The Writer's Craft: Scene in Fiction

I concluded my summer reading yesterday with Chris Mlalazi's Many Rivers, which I plan to review. Much of the reading I am going to do until December will be work-related, so my posts here will focus on the writing process, especially on craft. Today's post thus invites you to share your best practices on your use of scene in story development.

There are many ways to think about scene, but I want to focus on the way it can be utilized to bring immediacy to the story. In most stories, there is a good mixture of summary and scene, terms which correspond to the concept of telling and showing. If a writer resorts to summary, we will read pages upon pages of summarized material of what the characters did; even the dialogue will be summarized as well, so the reader begins to feel that he or she is just being told what happened and how.

Then there is scene. Maybe in one paragraph I tell you when Mukoma fought, and how he won, but nowhere in that story do I show you a scene of his fighting. Perhaps I could have given you strings of scenes where you see and hear him, then you get to judge him according to what's in front of you. Used well, scene is the best way to develop your story, if not the easiest and most natural. Whatever your preference is, remember that too much of any one craft tool may weaken your story, so striking a balance of scene and summary is beneficial.

Clear distinctions and examples of scene and summary will be given in future posts, but if you are reading this, why don't you share with us how you practice scene in your own writing. Leave a comment and come back to comment again.