Make A Scene Read Free Page B

more clearly suggests the place where the reader's attention is engaged anew.
    Visually, in a manuscript a new scene is usually signified by a break of four lines (called a soft hiatus) between the last paragraph of the previous scene and the first paragraph of the next one, or sometimes by a symbol such as an asterisk or dingbat, to let the reader know that time has passed, and a new scene is beginning.
    Each new scene still has a responsibility to the idea or plot you started with, which is to communicate your idea in a way that is vivifying for the reader and that provides an experience, not a lecture. Scene launches, therefore, pave the way for all the robust consequences of the idea or plot to unfurl. Each scene launch is a reintroduction, capturing your reader's attention all over again.
    You want to start each scene by asking yourself the following questions:
    • Where are my characters in the plot? Where did I leave them and what are they doing now?
    • What is the most important piece of information that needs to be revealed in this scene?
    Only you and the course of your narrative can decide which kinds of launches will work best for each scene, and choosing the right launch often takes some experimentation. This section will provide you with techniques for launching with characters, actions, narrative summary, or setting.
    CHARACTER LAUNCHES
    It's generally a good idea to get your characters on the page sooner rather than later. And, depending on how many points of view you use, the majority of scenes should involve your main character(s) (although there may be scenes from which your main character needs to be excluded, for the sake of your plot). If you write fantasy or science fiction, your characters may not be people, but dragons, elves, robots, or any of a vast miscellany of other life-forms; just be sure the reader knows who and what your characters are. The edict is still the same—bring your character into the scene as soon as possible. (Part three will elaborate on how to do this.)
    Remember, if your scene launch goes on for too many paragraphs in passive description or narrated ideas without characters coming into play, the reader might begin to feel lectured to, or impatient for something to happen and someone for it to happen to. If your character isn't present by the second paragraph in any given scene, you're in danger of losing the reader.
    ACTION LAUNCHES
    Many writers believe they must explain every bit of action that is going on right from the start of a scene, but narrative summary defeats action. The sooner you start the action in a scene, the more momentum it has to carry the reader forward. If you find yourself explaining an action, then you're
    not demonstrating the action any longer; you're floating in a distant star system known as Nebulous Intellectulus—more commonly known as your head—and so is the reader.
    Keep in mind the key elements of action: time and momentum. It takes time to plan a murder over late-night whispers; for a drunk character to drop a jar at the grocery; to blackmail a betraying spouse; or to kick a wall in anger. These things don't happen spontaneously, they happen over a period of time. They are sometimes quick, sometimes slow, but once started, they unfold until finished.
    The key to creating strong momentum is to start an action without explaining anything.
    Albert leads them all into the dining room and everyone drifts around the large teak table, studying the busily constructed salads at each place setting—salads, which, with their knobs of cheese, jutting chives and little folios of frisee, resemble small Easter hats.
    "Do we wear these or eat them?" asks Jack. In his mouth is a piece of gray chewing gum like a rat's brain.
    Lorrie Moore plunges her reader into the above scene in the story "Beautiful Grade." Though the action is quiet, there is physical movement and a sense of real time. The lack of explanation for what is happening forces the reader to