1. Big scenes, little scenes—and scenes you don’t need
When you’re reading, before you start editing, think about your BIG scenes: the essential scenes. A novel may have five big scenes—scenes you can’t avoid, because if you avoid them, the reader will feel cheated.
In a romance, the meeting between the hero and heroine is a big scene; in a whodunit, you may drop clues or red herrings in big scenes.
Turning point scenes are big scenes too. The climax is your biggest scene; everything in your novel needs to build toward it.
For each scene, consider:
- The rule of three—character, plot, and emotion.
- The goal of the scene. Every character in a scene has a goal. Ensure that the reader understands the viewpoint character’s goal for the scene.
- Dialogue and subtext.
- Change. At the end of the scene, your viewpoint character has changed in some way.
