In Today’s Journal
* Chopped Livah 0: Format & Introduction
A Note on Format & Introduction
In each issue after this one, every topic I publish in Chopped Livah will pertain to and enhance your ability to write in one or more of the major scene types that are prevalent in every novel or short story I’ve read or written.
A glance at the title will show you what the issue will be about. I’ll follow “Chopped Livah” with the issue number: then the topic I’ll discuss in the issue (as you see above).
Because many topics pertain to more than one type of scene, I’ll follow that in the subtitle (on Substack) with the abbreviation(s) for which types of scene(s) the topic is pertinent.
These are the abbreviations I’ll use for the prevalent scene types:
- Open = The Opening Scene
- Transit = The Major Transition Scene
- HiTense = The High-Tension Scene
- HiAct = The High-Action Scene
- Rest = The Rest Scene
- EndD = The Ending & Denouement
Then I’ll repeat the topic as the title of the actual article, then present the article itself.
Any time you have any questions, please either leave a comment or email me directly at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
So we’re all on the same page, in this introductory issue I’ll identify the types of prevalent scenes I mentioned in the first paragraph.
I’ll also provide the purpose(s) and/or requirements of each scene type, and maybe add a few notes about each scene type.
THE OPENING SCENE
Here I’m referring to the big, initial opening that begins on page 1 of a story.
Yes, even if you open with a prologue. At some point, I’ll probably talk specifically about prologues. For now, just know that if you open with a prologue, the same rules for openings apply.
Farther down in this article, I’ll also touch on writing openings for internal scenes and chapters, but that will be a much less in-depth discussion because there isn’t a lot to say.
The Opening is the Rosetta Stone of writing fiction.
If you learn the requirements and nuances of writing story openings and then practice those nuances, everything else will go down much more easily both in these “lessons” for you and in your story or novel for the reader.
Note that learning to write good openings is also a great way to learn to trust your characters and yourself, clear out the myths and the unreasoning fears that drive them, and quiet the critical mind.
The requirements of a good opening
- hook the reader,
- ground the reader in the setting and the tone and mood of the scene (be sure to Take Your Time),
- introduce the POV character and his situation and cause the reader to care about him,
- give the reader a sense of the other characters in the scene (if there are any),
- enable the reader to sense the world of the story as well as the mood or tone of the story, and finally
- ease his transition into the sequence of events of the story (commonly called the “plot”).
Those are the requirements. The nuances are the down-in-the-weeds, nitty-gritty ways to achieve those requirements. I’ll discuss those nuances in future issues of Chopped Livah.
Note on Length for Openings
It’s a common misconception that an opening should fall within a particular length range. One of the more common ranges I’ve heard is that an opening should be “between 300 and 500 words.”
Not true. The opening should be whatever length the story—and your presentation of the story to the reader—require.
Even a truly great writer can seldom write a good opening for any piece of fiction in fewer than a few hundred words, but the opening can go on for the first third or a half (or more) of a short story or the first two or three (or more) chapters of a novella or novel.
The openings of my Blackwell Ops novels are usually only a few to several hundred words, but the opening for Blackwell Ops 54: A Most Unusual Day, took up the first 1575 words. That was all of Chapters 1 and 2, and the first several paragraphs of Chapter 3. The opening ended with this sentence: “Then I swiveled around on the stool and stood up.”
I mention that particular novel because I recently serialized it (free) over on Stanbrough Writes. If you want to check out the opening, you can see the first two chapters here.
(Note: As you’ll see from the introductory note on that first installment, I thought A Most Unusual Day was going to be a longish short story that I could serialize in a couple of weeks. But it soon turned into a novel that I serialized for two months.)
Caution: If your opening—
even in a short story—is fewer than around 300 words, check to be sure you’ve done everything you can to invite the reader in and ground him in the scene and story.
Notes on Internal Openings
Every major scene and most chapters in a novel need their own opening.
I say “most chapters” because (for example) if your scene runs over more than one chapter in the same setting, a new opening might not be necessary in the second and succeeding chapters—with one exception:
ALWAYS mention the principal characters in the scene by name (not “He” or “She”) when you open a new chapter even if it’s in the same setting. Don’t force the reader to go back and see who “He” or “She” is. A reader who’s moving forward through the story is a happy reader.
The above first came to me when I was serializing a novel. Then I also realized that reminding the readers of the character(s) names was necessary even when the reader’s reading a book in one lump. Even if he’s reading your novel in one sitting, chances are the chapter breaks are where he’ll put the book down momentarily.
Of course, if the setting changes (e.g., rainclouds move in, the wind picks up, rebels come over the hill, your lover’s competitor or antagonist walks in, etc.), be sure to update the reader about the setting to keep him grounded in the story.
And if the characters move into a new setting, that’s essentially a new scene (or you might think of it as a new camera angle) so be sure to ground the reader again with sights, sounds, smells, emotions, etc.
Regarding what to write and what to omit about the setting, the old rule applies: If the POV character notices it, write it. If he doesn’t, don’t. (In other words, don’t let your critical mind move in and add anything you ‘think’ should be there.)
