A Scene-First Approach to Stronger Storytelling

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I build every story in scenes.

After I build my story structure, but before I write chapters, before I polish dialogue, I break down the entire story through scene summaries.

It’s the part of my process that saves me from wandering middles, sagging plots, or characters who somehow stop acting like themselves.

There are great resources out there on writing scenes. Thea Liu’s “Writing Scenes in a Book” breaks down scene anatomy beautifully. Tiffany Yates Martin’s post on Jane Friedman’s blog is a masterclass in what keeps a scene tight and propulsive.

But here’s how I think about it when I’m mapping a story and how I decide what scenes even belong.

Every Scene Has a Job

For me, a scene earns its place by doing two things:

It moves the story forward — through action, discovery, escalation, or complication.It moves the character forward — through choice, realization, shift, or consequence.

If a scene does neither? It’s filler. And filler has a way of slowing everything down.

Worse, filler can trick you into thinking your story has momentum when all it really has is motion.

I ask myself, What changes by the end of this scene?

If the answer is nothing, I haven’t found the real purpose yet.

Common Scene Pitfalls:

Repeating information the reader already knowsAdding worldbuilding without any impact on character or plotScenes that are just “vibe,” pretty descriptions, witty banter, nothing actually changesCharacters talking in circles with no shift in stakes, goal, or relationship

They might be well-written. They might even be fun. But if they don’t move story or character, they aren’t pulling their weight.

The Scene Summary Method

Before I draft a scene, I write a one- or two-line summary. It’s not a beat sheet or a detailed outline, more like a gut check.

For example:

Remi confronts Novak in the club and learns Novak is working with the Admiral.Annie finally admits she doesn’t want to go back and changes her plan.

That’s it. Sometimes there might be a little more detail if that scene is vivid in my mind.

The summary forces me to name the scene’s purpose in plain language.

And when I line up those summaries across a chapter, or a whole act, I can spot gaps, pacing problems, or threads I’ve dropped before they derail me in draft.

I’m not saying I never go off-map. But I like to know the map exists.

When a Scene Surprises You

Some of my favorite scenes weren’t in the original plan.

They showed up when a character pushed back or a moment surprised me.

That’s fine. In fact, that’s often gold.

But when that happens, I still stop and ask:

Does this move the story? Does this move the character?

If the answer is yes, I run with it. And at that point I may have some replotting to do. Fortunately, because I have these scene summaries and I modify them to match the new thing that happened in the new scene.

If it’s no…I cut it, or I park it in my boneyard for another story.

Surprise is good. Detour is not.

Why This Works for Me

It keeps me from writing dead air.It gives me a skeleton for pacing and emotional arcs.It helps me build a story that actually works before I invest time making it pretty.

I still rewrite, of course. But this habit saves me from losing weeks on scenes that were never pulling their weight.

If You’re Stuck…

If you’re staring at a chapter that won’t click or a scene that feels flat, try this:
Write a single sentence summary of what’s supposed to happen.
Then ask yourself:

What’s the change?What’s the consequence?

It’s not fancy. But it works.