3 Ideas for Scenes That Work in Every Story

Writing a book is hard. Planning out a book can be maddening.

One of the annoying speed bumps that can come up when crafting a story is the need to ferry characters between plot points. Your story structure template or goal word count may advise that you ought to have something happen between Chapter A and Chapter B, but you’re just not sure what that should be. The events you’ve planned are spaced apart just so, after all.

Now, I’d never suggest that you purposefully insert scenes or chapters that don’t add anything to your story—not unless you’re engaging in some fun and games during NaNoWriMo and have already made peace with the fact that you’ll have to confront those additions during revisions, or you’re writing a just-for-fun project. Assuming you’re here because you want to only add scenes that make sense in your story, see if one of the following scene ideas suit your needs.

Scene Idea #1: Bio Break

Sometimes the excitement of the story can make us forget that our characters are (usually) living beings who have biological needs. Not only will these kinds of scenes make your character more relatable to your reader, but they can be excellent moments for reflection after lots of excitement, since many of these activities are done while alone or while with only those closest for you.

Examples

Having just unlocked his levitation powers at school, young Andy must sit through dinner with his grandparents and jabber through half-baked explanations for why he’s running around and grabbing onto random objects for dear life.

Lady Susannah Schuyler excuses herself from the drawing room to use the water closet, using the time alone to make observations and draw conclusions about her host based on the furniture and upkeep of the house. (These conclusions may be disproven or proven true later!)

Xiomar prepares for bed after a long day of piloting a spaceship on its way to another habitable planet. While xe slips into xir pajamas, xe reflect on a few of the odd things xir copilot said that made xir skin crawl.

Scene Idea #2: Making (or Wanting to Make) a Purchase

Think about it: how many days do you usually go before paying or feeling the need to pay for something? Probably not very many. You can use these scenes to signal, underscore, or show a change in a character’s socioeconomic status; set up a surprise run-in with another party; or get a Chekov’s gun into your character’s hands.

Examples

While grabbing his usual Friday morning caramel latte, Julio contemplates how adding to the tip jar does or doesn’t affect the twenty-something barista’s view of him. (How does her view compare to his own view of himself after what happened in the last scene?)

Dominic impulsively buys a particular brand of candy bar after the girl he’s been seeing suggests he do so. He hasn’t had one since his son passed away, and he finds himself wondering why he didn’t like the taste before.

Scene #3: Traveling

You’ve heard that life is about the journey, not the destination. The same is true for writing—stories aren’t all about the ending, but how your character changes (or doesn’t) as the story progresses. These scenes are easy to insert because, unless you’re writing a book that takes place entirely in one dwelling, your characters will need to move from one place to another at some point. They might as well do some character development or conflict battling while they’re at it!

Examples

Olyver the Young and company travel between his hometown of Oldport and the village of Treefell, where—rumor has it—there’s a wizard who knows of the MacGuffin Oly seeks. Along the way, Oly grows increasingly homesick as his surroundings become less familiar.

Penelope taps her thumbs on the steering wheel to the beat of a Pink Floyd song, the one that’s always gotten her in a good mood. She’s moving tomorrow, and she has a lot on her mind—mental to-do lists, money matters, and more that threaten to distract her from what she’s doing.