{"id":234,"date":"2013-01-29T14:12:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-29T14:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2013\/01\/29\/tactical-tuesdays-advice-for-self-2\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:22:18","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:22:18","slug":"tactical-tuesdays-advice-for-self-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/tactical-tuesdays-advice-for-self-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Tuesdays: Advice for Self-Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\nRecently, authors have asked me
\nseveral questions regarding chapters. What is a good word count for a scene?
\nHow many scenes should make up a chapter? When is a chapter considered too
\nlong? <\/div>\n
\nI suspect that the authors who
\nasked these questions wanted simple answers, but the truth is, the answer lies
\nwithin the story itself.<\/div>\n
\nIf you are writing a thriller,
\nthe readers will expect quick, rapid-fire action. The author may want to make
\nhis scenes smaller and to place all of the events occurring within a certain
\ntime frame within one chapter. Several quick scenes equal a larger chapter.<\/div>\n
\nIn formulaic romance, a guideline
\nto use would be to give the hero and heroine each a scene in the chapter.
\nNotice, however, that I very carefully used the word guideline<\/i> rather than rule. Some factors within a romance might
\nmake it necessary for a scene to have one or maybe even three or four scenes.
\nImagine a scene between the hero and heroine where the conflict is very
\nintense. The scene is probably going to be a little longer than usual, and since
\nthe hero and heroine are together and the scene should be powerful enough to
\ncarry itself, then the one scene will do. Suppose your hero and heroine are in
\ndifferent places at the same time. In that case, the two scenes per chapter guideline
\nmight apply. But let\u2019s throw in romantic suspense. What happens when the
\nvillain comes into play? If he needs a scene, one of two things might occur: 1)
\nthe villain may have a scene within the chapter or 2) the villain\u2019s scene might
\nbe used as a chapter in itself to add emphasis to his or her villainy.<\/div>\n
\nAnother matter to consider with
\nregard to the length of a scene or a chapter is actually psychological. If an
\nauthor has written a riveting scene, the length doesn\u2019t matter. However, let
\nthat scene drag, even the least bit, and the author will lose his audience. A few issues to consider when working on scene and
\nchapter structure are:<\/div>\n
\n1.     
\nDoes
\neach scene and chapter have a satisfying beginning, middle, and ending?<\/div>\n
\n2.     
\nIs
\neach word used in the scene or chapter necessary?<\/div>\n
\n3.     
\nDoes
\na particular scene need emphasis for the reader? In other words, does it need
\nto stand out? If so, make that scene a chapter in itself.<\/div>\n
\n4.     
\nDoes
\neach scene move the story forward? In order to determine this, an author must
\nlook at each scene as a building block in his masterpiece. Every scene must lock
\nthe one before it in place. Likewise, each chapter must lock the previous
\nchapter in place. No meandering allowed.<\/div>\n
\nSo when self-editing, work hard
\nto eliminate anything that is not necessary to the story as a whole. This will help you craft tighter scenes and riveting chapters. Remember to write each scene so
\nthat the reader is left wanting more.<\/div>\n
\nHappy editing.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, authors have asked me several questions regarding chapters. What is a good word count for a scene? How many scenes should make up a chapter? When is a chapter considered too long? I suspect that the authors who asked these questions wanted simple answers, but the truth is, the answer lies within the story […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[197,174,67,135,189,175],"class_list":["post-234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-chapters","tag-creativity","tag-editing","tag-editors-tips","tag-engaging-the-reader","tag-scenes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}