Writing Great Fiction

Lecture 20: Building Scenes

7KH/HFWXUHU¶V7DOH has a plot, the true purpose of the book is

to make fun of the excesses of modern literary theory. For this

reason, the book is basically a series of satirical set pieces. These

set pieces aren’t entirely self-contained—each pushes the plot

a little further along—

but each chapter or scene

is mainly intended to be

amusing for its own sake.

z Again, how long a scene goes on

and whether it should be included

at all depends on the intent of the

narrative as a whole.

o A crime novel, such as

7KH &XW, needs to move

quickly; if it slows down,

it dies. Trying to squeeze

in a long chapter about

the history of detective

work would throw off the

whole story.

o 7KH /HFWXUHU¶V 7DOH,

however, has a different

metabolism. The reader

is not meant to race through it but to enjoy each scene as it

comes. The scenes in each book have a different pace and

structure because the intent of each book is different.

Scene Transitions

z Transitioning into and out of scenes can vex even experienced writers.

Such transitions can vary enormously, depending on the intent of the

scene, its length, its importance in the narrative, and so on.

z Scenes that take place early in the narrative need more setup, on the

whole, than scenes that appear later. When you’re introducing characters,

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The Lecturer’s Tale satirizes

academics who put literary

criticism above actual works of

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on amusing the reader than

advancing the plot.

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