When you are writing a novel or short story, there is often a section in which you need to describe what is happening.
This could be the action scenes, where the main character is doing something, or it could be the scenes in which the dialogue plays a more important role. In either case, you need to make sure that you write in a way that makes the reader feel like they are there with you in the scene. You want the reader to feel that they are looking at life, as the author sees it, through your characters’ eyes. This is called showing, not telling. It’s all about inviting the reader to fill in the blanks and to imagine what is going on based on what you write.
What Is a Scene?
A scene is the portion of a novel or short story that is being told (usually in prose form) as a story. Scenes usually start with action and then proceed through dialogue or description to the next action or dialogue.
A scene could be a conversation between two or more characters, it could be a fight scene, an action scene, a love scene—the list of potential scenes is endless. Whatever the case may be, your job is to make the reader interested in what is going on and make them want to read more. You accomplish this by describing the actions of the characters and using appropriate narrative details such as dialogue, props, and the like. A good scene would be a continuous stream of consciousness, where everything and anything that comes to mind is written down without any consideration of continuity or grammatical structure. If you follow this approach you will find that your scene descriptions will be rich and engaging. You will be able to pull the reader into the scene and make them experience it as you are experiencing it while writing. This is the goal of every story, novel, or play—to transport the reader, or viewer, into a different mental atmosphere and let them experience the story the way you are experiencing it. Whether the story is set in the modern day or on another planet, the goal is the same: to give the reader or viewer an immersive experience of the story. This is where drama and fiction intersect—in the reader’s or viewer’s mind. Once the reader or viewer has immersed themselves in your story, they will have a completely different perception of the world than when they first entered the scene. They will have a sense of smell that you don’t, a sight that you can’t see, and a hearing that you can’t describe. This is what great fiction is all about—taking the reader or viewer on a journey and allowing them to live in your world for a little while.
Creating Engagement Through Description
When writing for an audience, you have to be careful about describing things too much or using too many narrative details. Your job is to create an atmosphere within your readers’ or viewers’ minds, and you do this by using detailed, sensory descriptions that help transport them into your world. This is especially important if you have made a decision to write your story entirely from the point of view of a single character.
It is easy to want to show how great something is, how breathtaking the landscape is, or how brilliant the weather conditions are. All of these things can be great ways to bring a character or place life, but you have to be careful about going overboard with such descriptive writing. If you do, you will lose the reader’s or viewer’s attention and they might even start feeling that you are showing off or trying to be cool by using hyperbole. These are critical mistakes that can make or break your story. You want to avoid these mistakes at all costs—the journey between you and the characters should never be easy, but it should also never be dull. When you work hard to make the story engaging and exciting (but also realistic), the reader (or viewer) will be able to relate to it more easily and feel more empathy for the characters. The more you can do to make the reader (or viewer) feel like they are a part of the story, the better—even the smallest details can help transport them into the world of the storyteller and make them feel like they are truly there.
Make Every Scene Special
A scene is only as good as you make it. This is especially important if you are writing a chapter in which you need to describe a large number of scenes. You don’t want the reader to get bored or exhausted by all the talking—make sure that each individual scene is interesting, fun to read, and adds to the overall narrative flow. In addition, you want the reader to feel that what they are reading is valuable and that it will expand their mental image of the world. You can use a scene description tool, like Scene Tracker, to help you make the most of your scenes. This tool will guide you through the process of writing a scene description and will give you tips on how to make the most of your time while writing. Choose a scene that you have written in a previous draft and click the button to bring up the tool. Now, you can start editing the scene description. First, you will want to remove any unnecessary words or phrases. Second, you will want to add more details about the setting, such as the weather, lighting conditions, and what the characters are wearing. Last but not least, you will want to add some action items, such as dialogue, events, or physical actions. This will make the scene much more interesting for the reader (or viewer). When you are finished, you can either preview the scene or publish it and continue writing. The choice is yours.