5 Insider Secrets For Brainstorming a Great Scene

Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

1.  Ask yourself, “Why can’t this scene be cut?"

There’s nothing like the threat of having to cut your own writing to get your attention and inspire great brainstorming.

To be a scene that can’t possibly be cut, something needs to happen that impacts the story and changes it.  You’re looking for something that produces fallout that will ripple across scenes and chapters.

2.  Ask yourself, “Who experiences disaster in this scene?”

Fiction is all about disasters small and large.  It’s what gives characters a chance to show off their personality, be it heroic or villainous. 

3.  Ask yourself, “Who is lying in this scene?”

Lies and secrets are innately interesting to readers.  Some lies are told for good, and others are told for varying degrees of evil, from embarrassment all the way to plots to rule the world.

Of course, lies only work if you give hints to the reader that they’re being lied to. 

And if you really want a great scene, expose the lie.

4.  Ask yourself, “What twist can I insert that blows my viewpoint character’s mind?”

Throw your character off balance, and you’ll throw the reader off balance as well.  Hint:  readers love this!

5.  Ask yourself, “How can I re-stage this scene so there’s better, more dramatic, physical action?”

Scenes can be choreographed in the same way as Cirque du Soleil, to be a  mind-blowing, visual feast.  Even small, quiet scenes can be re-designed to be more compelling.

If your mother and teen-daughter characters need to have an argument, where is the most effective place for that to take place?  We’ve all seen the scene where the teen yells, stomps down the hall, and slams her bedroom door.  Been there, done that.

But what about the teen who starts tearing pictures off the living room wall?  Same argument, different setting and actions. 

Or what if they’re not at home at all.  What if they’re at church, hissing at each other in the pews during the service?  What if the daughter suddenly stands up, yells, “I hate you!” and stomps off, down the aisle and out the church door?

Now that’s a scene!

clip_image004Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.