For the first time, Fictionary is taking part in InfoStack’s Romance Writers’ Super Stack. This means that you will get three months of Fictionary StoryTeller AND 20+ books, courses, and software for just $49.
Act fast because this offer expires on April 11 at 11:59pm PST
Note: The bundle is available to everyone, but the three months of Fictionary is for new Monthly Fictionary StoryTeller subscribers only. If you already have a Fictionary subscription but still want to get the bundle for all the other excellent resources, you are welcome to gift the three months of Fictionary to a writing friend.
What will I get with the stack?
The Romance Writer’s Super Stack is a collection of training, tools, and resources curated especially to help you craft a page-turning romance, build heart-pounding tension, and create swoon-worthy characters.
There are over 30 experts participating, and you’ll find some of our favourites listed below:
Jan is the winner of The Royal Mail, Doncaster and Aurealis Awards and the author of 36 books. In this course you’ll learn how to keep your reader turning pages.
Dr Donna Jennings’How to Write Scenes with SexMasterclass | Value: $150
Discover a holistic and sex-positive framework to help you approach human sexuality with self-assurance throughout your story and not just in a scene with sex.
Jen Graybeal’s Indie Author’s Guide to Indie EditorsMasterclass | Value: $25
Learn everything you need to know about finding, hiring and working with freelance editors; as well as money saving tips and the insight you need to determine if the relationship is not working.
Danika Bloom, Founder of Author Ever After, will assess your current situation and help you identify the next key steps to make your dream of publishing a reality.
Want to know more?
Click the HERE to learn about all the resources included in this bundle that we think will help you :
❤️🔥 Build sizzling tension and conflict that keeps the pages turning 🌶️ Write spicy scenes with the expert insight of a sex coach and writer 💥 Craft swoon-worthy stories readers will love 🤩 Create a romance series that turns readers into fans 🥰 Bring your characters to life and give them a love story with heart
Just so you know, we’re sharing The Romance Writer’s Super Stack as an affiliate, so when you use our link to buy, Fictionary will get a small percentage of the proceeds at no extra expense to you. That money will go right back into the software and the community to create more resources and events to help you become a better writer. Win/Win!
We both hope SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS will help everyone with their first draft. By having the creative story editing process laid out in a clear manner, we know we can help writers and editors everywhere. And you know, we love to help writers and editors.
SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS teaches you how to become an exceptional story editor. Whether you’re editing your own story or are an editor wanting your clients to succeed, this book shows you how to make all stories better.
In SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS, you will learn how to structurally edit a manuscript starting by evaluating at the story level and then focusing at the scene level, resulting in actionable advice.
SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS shows you the fastest, most comprehensive route to a successful story edit. You’ll discover the Fictionary Story Editing process and use the 38 Fictionary Story Elements.
GIVE YOUR DRAFT A CREATIVE STORY EDIT, SO IT OUTPERFORMS THE OTHER GREAT BOOKS BEING PUBLISHED TODAY. USE SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS WELL TO EDIT ANY NOVEL INTO A BESTSELLER.
Praise for Secrets to Editing Success
“One of the most frequent questions a novelist asks is “Does my draft contain a story?” Stanley and Cooke have written a practical guide that shows you how to answer that question. Secrets to Editing Success gives you actionable advice and a process to edit and revise your novel so that you can take your novel draft and turn it into a publishable book.”
Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month
“Secrets to Editing Success is every editor’s dream. Whether you’re a new author reviewing your first book or professional editor, this is without doubt, the most comprehensive and detailed guide to editing I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. This book will hold your hand, explain, clarify and give you step by step instructions for editing your novel. Paired best when using the incomparable developmental editing software Fictionary, this guide will change your editing life. Read it. Immediately.”
Sacha Black, Rebel Author Podcast
When we wrote the book, Kristina Stanley was the most generous co-author you can imagine. And being writers, you all have the best imaginations! Can you imagine how lucky I am? And all because I attended the Fictionary StoryCoach Certification Program in the fall of 2021! That’s where I met Kristina.
