Write a Great Scene?

Congratulations! If you’re asking yourself ‘how can I write great scenes?’ you’re already halfway there. You’ve adopted a mindset that many people are too preoccupied with beat sheets or character arcs to think about. Seriously. Beat sheets are useful and character arcs are important, but they’re nothing if you don’t write in scenes. So, just being mindful of scenes is already going to improve your writing. However, I’ll also give you three ways to write great scenes here. 

The first way is to imagine a cinematic scene. Pretend you’re seeing your story as a movie at the theater. Literally play out the scene in your head, and make notes as you do so. You can close your eyes, and type the notes or close your eyes then open them to write by hand. You can even use a voice recorder. Any note-taking method is fine. Just be sure to take descriptive notes. Take notes of the setting, and whose perspective we’re seeing. Take notes on the goals, the actions taken, and the small details. Take notes of people’s quirks or actions as they speak–where they are, how they’re sitting, etc. (Avoid those talking heads!) Imagine everything to the extent that you can see it like a movie. After taking notes, identify the strongest action beats and write them out as an outline or simply start writing the scene itself. Be sure to include the perspective, the goal and the progression of related action beats. Ideally, fit in as many sensory-filled descriptions as you can and be sure that your readers are seeing the action while it happens–not after the fact as summary sentences. 

The second way is to focus on the POV character's goal or want and fit everything else around it. Consider the character’s perspective and their goal. Then brainstorm which steps they will take towards that goal and any hurdles that can be thrown in their way. Consider subplots and how those subplots might create a hurdle. Lastly, consider the outcome of this scene and how it will lead to the next scene(s). After you have imagined all of this, begin outlining or writing the scene. Start with your character’s perspective and write them taking steps towards their initial goal. Then add in hurdles or distractions from that goal. And be flexible-the goal may change at some point in the scene. Be sure that each action-beat towards the goal shows a progression/relation to the beats before and after it. And try to provide sensory details so that readers are immersed. As stated earlier, keep readers involved by allowing them to be as close to the character’s perspective as possible–let them see the action in real time as it happens to your character(s).

The third way to write a great scene is to imagine every scene as an integration of action-reaction beats surrounding a recent plot point. This is my preferred method for writing scenes because it provides some structure but not too much. Again, consider whose perspective we will see for this scene. Then imagine what action they will take. Why? Is it their goal, want or need? Is it a reaction to the prior scene? Whatever the reason, write them taking action. Then imagine others’ response or reaction to that action. And it just snowballs. The rest of the scene is simply action beats and others’ reaction to them which in turn changes the POV character’s action. And of course, you can (and should) show characters interacting with each other and each other's actions/reactions as well. As with all the other scene-writing methods, you should be mindful of how each action beat progresses and is shaped by the actions before/after it. You should also be writing the scene in real time and give sensory details to immerse the reader.

Scenes are the Glue!

Scenes are the magical glue that creates a great, cohesive, impactful story. They’re so vital that reading one page of a novel without scenes can take as long to read as 10 pages of a novel with them. Scenes let you immerse readers so that they see what you saw when you wrote the story, and feel what your characters feel. I shared three methods to write great scenes, but really, after practicing those methods, you may modify them to create your own method. Find what works for you. Just remember these points: Scenes utilize a character's perspective and are connected to that character's goal, scenes also immerse readers in a time or place by using sensory details, and (most importantly) scenes move the story forward by showing a progression of related action beats that happen in real time. They don't summarize the action, scenes let readers in on the action as it's happening. I believe every writer can write great scenes, so start today! Find a method that works for you, and just start writing. When you begin focusing more on the strength of your scenes than the strength of a perfect outline, you'll see your writing and your stories transform. Wishing you all the best of luck! Happy Writing!