A frequent issue I encounter when I'm content editing is a weak setting for a scene. For every scene you open, I want you to “set the stage” with what I call the “three walls.” A reader’s view of your page of words is like the theater stage. A stage is the backdrop and two wings where details come in and out to move the scenes forward. All things must happen within that view, and your words have to do it all.
Wall 1 is the time of day and the lighting. Making sure this is instantly and clearly understood will give everything to follow its proper feel, whatever happens. For example, if it’s dark, readers mentally squint and creep through the story with the actors, hungry for details and clues, and suspense is heightened. If lighting isn't set when the scene begins, it’s almost as though the scene hasn’t begun—the curtain hasn’t lifted. A stage is nothing without its strategic lighting. It seems so simple, and that might be why it's so easy to let go unsaid. The lighting switch can flip in as few as two flickering words, or it can build up in a paragraph if you wish, but I make it my first requirement to anchor your readers.
Wall 2, enter the structures: the props, buildings/walls/borders of the scene, the obstacles, hills and vales, instruments—in short, everything surrounding the actors/your characters and scene. If we don’t know the limits of the space, we can’t picture closeness or distance, and action becomes harder to follow. Make sure your actors interact with their setting, and anything they interact with must have a clear relation to the surroundings or anything else they interact with. Specific setting anchors give characters clear points of reference for the action to flow effortlessly.
Wall 3 is built from as many senses as you can reasonably appeal to in the scene. Could be one, will likely be more. Does something smell? Is there pain (and how much pain? Will it constantly affect the action?) or pleasure? Does it appear rich or shabby? Taste divine or disgusting? And what’s that constant buzzing? Add these to make your reader feel your story, not just read it. Interact with their imagination, not just their hand turning pages.
If there’s one more view a novel can add to this hypothetical stage that a brick-and-mortar theater can’t as easily, it’s perhaps the ceiling, which is what’s going on inside characters' heads. Your story’s narration, point of view/voice, and tense all work together to direct your scenes within your three walls, and it makes for great writing.
Go back to one of your trouble scenes and apply these tips. Track down what details the stage is missing, pump it full of sensory detail, and watch how your revisions bring new life to a tired scene.
