Great books are made of great scenes. Which means the skill of writing and editing amazing scenes is one of the most important skills you can learn if you want to create a novel readers will love.

The thing is, though, readers don’t think in terms of scenes. Chapters are clearly marked for readers, but scenes often aren’t. Which means that when people make the jump from “reader” to “writer,” they often don’t know what scenes actually are.

What is a scene? What elements must it include? What makes the difference between a scene readers want to skip and a scene that earns its place in your book? And how can you fix a boring scene?

In this episode, I’ll cover all that and more.

Great stories are built on great story structure.

And while there are a lot of story structure systems out there . . .

. . . I do have a favorite. It’s one that I use every single day in my editing. I apply it to every story I edit. And it works every time.

In this episode, I’m breaking it all down for you.

When I learned this framework, it transformed my entire approach to editing. That’s not a hyperbole—learning this made all the difference for me.

I practice it every time I pick up a story. And I’m always discovering new insights it offers into what makes story work.

And who knows? Maybe this will become your favorite approach to story structure, too!

See the masterful story structure that undergirds the opening scene of How to Train Your Dragon.

Great stories are built on great story structure. And my favorite story structure framework is one that you can apply on every level of story.

It’s called the six elements of story, and it’s an editing tool you can use on every layer of your story.

To prove it, I’m doing a deep dive into the structure of How to Train Your Dragon. First, I broke down the six elements of the movie as a whole. Then, I took a closer look at the first act of the movie.

And in this episode, I’m breaking down the opening scene.

In order for a scene to earn its place in your story, something needs to happen. It needs a story event, a single event that contributes to the larger plot.

The thing is, it’s really easy to write scenes—thousands of words!—where nothing ever happens.

In this episode, I’m sharing five essential questions to help you figure out what happens in a scene—and why it matters to your story.

These questions are deceptively simple. They won’t take long to answer. But they’ll give you so much invaluable insight into how and why your story is working—or where it’s not working, and how you can fix it.

Stories are about change. Here’s how to craft compelling change in every scene, act, and novel.

In fact, change is one of the fundamental things—maybe the fundamental thing—that makes stories useful, interesting, and fun.

How do you make sure something changes in your story? And not just any change, but the right change?

Let me introduce you to one of my favorite editing concepts: the value shift.

Master value shifts, and you’ll find that crafting the perfect change in every story you write becomes . . . well, almost easy.

In order to edit a scene effectively, you need to know a few things:

• What’s working in the scene,
• What’s not working in the scene, and
• What specific changes you’ll make to the words on the page that will fix the things that aren’t working.

That last one is the most important, and often the hardest to figure out.

How do you identify the specific changes that will improve your scene?

Ask the right questions.

In this episode, you’ll learn 12 questions that will show you exactly what to change in your scenes.

In order to edit a scene effectively, you need to know what to change. The best edits are strategic, intentional, and target the most important problems with effective solutions.

How do you figure out what those edits are?

Ask the right questions.

In this episode, you’ll discover six questions that will help you identify what’s working and what’s not in the beginnings and endings of your scenes. Then, they’ll show you exactly how to fix the weak spots.

Your characters MUST take action in every scene. Look out for scenes where they don’t.

I’ve edited hundreds of scenes. (In fact, editing scenes is one of my favorite things to do!)

In all that editing, I’ve picked up on some patterns. Things that work really well in scene after scene—and common pitfalls that many scenes fall into.

And in this episode, I’m sharing one common scene mistake I often see.

If your scenes get this wrong, they’ll be . . . boring. And no one wants to read a boring scene!

But not to worry—in today’s episode, I’ll show you how to spot this common error and fix it.

Some of your scenes are really exciting. They’re the big ones, the reasons why your readers picked up your book: the first kiss, the epic battle, the discovery of the body.

And some of your scenes . . . well, they’re the stuff that happens in between the exciting scenes.

In those scenes, the story slows down. Sometimes it slows down a lot. To glacial pace. To “eh, maybe I’ll finish reading this later” pace.

How do you keep your readers hooked? How do you keep them turning pages even during the scenes that are action-light and exposition-heavy?

In this episode, I’ll walk you through four questions to make sure even your “slow” scenes are un-put-down-able.

Ever wondered what it looks like to get feedback from an editor?

Recently, my friend Kim Kessler, herself a developmental editor and author, sent me a scene of the novel she’s working on. I read it and prepared some notes for her.

Then, we hopped on a call to talk through my feedback.

And we recorded the whole conversation!

In this episode, you’ll hear exactly how developmental editing works. I walk Kim through the same process I use for all my editing clients.

You’ll hear the questions I ask her, the specific recommendations I give, and my favorite part: the moment of epiphany, when we “solve” what she needs to do next with her scene.

And if you ever feel nervous about working with an editor . . . well, we get it. Kim and I share why we felt nervous about this episode, too—and why this editing session was worth all the nerves and risk!

Most writers miss this simple editing principle. But when you understand it, when you truly master it, you have the power to craft your best story.

Here it is:

When you’re doing a developmental edit on a story, you can change absolutely anything.

It sounds obvious, yet it’s so hard to do. In this episode, I’ll show you why—and share a simple three-step process that will give you editing superpowers.