Quick Link: How Do You Know When To Start and End a Scene?

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How do you decide when a scene begins and ends? I just finished a story that was written well so that even though the story wasn’t the greatest, I kept having to read the next chapter because I wanted to know what happened next. That is talent. Randy Ingermanson, owner of Advanced Fiction Writing, shares his tips on how to find the best places to define a scene. What are your tips?

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How Do You Know When To Start and End a Scene?

How do you know when to start a new scene in your story? And how do you know when to end it? What’s the reasoning you use?

Yvonne posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page:

when writing a scene in fiction, how do you know when to move to a new scene? Time, place, pov, deleted or added characters, and what, are the reasons for a scene change?

Randy sez: This is a question that vexes most beginning writers, and rightly so, because it’s a hard question.

The key thing is to understand what a scene is, and what a scene is supposed to do.

How Scenes Work—A Review

A scene is the smallest unit of fiction. It’s a story in its own right. The ability to write excellent scenes is arguably your most important skill as a novelist. By that, I mean that if you can write great scenes, you can get away with a mediocre premise, a mediocre plot, a mediocre setting, and mediocre characters.

Read the full post on Advanced Fiction Writing