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What's in a scene?
scene study
+1
Jun 8, 2026
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7 min read
What a single chapter reveals about how character description builds sympathy and hides clues in plain sight
Feb 27, 2026
8 min read
How to use summary to compress time without losing emotional depth
Nov 17, 2025
9 min read
How to use backstory as a primary narrative mode without losing momentum
Sep 8, 2025
How to shift point of view mid-scene without head hopping
Jul 2, 2025
What a paragraph-by-paragraph breakdown reveals about crafting multi-layered dialogue exchanges
May 31, 2025
How to balance telling and showing when delivering essential backstory
Apr 29, 2025
11 min read
How to choose between expository and scenic worldbuilding for different narrative goals
Mar 23, 2025
How to make action scenes feel intimate
Feb 15, 2025
6 min read
A guided tour through a scene in The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Oct 14, 2023
10 min read
Learn how Mick Herron slows down a pub fight in The Secret Hours to deepen character and theme.
Mar 25, 2023
4 min read
Learn how Maggie O'Farrell gets maximum value from historical details in her novel The Marriage Portrait.
Oct 15, 2022
Learn how to use focalization to show the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters in a single scene with examples from Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait.
Sep 17, 2022
Learn how to seamlessly weave necessary setting information into a scene readers want to experience in this analysis of Rebecca Roanhorse's Black Sun.
Aug 20, 2022
Need to keep a dialogue-focused scene from feeling slow and boring? Pick up tips from this analysis of a scene from Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Dial A for Aunties.
Jun 11, 2022
Learn how to maximize the drama of plot revelations by studying the techniques used by Laura Dave.
May 20, 2022
Learn the techniques Casey McQuiston uses to maximize the impact of dialogue in I Kissed Shara Wheeler.
May 1, 2022
Is there a place for omniscient narration, associated closely with nineteenth-century novels, in a twenty-first-century literary landscape dominated by limited narration?
Mar 26, 2022
Examples from Tana French's The Searcher show how to give your descriptions additional meaning and resonance.
Mar 12, 2022
Learn how to use word choice, syntax, and dialect in dialogue to create realistic characters with examples from Tana French's The Searcher.
Jan 15, 2022
12 min read
Sometimes your scene objectives require telling rather than showing. Discover how you can make telling dynamic.