While we wrote the book, we had such fun enthusiastically exploring the Fictionary Story Elements. You may have noticed the 50,000 word drafting diary. It took a year of collaborating to create this, and most of what is in the drafting diary are discussions on how to best present the information to make it actionable for the reader.
L. Cooke and I spent this last year writing Secrets to Editing Success: The Creative Story Editing Method That Reliably Produces Best-Selling Novels.
Our hearts and minds went into creating this book together. It’s the first time either of us have co-authored a book, and it was an amazing experience. We ended at over 81,000 words of editing advice.
We’re going to share our publishing journey with you until launch day. Today, we’re sharing our draft cover and draft blurb. And we’re celebrating typing “The End.”
What’s It About?
SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS teaches you how to become an exceptional story editor. Whether you’re editing your own story or are an editor wanting your clients to succeed, this book shows you how to make all stories better.
In SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS, you will learn how to structurally edit a manuscript, starting by evaluating at the story level and then focusing at the scene level, resulting in actionable advice.
SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS shows you the fastest, most comprehensive route to a successful story edit. You’ll discover the Fictionary Story Editing process and use the 38 Fictionary Story Elements.
Give your draft a story edit to outperform the other great books being published today. Use SECRETS TO EDITING SUCCESS to edit any novel into a bestseller.
Many of you know that besides being a writer, I’m also the CEO of Fictionary. This year Fictionary is doing something new (and I think special) for writers.
Our goal is to recognize and promote writers who are dedicated to the process of great story telling. The Fictionary Book of the Year Award – for unpublished books edited in StoryTeller – is designed to do just that.
We will award the honour to the best unpublished YA/Middle Grade novel and best unpublished adult novel.
Fictionary is all about celebrating writers and their work. The number of successful award winning authors and bestselling authors who contact us, saying that they edited their books in Fictionary is phenomenal.
And here at Fictionary, we want to increase that number.
We writers should support one another, and what better way than a Fictionary Book of the Year Award. To celebrate the launch of the Fictionary Community, we are also launching the first Annual Fictionary Book of the Year Award.
So how do you win the book award?
Get editing in Fictionary Storyteller. A great story is made up of a collection of great scenes structured in a compelling order.
Fictionary shows you how to use the 38 Story Elements to create remarkable scenes, link them together, and finish a novel. Make sure you have all the Fictionary Elements of a story on show, tidied up, and structurally sound.
Who is judging?
The Judges are all Fictionary Certified StoryCoach Editors, and they will be choosing the work that hits all the Fictionary Story Elements.
Where to get help?
In the Fictionary Community there will be loads of posts — so get stuck in — ask questions about the elements, discuss, figure out how to get your story ready. With Fictionary, every author can powerfully edit their manuscript into a powerful story, a prize-winning story.
To Submit a Manuscript
A writer must have edited their novel in Fictionary StoryTeller, join the Fictionary Community, and submit:
A synopsis: Maximum 500 words. The synopsis must show the inciting incident, plot point 1, middle plot point, plot point 2, and the climax.
First scene or chapter: Maximum 2000 words.
We’re here to help you prepare. The links to the blurb and synopsis teach you how to write a blurb and a synopsis. Full rules and guidelines are in the Fictionary Community.
After 5 novels are shortlisted in each category, these authors will submit their entire manuscript.
Full StoryCoach edit by a Fictionary Certified StoryCoach editor including 3 hours of one-on-one consulting time. (Value $2700 USD)
Full manuscript read-through by Lindsay Auld, Agent at Writers House Literary Agency for the Young Adult/Middle Grade category winner.
Full manuscript read-through by Andrea Morrison, Senior Agent at Writers House Literary Agency for the Adult category winner.
One-year subscription of a StoryCoach client account (Value $288 USD).
Join the community to see the great prizes for shortlisted manuscripts.
The Fictionary Community
Why join?
Connect with other writers and editors
Get your editing questions answered by Fictionary Certified StoryCoach editors
Access free, live editing classes presented by editing experts
Learn about all things Fictionary: product updates, videos, webinars, best practices
Enter your unpublished novel in the Fictionary Book of the Year Award
Attend live events to practice writing a blurb and a synopsis.
