First Day of Christmas- 6 Gifts for Writing Your Story

Books by Peggy, Chicken Soup Stories, Inspiration, Writing, Writing for Kids, Writing for Teachers, Writing for Writers

Nov 242018

Chicken Soup for a Sick Scene and Sequel – A Tool to Engage Your Audience

I love family stories. Remember sitting around the table, telling stories, often the same stories year after year. It doesn’t matter what you’re writing–it can be a historical thriller or a book for your family. Chicken Soup story is a good way to study and practice writing a scene and sequel. If you sell your story at www.ChickenSoup.com, that’s great. If not, you have a great chapter for your family book. If you do sell it, you’re $200 richer. Have a question? Leave a comment.

If you teach writing to children check out the games in Teach Writing Without a Pencil

Lesson One

What is a Scene?

That’s easy…
There’s 3 in a play…
It’s something you paint or take a picture of…
It’s what your child creates at your mother-in-law’s dinner party

A scene is the major part of a story.

A story is a narrative of events, a recounting of something that’s happened—either in the real world or in the fictional world.

Like a Play

A play can be broken up into three acts: beginning, middle, and end. The beginning is the setup, it creates the tension. The middle of the scene builds up and intensifies even more. The ending breaks down into two parts: climax and resolution.

Acts are broken down into scenes

Scene

Something you paint or photograph

You don’t tell about a scene
You have to show it.

Practice

A girl sits by her father. He slumps to the ground. He dies. She cries believes her life is over.

Telling vs showing.

A scene is a conflict lived through by character and reader. Dwight Swain says that there are two functions of a scene –

To provide interest and
To move your story forward.

A scene can:

Can raise a question to intrigue your reader
Can be used to build characterization.
Can provide information.

But it always moves the story along

How long is a scene?

Swain says that time holds a scene together. A character lives through a scene, and there are no breaks in the flow of life.

A teenager arrives at Prom. He dances with the girl of his. When he stumbles on her dress, they fall. He leaves and the scene is over.

Remember

Use action verbs
Keep the internal thought to a minimum
Use a great deal of dialogue if possible. Dialogue is a nifty way to show how people feel without telling the reader.

Construct a scene of something in your life.