3 Ways to Salvage a Scene

So, I’m writing a new scene and it’s not working. Why isn’t it working?

Scenes Need Action

After writing a draft and realizing it was lousy, I re-read the synopsis of this scene. “E realizes that he needs to accept M’s help.”

What’s the main verb in that statement? Realize.

That’s a poor scene synopsis and inevitably leads to a bad draft because there’s not enough action going on. Realizing something is all internal. All I got was talking heads, as E and M discuss the issues of the story. Now, technically, that could be enough for an effective scene – something important changes. In reality, it makes for a boring scene.

I’m considering three ways to salvage this scene:

• Find action to add. Look around the scene and see what else is there. What could make the story events worse, provide comic relief, deepen characterizations, etc.?
• Change setting. Put the conflict somewhere else, a place that has potential for better action.
• Combine this scene with another. Essentially, this is giving up on the scene as stated, and adding this emotional response to another scene.

I actually used the first strategy to revise the talking heads scenes. When I stopped to look, there were some interesting actions that could work in nicely.

When you realize a scene is weak on action, what do you do?

Related posts:

1. Events NOT Worthy of a Full Scene?
2. Scene Quiz: Harvard Bar Scene
3. Scene Cuts
4. Scene Box Text
5. How to Use Scenes to Plot

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