Jointhe community to enter your manuscript in the Fictionary Book of the Year award and find out more about submission dates and rules, and the bonus prizes we have for the shortlisted manuscripts.
Do you need to know who many scenes should be in a chapter? Or perhaps how to group scenes in a chapter?
We’ve invited JoEllen Taylor, CEO of First Editing, to talk about the importance of structuring a novel into chapters and scenes and how to do that to ensure a story is powerful.
StoryTeller is creative editing software for fiction writers. Transform your story, not just your words. Successful stories depend on your ability to edit, improve, and revise your work. Only when you master story editing, can you master storytelling.
Why not check out Fictionary’s StoryTeller free 14-day trial and tell powerful stories?
Whether you’re a writer or a story editor, you must understand why the story arc is important and how to check if a story is following this time-proven form. I have to confess, I love the story arc. It fascinates me that something can work for the human brain since stories were first told. Since before anyone knew what a story arc was.
If the incident comes too late, the reader will get bored.
If plot point 1 is too close to the middle, the story will feel rushed.
If the Climax is too late, the resolution won’t satisfy the reader.
All bad things.
Monsters are also bad. So let’s do some time traveling and look at two monster stories. One ancient. The other modern. One an epic poem. The other a novel. Both HUGELY successful.
History of the Story Arc
Let’s go way back into the past. All the way to circa 750 t0 700 BC when is it believed Beowulf was written. It’s an epic poem with 2669 lines. I used the translation of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published by Harper Collins (2016) to analyze the poem from a story arc perspective.
Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in British literature. Normally I write about novels, but novels didn’t exist back then. The long form of a story was a poem, often spoken instead of read.
Beowulf takes place in Denmark, where a monster terrorizes the people. Grendel is his name. Beowulf is the hero of the story and goes on a quest to destroy Grendel.
Beowulf Story Arc Scenes
Inciting Incident: Line 279: 10% into the story.
Beowulf has heard stories of a monster who walks the night. A watchman allows Beowulf to pass into a kingdom, and Beowulf’s ordinary life is changed. He’s on his way to help King Hrothgar fight the monster.
Plot Point 1: Line 665: 25% into the story.
Beowulf kills the monster, Grendel. This causes Grendel’s mother to seek revenge.
So far, so good. The key scenes are fitting perfectly on the story arc most used today.
Middle: Line 1315: 50% into the story.
You can tell I’m getting excited by this point. I wasn’t sure what the results of my analysis would be when I started out on my adventure to study the story arc more deeply.
At the middle, Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother.
Plot Point 2: Line 1958: 73% into the story. Right within range!
Beowulf learns his home is being ravaged by dragons. He’s at rock bottom. He left his home to help others, and now his home is paying the price.
Climax: Line 2260: 85% into the story.
Beowulf fights the dragon and at the end of the climax, he kills it.
The story starts with a funeral and ends with a funeral. It starts with a monster killing people, and ends with a person killing a monster. Perfect symmetry. Beowulf has been around forever for a reason.
The Modern Story Arc
Now let’s time travel forward 2700 years or so. We come to Twilight. Written by Stephanie Meyer. Published in 2008 by Harper Collins. I analyzed Twilight based on word count, not line count as I did with Beowulf.
Twilight was extremely commercially successful. This may or may not be the genre for you, and whether you liked the story or not isn’t the point. The point is a story has a better shot at being commercially successful if it follows the story arc.
Twilight’s Story Arc Scenes
Inciting Incident: 10% into the story.
Bella has already met Edward. This leads up to the inciting incident where Edward saves Bella from being killed in a parking lot. She gets her first glimpse of his powers and is set on her path of discovering more about him.
Plot Point 1: 25% into the story.
Bella suspects that Edward is a vampire, but she decides to pursue him anyway. Edward has emotional power over Bella.
Middle: 50% into the story.
Edward reveals his true powers as a vampire to Bella. He saves her from an attack, and this strengthens how she feels about him.
Plot Point Two: 75% into the story.
A bad vampire goes after Bella, and Bella must leave her home. Bella wants to survive, but not if it means risking those she loves.
Climax: 90% into the story.
The vampire lures Bella into a trap. She faces down the evil vampire and gets injured.
