By Janet Kent

Fiction is made up of scenes showing characters resolving a problem or reaching an important goal. It must show the characters in action, talking and doing as if the reader were watching it all happen. A short story might be a single scene but most will have more than one scene. How many scenes and the length of each will vary with less important scenes being shorter than the important ones. Each scene is like a bridge, spanning the distance from here to there. The distance in a story is measured in terms of time, space, and plot developments called complications.

Each scene needs to have a point or purpose. It can present a plot development, demonstrate a facet of a character, or show impact of what comes before, and lead on to what will come later. How many scenes will depend on the number of major complications your plot contains. Each major event should have its own scene showing what takes place.

Short stories will usually have at least three scenes: opening, complication, and crisis/resolution. It may have five: opening, complication/development #1, complication/development #2, crisis, and resolution. More than five scenes in a 10 page (2500 word) story will make it choppy as no single scene will have time to build momentum or create emotional impact.

Transitions are the links between scenes. They allow the reader traveling over this bridge to get from one to the other without being jarred. Without them, the story becomes scene, bump, scene, bump, scene, bump. When driving over a bridge you might be aware of the where each span joins with another. When reading a good work of fiction, the reader should not be aware of these scene joins. New writers often omit transitions so the reader is bored, jarred, or confused and loses their involvement with the story and leaves.

It is your job as a writer to insure the reader knows where your character is and, if necessary, how he got there. This does not mean a long explanation. Usually a single sentence or phrase is sufficient. There is no need to include every detail from the time your story opens to its conclusion. This common mistake made by new writers is the result of not knowing how to move from one scene to another.

One device in contemporary writing is taken from the quick cuts used in films. This is done by inserting an extra blank line between the two scenes. It is more effective with a novel than in short fiction and is most often used to take up another plot or subplot. These scene jumps are often places readers stop or pause in their reading of a novel. Since there are few subplots in short fiction each of these built-in breaks become barriers never crossed by short fiction readers.

A transition is not always part of the action of the story. It is a device to carry the reader smoothly into the next scene. There are four uses for transitions:   

• length of time
  
• change of emotion
• change of mood
• change of location.

Imagine you are a hiker or mountain climber. You carry a rope with a hook on one end. When you come to a break in the terrain you can throw that rope across the gap, hook on to the other side, and use this tool to span the distance. This simile is often used for transitions because it matches what we do. In fiction, a writer deliberately mentions something that will take place later or in a different place (toss the hook). Then, when you want to move there, a single phrase (the rope) is all you need to span the distance.
TYPES OF TRANSITIONS

TIME:

   1. Use WEATHER as a transition hook.

      The sky was clear and blue when Sue went to work, but when she left the office at five o'clock, the sky was slate-colored and rain drummed on the streets.

   2. SEASONS are often used to denote longer time spans.

      The trees were gaudy with autumn color when Fran went to work for the Smiths, but by the time the first jonquils bloomed, she was such a part of the family it seemed she had always lived there.

   3. OBJECTS of almost any type can be used for transitions.
      a) If it's one that changes with time (a snow bank, a flower, a burning candle) it can be used to show elapsed time.

      Elizabeth filled her glass with ice cubes and poured tea over them. She would come to grips with her problem now. She told herself, by the time she finished her tea, she would have made her decision, once and for all. But she drank the tea, the ice cubes melted and became tepid water, and Elizabeth continued to sit at the table, her mind vacillating.

      b) If the objects themselves do not undergo a change, they can still be used to show the passing of time.

      Charles would surely return in a few minutes, Mr. Thompson assured himself. He picked up the book, intending to read only a few pages, but he became so engrossed he was half way through the volume when he became aware of the chiming hall clock. Midnight, and Charles still hadn't come back.

   4. APPEARANCE can be used to show long or short periods of time
      a) LONG TERM:

      Jeremy remembered his father as he looked the day he waved goodbye to them at the airport--a tall, slim, dark-haired man, the light of adventure in his eyes. Surely it could not be his father coming toward him now. Even twenty years could not have changed him into this white-haired, stooped old man with faded eyes. Jeremy felt a little sick as he walked toward him and said, "Hello, father."

      b) SHORT TERM:

      Anita was more meticulous than usual when she put on her make-up that evening. She must look perfect for Hank. But by the time Hank finally rang the doorbell, her lipstick had worn off on the stubs of the cigarettes Anita had nervously chain-smoked, and hot, angry tears had ruined her mascara.

