What is a scene, at its basic level?
this is a big question, really. And the answer to effective writing is in answering this question.
According to David Gerrold, screenplay writer and inventor of the Tribble, “A scene is a confrontation between two persons.”
Confrontation is conflict.
Every scene must have its conflict.
If you master this, people keep turning pages to read your books.
If you’ve been reading my blog from the beginning, you’ll remember me describing a truly terrible book that I couldn’t put down at ALL.
Why?
Because the author had this DOWN. He wrote suspenseful conflict in every scene. People were dying left and right, and you flipped the pages quickly to discover if the heroes were going to survive.
If the beta reader stops reading the page 80% of the way down to flip the page, you’ve got it made. You’ve mastered this.
That’s your goal.
Every scene is about someone trying to do something, or get something, or say something. Sometimes they get it. That’s a reward or payoff. Most of the times they don’t.
That’s conflict.