Can You Still Write a Unique Story?
Following the form of the story arc doesn’t mean the story isn’t unique. Of course it is. You are a unique person, and you wrote it. No one else can write the same story. My goal is to give you the best chance of writing a story people love.
Beowulf and Twilight are both about monsters, but they are very different stories.
And that my is my story of what the story arc is important.
StoryTeller is creative editing software for fiction writers. Transform your story, not just your words. Successful stories depend on your ability to edit, improve, and revise your work. Only when you master story editing, can you master storytelling.
StoryTeller draws a recommended story arc and draws the story arc for your story. You can see how to improve the structure of your story within seconds.
Why not check out Fictionary’s StoryTeller free 14-day trial and tell powerful stories?
Sharing a draft of your novel with anyone for the first time can be scary. The stress of waiting to hear back from your readers or editor, of worrying about what they might say, and wondering if your writing is ready to submit can take its toll.
So why would you share your work with anyone before you’ve revised your first draft, improved it, making sure it’s as good as you can make it before anyone else reads it?
You wouldn’t. That’s why you perform a story edit and rewrite. This is where you get to self edit a novel.
A story edit is the first step in the self-editing process. I’m not talking about copyediting or proofreading. You can do that after you’ve completed your story edit. Story editing is also known as structural editing of long form fiction.
Rewrite: to write (something) again especially in a different way in order to improve it or to include new information — Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Rewriting your first draft means analyzing your story from a high-level perspective and fixing any weak areas. You want to make sure that the story structure makes sense, the scenes are tense, there are no plot holes, and you haven’t left any subplots unfinished.
While you perform a story edit, meaning self-edit a novel, take a hard look at your characters.
How often do they appear?
What are their goals?
What gets in the way of their goals?
Characters will drive the tension in your story, and tension is what keeps a reader reading. Read Focus on Characters for an in-depth look at how to make the most of your characters.
Tension comes in when you’re evaluating the plot.
What is the purpose of each scene?
Is there an entry hook opening each scene?
Is there an exit hook at the end of each scene?
Read Focus on Plot for an in-depth look at how to evaluate plot.
Finally, the story edit should examine your settings.
Is the location you chose the best place for emotional impact?
How often do you use the same setting, and is it too often?
Do your settings help with the tone of your scenes?
Settings are key to keeping your reader engaged, so don’t ignore them. Read Improve Your Settings for an in-depth look at evaluating your settings.
Where To Start Your Story Edit
Here are three questions to ask yourself when you self-edit a novel review each scene and look for ways to improve it.
1. What is the purpose of this scene?
Defining the purpose of the scene first allows you to address other elements of the scene and test if they are in line with the purpose. A scene may have more than one purpose, but see if you can choose the most important one and then ask yourself does this help drive the story forward.
2. Who has the point of view?
Multiple points of view means the character who controls the POV for a scene changes from scene to scene. As a writer, you must be in control of this aspect. The generally accepted method is to have one POV character per scene. Switching POV mid-scene, also known as head-hopping, can jar the reader from the story.
3. Is the setting the best place for emotional impact?
When answering the question, think about who has the point of view for the scene and what makes them feel strong or vulnerable.
Do you have a character who is afraid of the dark? Imagine the character is about to have a confrontation with an employee. If the character feels confident being in his/her own office and you want the character to be in a position of strength, then use the office as a setting.
If you want the character to feel vulnerable during the confrontation, try locating him/her outside, at night, in an isolated parking lot. And make it very dark. The streetlight is broken. There is no moon. Maybe it’s windy, so a cry for help won’t be heard.
Tackle each question and rewrite each scene accordingly.
When do you ever get to see what a story editor delivers to a client if the client is not you? Our new course gives you an insider’s view of what happens in a story edit.
Thirteen professional editors edited the same novel.
Each editor worked separately in Fictionary StoryCoach.
This course evaluates their edits and shows you what worked and what didn’t. We’ll show you two scenes before editing and after revisions based on the editors’ suggestions. We even compare summary letters and per scene notes.
For writers looking to hire a professional story editor, this course shows you what you should receive from a story editor. It will also show you how an editor might look at your story.
