What_is_a_scene

What is a scene?

Interesting question this. Jordan E. Rosenfeld defines scenes in her excellent book Make a Scene, as;

'Capsules in which compelling characters undertake significant actions in a vivid and memorable way that allows the events to feel as though they are happening in real time.'

I bet you weren't thinking that when you last sat at your keyboard writing a scene in your novel. But she is correct, because if your characters are not compelling, what are they doing in your book? If they are not doing significant actions why are you writing about their actions? If it is not vivid and memorable, then make it so or you are short changing your reader.

Robert McKee in his equally excellent book; for different reasons; Story, defines a scene as;

'a story in miniature - an action through conflict in a unity or continuity of time and space that turns the value-charged condition of a character's life... No matter locations or length, a scene is unified around desire, action, conflict and change.'

I am not going to better either of those two definitions, but to amplify them I am going to summarise some of the main characeristics of a scene, and hopefully by the end of this post you will understand what a scene is. So I have drawn a mind map. (Click on it to enlarge it)




In no particular order; a scene is a story; it has a beginning a middle and an end. The beginning of any scene is no different to the beginning of your book, you need to give the reader a reason to carry on reading. The beginning of most chapters will be the beginning of a scene. The middle of a scene can go flat, like in any story, so beware of this. Maybe you are dragging the scene on too long or maybe another element needs to be introduced, like the great Raymond Chandler's solution; 'when in doubt have a man walk through the door with a gun in his hand.' The end of a scene will often have a cliffhanger to encourage the reader to carry on reading. The end of most chapters are also the end of a scene, so the same rules apply. Don't let your scene just peter out, make it end.

A scene has one point of view (pov) character. This is not a rule, but it is a good way to start. Why would you want more than one point of view in a scene? So we have our hero; he is very nervous as he is walking his girlfriend towards Pont Neuf in Paris because that is where he intends to propose to her. You could go inside her head during this scene, but why? You might give away her intentions; keep the reader guessing by staying out of her mind. You could introduce subtext by making her react to things in a way that suggests to the reader, and the hero, that his mission might be doomed.

The pov character must have a motivation in the scene; they must want to achieve something, even something trivial like asking someone a question or visiting a person or place. Our hero wants to ask a question and visit a place.

The pov character's motivation must face conflict. Nothing is easy, something must oppose the pov character from achieving their goal for the scene. The pov character can succeed or fail, depending on how it fits into the plot.

So they walk to Pont Neuf in Paris in the evening and he gets down on one knee and proposes and she says yes. Is that it? How weak is that? Where is the conflict trying to prevent him? Before he gets there; she must have her handbag snatched by a thief on a moped, and whilst running after the thief our hero falls and twists his ankle and when he limps back to the heroine, she has gone, so he hobbles across Pont Neuf to get back to the hotel, and meets her on the bridge waiting for him... Aah, now that's better.

A scene must also have an inciting incident. The thief stealing her handbag is the inciting incident in our scene. The inciting incident often introduces the conflict to the scene.

Finally a scene must have a character arc. The pov character must change in some way, no matter how small, from the beginning of the scene to the end. Our hero starts off nervous and ends up in pain. Does he succeed in his proposal? The scene might end when he sees her waiting for him on the bridge. You can end the scene on a cliffhanger. Then cut to another character and another scene and make the reader keep reading to find out what happened on the bridge.

I hope you are beginning to understand what a scene is. There are a few hyperlinks in this post; I hope they don't distract you too much. Next post I intend to discuss the different types of scene. If you have any comments or questions please add comments below. Also if you can recall your favourite scene from a novel tell us why it is your favourite scene. I will discuss favourite scenes as part of this series.