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M.G. Herron

M.G. Herron

Science Fiction Author in Austin, TX

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Thinking in scenes

M.G. Herron · Sep 29, 2017 · Leave a Comment

An important moment in my development as a writer was learning to think in scenes.

This is a good life skill too, being able to break things down into their constituent parts.

You’re not writing a book, you’re writing a chapter.

You’re not building a wall, you’re layering wet cement and placing one brick at a time.

For stories, the basic building blocks are the scenes. Just focus on one at a time.

This works because a scene has the same basic structure as a story, but on a smaller scale. Each scene has a beginning, middle and end. Further, each scene is somewhere along that the beginning-middle-end spectrum in the greater story.

Writing a story can be overwhelming. Writing a single scene is eminently manageable.

Break it down. Focus on one thing at a time. You’ll get there.

Writing Tools blog

The Auriga Project

This one’s on me: a science fiction novel and short story, guaranteed to keep you up at night! High-tech disaster meets ancient Mayans when archaeologist Eliana Fisk is transported to a strange new world.

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