Beginnings and Endings: How to Make the Most Out of Your Scenes

Think of a person who’s had a long day of dropping her kids off at school, going to work, driving her kids to soccer practice, coming home to make dinner, putting the kids to bed, and then finally has an hour or two to herself before she has to go to sleep. Can your book keep this tired person turning the pages before bedtime?

The key to keeping a reader turning those pages is to have well-formed scenes.

Scenes are the small links that make up the chain of story structure. When scenes aren’t working, readers could abandon the rest of the story. A well-formed scene has a hooking beginning and a cliffhanger ending.