Assignment
I mentioned earlier that writing openings is a good way to learn to trust your characters and yourself, clear out the myths and the unreasoning fears that drive them, and quiet the critical mind.
So if you’d like an assignment out of this, sit down and write an opening.
- If the opening takes off, by all means abandon the assignment and write the story, novella, or novel.
- If it doesn’t take off, write another opening.
- Lather, rinse, repeat.
Anytime you aren’t consumed with writing a story or novel, you should fill any spare moments with writing an opening.
You never know where it will lead.
THE MAJOR TRANSITION SCENE
Transition scenes can be any length, from a few words or sentences to a chapter or more. Everything depends on the story, the POV character’s personality and personal quirks, and the purpose of the transition.
- Major transition scenes are necessary in every genre, usually to “transition” the POV character (and the reader) from one high-tension or high-action scene to another.
- Lesser transition scenes are necessary in every genre to avoid reader confusion.
The requirements of a good transition scene
- an opening: hook the reader and ground him in the setting and the tone and mood of the scene (be sure to Take Your Time),
- with a few choice words, hint at or foreshadow what the reader should expect to happen in the scene, and
- give the reader a sense of the other characters in the scene (if there are any).
In the lengthy example I provided in TNDJ, the purpose of that transition scene was to slowly ramp-up the tension as the POV character was approaching a high-tension or high-action scene.
That example was not from a particular novel, but I wrote every longer transition scene in every novel I’ve ever written in that same sequence, more or less.
To write transition scenes well, you must have the myths mostly cleared out and be on guard against your critical mind nudging in to take over.
Assignment
- If you have the myths cleared out, take a shot at writing a transition scene, either a stand-alone or in your current work in progress.
- If you’re still laboring under the myths and you’d like an assignment anyway, um, write an opening.
THE HIGH-TENSION SCENE
The high-tension scene is necessary across the genres. In a word, it provides tension, the cousin of conflict, if not the conflict or a new conflict itself (depending on what or whom the POV character encounters during the transition, if he encounters anyone or anything.)
The requirements of a good high-tension scene
- as always, an opening: hook the reader and ground him in the setting and the tone and mood of the scene (be sure to Take Your Time),
- with a few choice words, hint at or foreshadow what the reader should expect to happen in the scene, and
- give the reader a sense of the other characters in the scene (if there are any).
The high-tension scene is a terse, sometimes quiet and sometimes loud scene in which protracted silences or certain looks may speak as loudly as the words the characters yell or scream.
The high-tension scene can portray anything from
- a heated argument between two or more people, to
- sexual intimacy (physically or only in the POV character’s thoughts), to
- a combatant creeping on his elbows and knees through an enemy tunnel filled with occasional turns beyond which he cannot see, to
- the freeze-frame certainty of the POV character that something big is imminent (again, actual or presumed), to
- the POV character peering through the slits of a closet door as an intruder makes his way through the house, to
- pretty much any other highly tense scenario you can imagine.
To write high-tension scenes well, you must have the myths mostly cleared out and be on guard against your critical mind nudging in to take over.
Assignment
Again, if you have the myths cleared out, take a shot at writing a high-tension scene, either a stand-alone or in your current work in progress.
If you’re still laboring under the myths and you’d like an assignment anyway, write another opening.
THE HIGH-ACTION SCENE
The high-action scene is necessary in many genres, but of course not in all genres. It provides edge-of-your-seat tension and usually direct conflict.
The requirements of a good high-action scene
- as before, an opening: hook the reader and ground him in the setting and the tone and mood of the scene (be sure to Take Your Time),
- with a few choice words, hint at or foreshadow what the reader should expect to happen in the scene, and
- give the reader a sense of the other characters in the scene (if there are any).
- Additionally, it’s extremely important to focus down to pull the reader as close as possible to the action.
If you tightly focus the reader’s attention on a few of the minuscule details of the action, he will imagine the frenzy of the other action going on at the same time.
Do it right and you’ll increase his heart rate. Some of “doing it right” requires the use of sentence fragments and sentences of certain lengths. We’ll go into that in a future issue of Chopped Livah.
For now, just know that longer, less-punctuated sentences convey emotion or convey it more strongly, and shorter, more terse sentence evoke a sense of drama.
The high-action scene is exactly what it sounds like. It might be
- a car chase, or
- a vehicle losing traction on an icy road and flipping through a fence or into oncoming traffic, or
- a fistfight, a knife fight, or a gunfight, or
- rockets raining down, or
- an aircraft plummeting to earth (POV cockpit, POV passenger, POV observer on the ground, etc.), or
- explosions going off all over the place, or
- every building around the POV character is on fire, or
- all of the above.
There can be a lot or a little direct human to human (or bot to bot or machine to machine) contact or none at all.
Sometimes you can describe detailed action and sometimes you can gloss over it or part(s) of it. Everything depends on the events of the scene and the POV character’s personality and quirks.
For an extreme example,
- if a psychopath enjoys stripping the living skin off a victim, he’ll probably also enjoy detailing what happens strip by strip.
