And...End Scene: When to Add a Scene Break

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Still on holiday/cold recovery break, so I'm dipping into the archives again with one of my favorites from early in 2014 on scene breaks. 

Elmore Leonard is frequently quoted as saying: "I try to leave out the parts people skip." Nowhere is this more useful than in knowing when to break a scene. Transitions have a funny way of being the parts people skip.

But there's a skill to knowing when to break a scene. You don't want to just stop and jump ahead in time or location, because that can jar the reader. Too many awkward scene breaks can feel like pieces of a story strung together and lose the narrative flow. Breaking every time you get to a good hook line just feels choppy and...weird. Like chapter breaks, a good scene break should make the reader think "ooooh" and keep on reading.

What makes a good scene break?
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com