On sale for $39 USD. Use Coupon INSIDERSVIEW Regular Price: $99. Offer Valid until Mar 31, 2021
StoryTeller is creative editing software for fiction writers. Transform your story, not just your words. Successful stories depend on your ability to self-edit a novel, improve, and revise your work. Only when you master story editing, can you master storytelling.
StoryTeller draws a recommended story arc and draws the story arc for your story. You can see how to improve the structure of your story within seconds.
Why not check out Fictionary’s StoryTeller free 14-day trialand tell powerful stories?
A compelling character arc is the emotional journey your character takes throughout your story that engages your reader. A character arc can also be referred to the emotional arc of a character.
Why is a Compelling Character Arc Important?
A reader wants to experience emotion. If a character doesn’t experience emotion, then the reader won’t either. This is a simple concept to understand but a hard concept to implement in a story.
If a character experiences emotion, then the emotional journey can be shown from the beginning of a story to the end.
What’s the Starting Point?
A character arc starts the moment your character enters the story.
Scene-by-Scene Character Arcs
If you pay attention to the impact every scene has on a character, you’ll develop a compelling character arc.
Let’s look at what that means.
There will be a point of view (POV) character for every scene. This means the character whose eye’s the reader will experience the scene from. There will also be a protagonist in your story. The story is mostly about this character. A good way to test who is your protagonist is to write a blurb (back cover text) and see which character you write about.
Make a list of your key characters.
All POV characters
the protagonist
Now, at the end of every scene, ask yourself:
What is the impact on the POV character?
What is the impact on the protagonist (if different from the POV character)?
When answering, all you need to know is it positive, neutral or negative compared to the beginning of the scene.
Let’s look at an example of how to evaluate character arcs for important characters.
Did you notice I said important characters instead of main characters?
This is because any character who is the point or view character is important. They may not be a main character, but if you have chosen them for a point of view character, they are important.
Here’s an example from the Fictionary Story Map insight. Whatever method you use, it’s important to not only keep track of the character arc, but also keep track of the related story elements. To dig deeper into the Story Elements, check out our video series.
In the Story Map example, there are three point of view characters shown. Shannon, Jake, and The Boy.
Shannon is the protagonist.
Jake is the love interest.
The Boy is the antagonist.
Using the Story Map, I see all three characters and the impact the scene had on each character. I like to select the scene name along with the Purpose, so I remember what the scene is about and why it’s in the story.
In the first three scenes, Shannon ends each scene in an emotional state that is negative to how she started the scene.
The first scene shows Shannon’s ordinary world, so I’ve marked the purpose of the scene as The Setup.
The second scene introduces a key character, so I’ve marked the purpose of that scene as Character Introduction.
And the third scene is the Inciting Incident. The inciting incident is the moment the protagonist’s world changes in a dramatic way. In this scene, Shannon’s is hurt enough that she is going to change her life.
At the beginning of the story, Shannon starts out in a positive emotional state. Scene 1 knocks that down a notch, scene 2 even further, and scene 3 is even harder on Shannon. The start of Shannon’s arc takes a big drop.
When Jake is introduced in scene 3, he receives a phone call that upsets him. He goes from a positive mental state to a negative mental state. In scene 4, Jake starts the scene unhappy, but moves to a positive frame of mind when he meets Shannon.
The Boy has the opposite emotional start in the story than Jake does. His first scene ends with him in a happy place. The start of the next scene, he’s happy but by the end his beloved father is dead. Most definitely not happy.
Neutral is Bad
To create a compelling character arc, it’s important write scenes where the emotional state changes. If the point of view character is happy at the beginning of a scene and in the same state of happiness as the end of the scene, what was the purpose of the scene? It may mean the goal was not strong enough to make it meaningful. There are definitely issues.
The Story Arc and Compelling Character Arcs
The protagonist’s emotional state must change dramatically in the key story arc scenes. The key scenes have a big impact on the story, so they must have a big impact on the protagonist. The impact should be stronger than in the other scenes. And in the climax scene, it must be the strongest.
The inciting incident is the moment the protagonist’s world changes in a dramatic way.
