Plot. Characterization. Conflict. These are critical elements in writing a book. But when learning how to write a novel, creating scene structure is just as important as the other story elements. Each scene keeps the plot moving. Doing a scene analysis shows the writer if this novel is going to be a page-turner or a sleeping aid.
Scene Structure in Novel Writing
Just as a book has a beginning, middle, and end, every scene should also have a beginning, middle, and end. Just as a story has goal, conflict, and resolution, a scene should have goal, conflict, and dilemma. Just as the end of a chapter should keep the reader turning pages, the end of a scene should be something that will launch the reader into the next paragraph or next chapter.
An effective scene pulls the reader along without her even knowing it. She won’t know why she can’t put the book down, she’ll just know that she has to keep reading. That’s what every writer wants.
Scene Analysis Defines Goal, Conflict, and Dilemma
Begin each scene with something that raises a question, catches the interest, or shows action to hook the reader. Which sentence is the better beginning for a scene?
- Grace woke up and had breakfast.
- The morning seemed perfectly normal until Grace looked at her breakfast.
The scene opener that leaves a question is the one that will keep a person reading. It raises two questions.
- What’s different about Grace’s breakfast on this day?
- What is happening that makes Grace decide it’s not normal?
The middle of the scene is the place to build tension by showing the goal and introducing conflict. Grace wants to have breakfast. That’s her goal. However, something abnormal is happening. That’s her conflict.
- Grace looked at the food her mother had made her. Scrambled eggs with a bagel was her favorite breakfast. But today, the smell turned her stomach to acid, and the mere thought of putting it in her mouth clamped her throat shut in a gag.
Now the reader knows something about Grace. She still lives at home with her mother. She loves eggs and bagels. Yet something has gone wrong for her. Again, the tension is raised, because the reader doesn’t know the dilemma yet. Does she have the flu? Is she pregnant? Does she have an alien invader using her stomach as a host?
The end of the scene should build to a climax that will leave the POV (point of view character) in a dilemma. This dilemma creates the page-turner.
- Grace looked away from the food and held her breath to avoid the smell. She stared at the calendar on the kitchen wall. How many days was she late? She touched her hand to her still flat belly. How long could she hide this pregnancy from her mother?
This scene develops Grace’s dilemma and raises questions in the reader’s mind. These two things will make the reader anxious to see what happens next. This needs to happen over and over again through the rest of the novel, until the final resolution.
Use Scenes as Building Blocks in Writing a Novel
Often a novel writing workshop or creative writing course will have writers choose one scene from a work in progress to analyze. Most novel writing software has writers develop scenes and then move them into chapters. The scenes are like the blocks of a house. One builds on another until the entire house has been erected.
Each scene must advance the plot. A scene analysis should ask the question,
- Does this scene advance the plot and deepen characterization?
If the answer is no, then out the scene should go. If it doesn’t advance the story, then it has no reason to be in the novel. It’s extra filler. Extra filler is what turns a book into a sleeping aid. Applying a short story arc to a novel scene is an effective way to practice this writing technique.
The conflict and dilemma of each scene should contribute to the overall conflict and dilemma of the novel. In the example above, Grace is a young, pregnant teenager. The mother is her foster mom. In the overall conflict of the novel, Grace must make hard decisions about what to do about the baby. She must deal with her foster family’s disapproval and possibly kicking her out of the house. She must deal with her boyfriend’s reaction. This one tiny scene builds into that story conflict.
Guide to Scene Structure in Novel Writing
Every scene should advance the story plot and let the readers get to know the characters better. It should have a goal, a conflict, and a dilemma. Opening each scene with a hook and ending each scene with a dilemma will keep the reader hanging onto each page, anxious to find out what happens next. This is what successful novel writers do.
More information:
Recipe for Riveting writing tells how to write subplots.
Suzanne Pitner - Suzanne Pitner is a teacher and published writer. A member of RWA and YARWA, she writes fiction as Suzanne Lilly.
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