Category Archives: Scene Prompt Saturday

In real life, when things are really stressful or scary, time can seem to slow down. You catch more details. You have more time to process, even more time to move your body if necessary.

Do you know what your book’s about?

We’re going back to basics here, which I was reminded of as I flipped through a book by Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett.

This prompt comes from Will Dunne, who says, “If a scene is of any length, and if it has more than one beat, and if it rises above the level of monotony, the character will experience different emotions during the course of the scene.”

Many authors put epigraphs at the beginning of their novels, a quote that foreshadows the story in some way.

I got this prompt from Amy Gottlieb, who’s currently doing a (free!) four-class series on the story behind the story. She says our readers aren’t necessarily reading to find out what happens.

Last week we looked at Laura Whitcomb’s Heartstorm tool. “If you’re having trouble letting go and allowing your inner poet to babble on the topic of your scene,” she says to “try this poetry exercise to warm up.”

This one comes straight from Laura Whitcomb. I’m just gonna quote it:

This one comes from Steven James.

Think of the scene you want to work on. Now, from the perspective of the scene’s point-of-view character: