Dos and Don’ts of an Amazing Hook
September 19, 2022Question of the Day: How to Find THE END
October 22, 2022Have you ever written a scene, only for your beta reader to be utterly confused for the first five paragraphs? Have you ever wondered whether there was an importance to the order in which you give details in your scene? Have you ever thought about how to structure your scene in order to immerse your reader as quickly as possible? If you have, then you need to learn about the five essential questions you need to answer in order to ground your scene. In this post, we will cover the essential questions, the order in which they should be answered, and the reasons behind that order.
Who, what, when, why, and how? These are the same questions you’ve read since Kindergarten, but they are each essential to writing every single scene in your novel. If you don’t answer them, your readers may wonder what’s the point, or even become hopelessly confused.
By answering these questions, you ground your scene. In other words, you provide concrete details to help your reader make sense of what’s going on in your scene, where this scene fits in the chronology of your narrative, and why it is going on.
Who?
When I start into a scene, the very first thing I look for is a name. Whose POV are we reading from? Without that information, it is very difficult to understand the Narrative Lens or the implications of information you, as the writer, are giving.
Here’s a great rule of thumb. Make sure the POV character’s name is in the first sentence. Failing that, it should be in the first paragraph. If you wait any longer, make sure you have a compelling reason – because you’re at risk of confusing your reader.
When?
This is the next most urgent piece of information to convey at the beginning of the scene is when this scene is placed in the story’s chronology. You can convey when in several ways, from sentences referencing previous events, to simply constructing a narrative which never varies from its chronology. Mostly, this question is essential when entering a flashback or flash forward. Otherwise, readers of genre fiction tend to assume that the narrative is linear.
You can use transition paragraphs with long narrative distance to summarize time spent during time jumps, or provide quick recaps in the scene begins media res. Just make sure that if you’ve varied from the typical chronology of your story, or if your story doesn’t have a constant chronology, that you give this information in the first 1-2 paragraphs.
Where?
Another piece of information which should be placed in the first 1-2 paragraphs (sooner is better than later) is the setting. Forgetting to do this can result in “black box room” or “talking head syndrome”, where your characters are talking and acting, but their surroundings are foggy or nonexistent.
On the other hand, timely mention of the setting can help create the proper mood for a scene. A hallway with flickering lights? Something bad is probably about to happen. A theme park? The reader can brace for excitement.
What and Why?
Another essential piece of information is what is going on and why. These are broader questions, which can encompass several more specific ones. Still, before the first page of the scene is through, you should have made progress on answering these specifics:
What is the POV character’s goal?
This question is essential because, without it, conflict will seem staged or fake. Characters without an established goal seem to be “arguing with the plot” or “arguing with the author” which can break a reader’s immersion in the story.
Why is the POV character here?
A clear line of reasoning from previous scenes is key, but it is important not to assume that the reader has grasped any implied motivation from previous scenes. Take a second to make sure that this character’s motivations are clear before moving forward.
What is going on around them? (AKA, what is the context of the scene)?
This is especially essential for scenes which are heavy on action and scenes which begin media res. You might be tempted to just jump into the meaty part of the scene, but remember that your readers do not have the same image in their head as you do. Forgetting to answer this question and addressing the socio-political context, the actions of other characters, and any of the other myriad of factors which can impact the context of the scene, then you can end up with a scene which is confusing because the motivations of the culture and other characters are not clear.
Why is this scene taking place?
This is a question more for you as the author, and less for the reader. Make sure you can see the purpose of this scene and its importance in the grand scale of the book. If you can’t, or if this scene shares a purpose with other scenes, then think about combining it with another scene or taking it out entirely. There’s no point in grounding a scene which doesn’t have a clear-cut purpose.
Hierarchy of Questions
This is a lot of information to cram into a scene, so it helps to have a clear-cut order of importance. In most genre fiction scenes, here is the hierarchy I would recommend.
- Who: Without knowing the POV character, very little else in the scene will make sense.
- Where: Setting can be helpful, and lack of it can make your characters seem like talking heads.
- When: Sometimes this information is successfully implied, but confusion around this point can derail your reader.
- What and Why: These questions comprise most of your scene. While it’s important to provide the core answer up front, the entire scene will be spent refining, permuting, and re-addressing these questions.
There you go! Make sure that next time you write or edit a scene, you make sure to provide all the information your reader needs to successfully ground themselves in the scene.
Are there any other questions you all love to ask yourselves at the beginning of every scene? Leave your comments below!