If the protagonist’s emotional state does not change in a dramatic way when their world changes in a dramatic way, then there is a problem. Perhaps you’ve chosen the wrong protagonist, or perhaps the inciting incident isn’t related to the plot. Whatever the reason, the scene needs to be rewritten.
Plot Point 1 is the point of no return. The character can’t back out of the central conflict. This is the moment when the setup of the story ends and Act I is over.
Let’s face it. If anyone one of us changes our lives and can’t return to our previous life, we are going to feel differently when that happens. Your protagonist must too.
The midpoint is when the protagonist changes from reactive to proactive.
Here again, the protagonist is going to change their behaviour, and the only was that happens is if their emotional state changes.
Plot Point 2 will be a low point for your protagonist. Her actions since the middle have caused disaster. At PP2, she becomes more determined to reach her goal.
Note the word disaster in the description. That pretty much tells you to go from a positive to a negative emotional state in this key scene.
You’ve built your story up to the climax with rising action, and now the climax scene (or scenes) will have the highest level of conflict, the greatest tension, or the most devastating emotional upheaval.
Depending on the type of story you’re writing, the protagonist either wins or loses. They achieve the main story goal or they don’t. And that must impact their emotional state. Let me repeat that. The climax scene MUST impact the protagonist’s emotional state.
Story Structure
Too Many Negative Endings
For a compelling character arc, the scene can’t end with the protagonist in a negative emotional state compared to the beginning of the scene for too many scenes in a row. The reader will start to believe the protagonist will never reach their plot goal and what’s the point of reading the story. There has to be a hint that the protagonist can succeed.
Too Many Positive Endings
Too many scenes in a row where the protagonist’s emotional state is better at the end of the scene than at the beginning will bore the reader. If the character reaches every goal too easily, the story will lack tension.
Scene-by-Scene Character Arcs
There’s no way around it. To create a compelling character arc, you’ll evaluate every scene and keep track of whether the emotional state goes from positive to negative or negative to positive.
StoryTeller is creative editing software for fiction writers. Transform your story, not just your words. Successful stories depend on your ability to edit, improve, and revise your work. Only when you master story editing, can you master storytelling.
Why not check out Fictionary’s StoryTeller free 14-day trial and tell powerful stories?
First, let’s talk about spelling of plotpoint. One word or two. It’s doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you know what a plotpoint is and how to use it in your story.
My point. It won’t matter how perfect your spelling and grammar are if you don’t have a powerful story. Knowing what each plotpoint is will help you evaluate if you have a powerful story.
The story arc is a proven form for stories. The human brain is somehow attracted to the form and it’s the way we love to experience stories. It doesn’t matter if the story is an epic poem, a novel, or a movie. The form is the same.
And this form contains plotpoints.
Plotpoints of the Story Arc
Plotpoints are events in the story that have meaningful impact on the protagonist.
To start, in the inciting incident an event happens that shakes up the protagonists world.
In plotpoint one an event occurs that the protagonist can’t turn back from. This could be something that happens to the protagonist, it could be a decision the protagonist makes, or it could be something the protagonist causes.
Why not check out Fictionary’s StoryTeller free 14-day trialand tell powerful stories?
At the midpoint, the protagonist changes from reactive mode to proactive. This is where they take action to achieve their goal.
During plotpoint two, the protagonist is at the lowest point in the book. An event happens and the protagonist thinks they are lost, there is no way they can achieve this goal.
And then on the climax. This is the big event where the protagonist either wins or loses.
What do Plotpoints Have in Common?
The protagonist is in all the plotpoint scenes. This is a must or the character arc will fail.
Each plotpoint scene is written in active form. There is no narrative summary here. The reader wants to experience the scene along with the protagonist.
The key event in the plotpoint scene relates to the plot and to the protagonists main goal for the story.
Master this form, and you’re on your way to being a master storyteller.
StoryTeller is creative editing software for fiction writers. Transform your story, not just your words. Successful stories depend on your ability to self-edit a novel, improve, and revise your work. Only when you master story editing, can you master storytelling.
StoryTeller draws a recommended story arc and draws the story arc for your story. You can see how to improve the structure of your story within seconds.
