I've been writing quite a bit lately.  Most every day in fact.  I'm trying to increase my productivity, but also the quality of scenes.  Who cares if I write ten pages if I have to scrap eight of them because they don't go anywhere.  So, that brings me to this article. 

As you know, I am that kid who always asks 'why.'  Why does this author blow me away with her characters?  Why does that author's plot surprise me every time?  How can I keep from writing a completely boring scene that I then have to chuck?  (The last is the real reason I care, btw.)  The answer I discovered recently blew me a way.  Too simple.  Too straightforward.  And something I've known since I read my very first how-to-write book, Writing Novels that Sell by Jack Bickham.

I recently judged a writing contest and half of the entries included scenes that didn't really work very well.  The writers could write.  The characters were good, but the scenes fell flat.  As I studied the entries more closely in order, I realized that the scenes had one thing in common.  There was no arc to the scene.

One of my critique partners and I have been talking a lot about the arc of the scene.  It's one of those elements of story that writers don't mention very often.  Many of you have read Techniques of the Selling Writer, by Dwight Swain, or Scene and Structureby Jack Bickham.  They talk about the structure of scene.

Scene includes:  goal, conflict, disaster
Sequel includes: emotion, quandary, decision, action