Summary vs. Scene

Go through whatever you’re working on and notice how much of it is comprised of summary and how much of it is comprised of scene. (Tip: Most essays, especially early drafts, are mostly summary.) Mark summary versus scene, highlighting in two colors for example, or printing and notating. Everything should be highlighted because everything is either summary or scene. If you don’t know, it’s probably summary. Remember, scenes recreate the passage of time. You can often tell a scene by the appearance of such formal structures as dialogue (though dialogue can also appear in summary, so be thoughtful).

Once you’ve marked up your draft, think about the balance of summary to scene in your piece. Does your piece want more scene? Remember, scenes help a reader feel transported. They’re great ways to get a reader to feel along with us; they’re often much more e ective at communication than mere telling. Go through the parts of your draft you marked as summary and think about whether there are scenes buried in there that you’d like to try to write. If your draft already has a lot of scene, you can identify whether there are opportunities for employing summary instead; ie speeding things along. Because having too much scene can cause a reader to tune out and not know what it is important. It’s important to nd that balance in other words between transporting a reader and boring them.

So think about: Which are the very most important scenes you want them to experience? How can you render them most vividly?