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odd_buttonsThe following is an excerpt from Part III of the book Making Shapely Fiction, by Jerome Stern. The first two parts are very much worth reading as well. The book is available in paperback.
Scene
A child in a tantrum screams, throws toys, lies on the floor, and kicks the air. The parents say, "You're making a scene!" It's a tremendously suggestive phrase for writers. When you "make a scene" you create a memorable moment. You interrupt normal patterns. The scene gets remembered as a significant event in a life history. "When we took you to the zoo, you refused to leave the elephant house. You made such a scene."
As a writer you have the same opportunity -- to stop time, create an event, make a scene. Your readers can be made to feel the drama of a moment. Actions and thoughts that take seconds to happen in life may take paragraphs, even pages, to be told. When Huck Fin decides he'll take his chances on eternal damnation rather than betray his friend Jim, Twain doesn't just tell it -- hemakes a scene.
When you want to make a scene in your own writing, render sensations fully so that readers cringe at the slap in the face, hear the whimper of pain, see her elbow hit the blue chair, and feel your character's rage and frustration. Use direct dialogue, physical reactions, gestures, smells, sounds, and thoughts.
Fully rendered scenes are emotional high points. If a novel never compresses action, never summarizes, but is all in full-blown scenes, the endless dialogue and details get monotonous. A shopping trip takes as long as a showdown. It's as if the writer doesn't know what is important and what's not. Remember the wisdom of the child: Make a scene when you really want everyone's full attention.
See Description, Dialogue, Mise-en-scène, Showing and Telling.
Scene
A child in a tantrum screams, throws toys, lies on the floor, and kicks the air. The parents say, "You're making a scene!" It's a tremendously suggestive phrase for writers. When you "make a scene" you create a memorable moment. You interrupt normal patterns. The scene gets remembered as a significant event in a life history. "When we took you to the zoo, you refused to leave the elephant house. You made such a scene."
As a writer you have the same opportunity -- to stop time, create an event, make a scene. Your readers can be made to feel the drama of a moment. Actions and thoughts that take seconds to happen in life may take paragraphs, even pages, to be told. When Huck Fin decides he'll take his chances on eternal damnation rather than betray his friend Jim, Twain doesn't just tell it -- hemakes a scene.
When you want to make a scene in your own writing, render sensations fully so that readers cringe at the slap in the face, hear the whimper of pain, see her elbow hit the blue chair, and feel your character's rage and frustration. Use direct dialogue, physical reactions, gestures, smells, sounds, and thoughts.
Fully rendered scenes are emotional high points. If a novel never compresses action, never summarizes, but is all in full-blown scenes, the endless dialogue and details get monotonous. A shopping trip takes as long as a showdown. It's as if the writer doesn't know what is important and what's not. Remember the wisdom of the child: Make a scene when you really want everyone's full attention.
See Description, Dialogue, Mise-en-scène, Showing and Telling.