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

Hi everyone.  Well, this is my first foray into blogging.  Until May of this year, I was finishing up my MBA and there are only so many things one can do.  However, now that my MBA is complete, I can focus more on my writing career.  I've spent the last few months catching up with life after four years of taking classes at night.

I really do love studying the craft of writing. For the last decade or so, I've been part of an amazing journey called Discovering Story Magic (www.discoveringstorymagic.com).