Why not check out Fictionary’s StoryTeller free 14-day trialand tell powerful stories?
Great stories, just like any large structure, are built of many smaller parts, known as scenes. So what is a scene?
I guarantee that even if you’re unclear on the elements of scene making, you’ll recognize when you’re reading one intuitively: Scenes invigorate and enliven dry narrative. They put characters into compelling action and powerful dialogue. They use sensory detail to bring the reader viscerally inside the characters’ lived experiences and reveal setting. Scenes wake stories out of slumber.
Scenes, in a nutshell, are the moments of a character’s experience written with such clarity of detail that the reader feels as though they are living it, not just reading it.
While I’m a big believer in letting yourself write mediocre scenes in order to get the first draft written, it’s helpful to know how to revise your scenes later to bring them to life.
Make Every Scene Sing
Here are some suggestions for scene-by-scene editing to make sure they really sing:
Focus on the action:
The hallmark of a scene is action, often called momentum—that beat-by-beat energy that creates a feeling of real time passing, plus dramatic action—the “what happens” of the scene that reveals new plot information and creates consequences for your character.
So always ask: Are my characters moving through space and time in acts and words, and, is there something significant that happens in this scene? (And does it create a consequence or sequel for the next scene?). Scenes without action aren’t scenes at all—they’re often long passages of narrative summary, loops of internal monologue or passive descriptions of setting without character interaction. On that note, have characters think less and do more.
New plot information:
Ask yourself, what does the reader/character learn in this scene that they didn’t already know? A new clue to the plot? A new piece of character information? A who, what, where, when or why? If you can’t pinpoint one, you know one thing your scene is missing.
Active character discovery:
Is your character actively involved in the new pieces of plot information? Do they discover, uncover, learn, reveal, seek, find, chase, call, etc? If the information is coming to them passively, the scene will feel too easy and the climax unearned.
How are you using dialogue?
Are you writing “conversation’s greatest hits” (thank you Jessica Page Morrell, from Between the Lines)? Avoid mundane pleasantries and discussions about food, weather and giving directions. Dialogue should be stylized and strategic, used to reveal character and develop plot. Try not to rely too heavily on it, either, so that you’re using it as an info-dump rather than letting characters discover plot elements in action.
Are you saturating setting?
If you find yourself writing the kind of setting descriptions that could run in an Architectural Digest article, you’re probably boring the reader with too much summary. Make sure you reveal setting as the character interacts with it. Just enough to ground the reader in the scene, but not to the point of overkill.
Scene structure:
Scenes, like the novels they comprise, have a design. A launch, a middle, and an ending. They should launch with new action or continuation of a prior scene’s cliffhanger; they should build, through obstacle and challenge, to a high point—epiphany, danger, discovery—and then end in a way that creates a consequence for the character to tend to in the next scene.
Tighten tension:
Lastly, ask yourself if your scenes deliver a sense of urgency and intrigue, conflict and danger, suspense or withholding—that’s the stuff of tension, which creates page-turnability. Without tension, things happen too easily, people are too nice, too beautiful, too successful without any challenge. When tension is in place, characters must struggle with everything from their own internal flaws to their antagonists to dangers and conflicts thrust at them from many angles.
While there are many more aspects to editing your own scenes, follow these seven guidelines for stronger scenes that build a powerful story.
Jordan Rosenfeld
Jordan is author of the suspense novels Women in Red, Forged in Grace and Night Oracle as well as the writing guides How to Write a Page Turner; Writing the Intimate Character; Writing Deep Scenes; A Writer’s Guide to Persistence; the bestselling Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time, and Write Free: Attracting the Creative Life.
She is also a freelance writer and editor. Her articles and essays have appeared in such publications as The Atlantic, The New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, Salon.com, Scientific American, the Washington Post, The Writer, Writer’s Digest and many more.
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By Jordan Rosenfeld
Jordan is author of the suspense novels Women in Red, Forged in Grace and Night Oracle as well as the writing guides How to Write a Page Turner; Writing the Intimate Character; Writing Deep Scenes; A Writer’s Guide to Persistence; the bestselling Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time, and Write Free: Attracting the Creative Life.
Creative Story Editors 