- If the thought of doing that turns his stomach but it’s what he has to do, he’ll probably gloss over it.
But don’t think this is all about horror or action-adventure or thrillers.
The same exact thing can be said for the participants in a spat between two married people, the conflict between a waitress and her boss, a postal delivery guy with a phobia about dogs (and what he does about it) and so on.
To write these kind of scenes well, you must have the myths mostly cleared out and be on guard against your critical mind nudging in to take over especially when you’re focusing down on the action.
Assignment
Again, if you have the myths cleared out, take a shot at writing a high-action scene, either a stand-alone or in your current work in progress.
If you’re still laboring under the myths and you’d like an assignment anyway, write yet another opening.
THE REST SCENE
The rest scene is necessary in many genres. In some genres, almost every scene could be categorized as a rest scene.
But in many genres, a rest scene is another kind of transition scene since it occurs before, after, or between more intense scenes.
As I mentioned earlier, in the example I provided in TNDJ, the purpose of that transition scene was to SLOWLY ramp-up the tension as the POV character was approaching a high-tension or high-action scene.
So if I wrote the transition scene well enough, the reader would be paying attention and maybe his heartrate would even increase a little, but he still wouldn’t be on the edge of his chair like he would in a high-action scene.
Pure rest scenes can be as short as a few sentences or paragraphs up to two or three (or more) chapters as the POV character enjoys his private life for a time (for example, when a Blackwell Ops operative is between assignments).
The rest scene is a great way—especially in a story that’s otherwise filled with high-tension or high-action—to give the reader a respite from the tension or action. And that’s its primary purpose.
The requirements of a good rest scene
- As always, you still need an opening in which you hook the reader and ground him in the setting and the tone and mood of the scene. Again, be sure to Take Your Time.
- You can also give the reader a sense of the other characters in the scene if there are any, probably naturally as the characters interact.
You can even show the POV character’s and other characters’ routine during rest scenes (or in short transition scenes during the lead-up to a high-action scene).
For example, in the Blackwell Ops series, at times I’ve let the reader actually see and hear the operative checking out a weapon the contact brought him step-by-step—
- rack the slide on a semi-automatic pistol,
- check the chamber,
- peer through the barrel to be sure it’s clear of obstructions,
- peer through the sound suppressor,
- attach the sound suppressor to the barrel,
- seat the rounds in a magazine against his palm or the heel of his hand,
- insert the magazine in the magazine well,
- let the slide go home, and
- carefully lower the hammer—
usually while talking with the contact.
Other times I’ve glossed over that minutiae with something like “I checked the weapon. It was pristine.” and moved on.
Everything in how you convey any scene depends on the character, the mood and tone of the story, and whatever else is going on.
And anyone who tells you that ANY detail the POV character gave you is “too much” or “too little” probably has artificially brown eyes because he’s full of sh-tuff.
Caution: Be sure what you’re portraying isn’t boring.
I know, there are tons of readers out there and what one likes another won’t. That’s true, but that isn’t what I’m talking about.
If you read aloud a passage you’ve written (but always read enough so the passage is in context) and it bores YOU, gloss over one or more events (the boring part[s], like I did above with “I checked the weapon. It was pristine.”) and then go on with the story.
Or pitch out the whole passage and recast it. Chances are good either way the character will tell you with his personality what to gloss over and what to provide in detail.
And remember that what’s “boring” or not boring ALWAYS depends on the context and on the rest of the novel that precedes that passage in that scene.
After that, it depends on the reader.
Again, how you choose to present a scene is strictly up to you. What the reader chooses to skip over is up to the reader. But he can’t choose whether to read a passage or skip over it unless you put it on the page.
Actually, that advice fits pretty much any of the types of scenes.
Assignment
Writing a rest scene, like writing an opening, is a good way to learn to trust the characters and yourself, clear out the myths and the unreasoning fears that drive them, and quiet the critical mind.
So if you need an assignment, write either an opening or a rest scene.
THE ENDING & DENOUEMENT
The main thing to know about the ending and denouement right now is that the final climax is not the ending.
The ending of the story is that final climactic scene PLUS the tying up of any loose ends PLUS (especially if you’re writing in a series or saga) a possibly dangling thread that will entice the reader to buy the next book.
There are different ways to handle the denouement itself too. I’ve added that to the list of individual topics I plan to discuss in a future issue of Chopped Livah.
The Wrap-Up
Again, all of the above depends on the genre and the story and is up to the characters.
But how you present the story and the various types of scenes to readers is strictly up to you.
And the intimate, how-to details regarding how to best present a story to readers is what Chopped Livah is all about.
I’ll talk with you again in a week or so. ‘Til then, happy writing!
About the Publication Name
The name is derived from something a disgruntled boss in Brooklyn said one time: “What’m I, chopped livah?”
This post was only a glancing blow at the overall topic of the types of scenes in a fiction.
If you learned anything from this installment of Chopped Livah, I hope you’ll consider investing in a paid subscription. There’s a lot more to come, and all of it will be deeper and more intense.