on Fiction University:

A great scene is a lot like a great meal.

Maybe it’s because I’m married to a guy who loves to cook, but I think of scenes like I think of food. Meals with one item on the plate might be tasty while you eat it, but once it’s done, you kinda forget about it. And it’s rarely as satisfying.

But the meals with multiple items and layers of flavors going on? I still talk about some of those meals.

Due to nature of writing and storytelling, it’s easy for writers to think of scenes as “one item meals.” We even describe them that way sometimes, such as, “This is the scene where Bob finds the body in the trunk.” “This is the scene where they finally kiss.” “This scene is where it all goes wrong.”

There’s nothing wrong with this, as scenes do tend to have a main point to them. But the best scenes typically have multiple things going on, too. Plot things, character things, backstory things. A common rule of thumb here…