There’s a fine balance in writing where an author draws a reader in but doesn’t overwhelm him or her with too much of anything at once. Careful development of a scene holds a reader’s interest, but it can also allow “breathing room,” so the story moves at a comfortable pace. If you stick with one issue for too long, things can become cluttered, confusing or boring.
There are four main building blocks that can help you develop a scene. Think of this is a similar way as using white space on a web page to separate topics, to go easy on the eyes and to give a visitor room to pause, to rest, to think and to linger, before moving on. While your story needn’t contain all four building blocks, it’s not uncommon to do so.
Descriptive language is a key building block for scene development
As a fiction writer, you definitely want your readers to use their own imaginations as your story unfolds. However, you don’t want them to have “nothing to go on,” in a scene. This is where your first building block of “descriptive language” comes in. Well-worded descriptions provide details about external surroundings. What’s the environment like? Are there any specific or outstanding sights, sounds or aromas the reader should know about?
What about the characters in the scene? What are they wearing and how do they look? Not only is it important to use this building block at the beginning of a story, it’s also important to add new descriptions as you develop each chapter or scene within a chapter.
Use narration to help develop your scenes
Narration is another key building block that comes in handy for scene development. You must first decide who will be giving the commentary. This is a useful tool for providing information to the reader, whether it pertains to the past, present or future.
One of the most famous fiction novels of all time uses narration as a building block: To Kill a Mockingbird. From the first chapter, the reader is introduced to the voice of Jean “Scout” Finch who is recollecting events of her childhood, which then guides the reader along through 1930s America and the troubling issues that deeply affected Scout’s family.
If there are characters in your book, they should speak
A third building block in scene development is dialogue. In most cases, it’s important for characters to speak in order for readers to truly get to know them. Too much dialogue all in one place, however, can bore a reader to death. This is where incorporating numerous building blocks together within the same scene is helpful.
For instance, a short dialogue can take place between characters, followed by narration or descriptive language to introduce a new setting, person or situation.
A character’s thoughts can be just as powerful as spoken words
Inner monologue is the fourth build block that can create balance in a scene and make a story more interesting. As you develop a scene, consider adding a character’s thoughts or feelings. This is an internal voice as opposed to the spoken words you would use in direct dialogue.
Fiodor Dostoevsky was masterful in his use of inner monologue in his best-selling novel, “Crime and Punishment.” In fact, much of the story is told through the thoughts and feelings of Rodion Raskolnikov, the main character, whose conscience about the horrific deed he committed is troubling him to the point of insanity.
Weave the building blocks throughout your story
Perhaps a particular chapter in your story will have more dialogue, while another includes more descriptive language. Remember that writing fiction is about finding balance and building each scene in a way that holds your readers’ interests and draws them along on the journey you’ve created for them.
Use descriptive language, narration, dialogue and inner monologue to make your next manuscript the best it can be. It’s also a good idea to take advantage of developmental editing services to help your story achieve its full potential.