   5. ACTIVITIES sometimes provide transitions, adding color and background to the story.

      Swinging his tennis racket in anticipation, Frank loped down to the court where Ruth waited for him, her brief white dress gleaming in the sun. Three sets later, they were warm and pleasantly exhausted, ready for a shower and a leisurely dinner.

   6. CHANGE POINT OF VIEW (POV):
      a) NAME transitions provide an effective way of hooking into the new viewpoint of a different character. This is one way to introduce a change of POV.

      When Lola heard of John's marriage her first thought was of Margaret, who had always secretly loved him. Concern for her sister blocked out all other emotion. What would Margaret do?

      Margaret was at the theater when the news reached her. Just before the last curtain, Harriet Miller leaned forward, tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Isn't it exciting? Imagine, John's eloping with that girl from Houston! You have heard about it, of course?

      Numb with shock, Margaret managed to nod and smile.

      b) TELEPHONES are another good transition hook.

      Julia stared out the window, trying to decide what would be best for her to do. Ken, she thought. Ken could advise her. Impulsively, she reached for the telephone.

      In an apartment across town, Ken's wife, Irene, put down her drink and in a voice so slightly slurred she felt no one would notice.
   7. EMOTION: Sometimes emotion is the transitional hook, although passing of time is implied.

      Gradually, his sadness dissipated; new hope and a growing sense of purpose stirred within him.

      More often, it helps to use a time or place PLUS an emotional factor:
      a) TIME ONLY:

      She started job-hunting that morning but by evening she had not yet found a job.

      b) TIME EMOTION:

      She felt brave and full of hope when she left the house that morning to go job-hunting; by evening she was weary and discouraged.

      Another example:

      They quarreled all during breakfast, and or awhile, after Tim slammed out of the apartment, Barbara seethed with anger and resentment. But by lunchtime, her anger had begun to wear thin; by four o'clock she was willing to assume all the blame for their disagreement. Two hours later, when she heard Tim's key in the lock, she ran to greet him, her eyes shining with love.

      Yes, adding emotion also adds words. Even with short stories where word count must be kept low, do not try to cut out words by deleting emotion.

      c) PLACE EMOTION:

      When he boarded the plane at La Guardia, Fred was certain he had made a mistake in accepting the new position. An uneasy premonition of failure was still with him when they touched down at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, but as they left Denver the air turbulence seemed somehow to jolt him out of the downbeat, portentous mood that had clung to him. When he walked down the ramp in San Francisco International, he was buoyant and confident, and he knew his decision to come west had been a wise one.

RECAP:
Scenes need to be linked by transitions. The purpose is to carry the story's reader smoothly from one scene to another. A good transition carries your reader across a change of time, emotion, mood or location. New scenes need to establish WHEN, WHERE and WHO as quickly as possible, so that the reader will not be confused. Try to use a transition that shows some emotion. Transitions are difficult to many beginning writers. They are often the first marker on the path that leads to publication. Read and look for transitions. Study the writers you admire to see how they have seamlessly woven scenes together. Note the way they span passages of time, place, emotion, and mood between scenes.

The following examples are scene openings. They are either the opening lines or drawn from the rope connecting it to a previous scene. The citations for the quoted passages are given at the end.

TIME

   1. Next day when he went to the office...
   2. It was several hours before he found the answer.
   3. Spring came at last. The eaves dripped in a steady tatoo and we saw the first robin.
   4. "There was no sound in the night as Rainsford sat there, but the muffled throb of the engine that drove the yacht swiftly through the darkness, and swish and ripple of the wash of the propeller." 1

EMOTION

   1. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
   2. "But his own anger, repressed and lurking, rose again." 3

MOOD (personal or weather):

   1. By noon, the sun had vanished and a cold rain fell.
   2. "Snow fell that night. It came howling down across the hills. It swept in on use from the Smokies. By seven o'clock the air was blind with sweeping snow, the earth was carpeted, the streets were numb. The storm howled on, around houses warm with crackling fires and shaded light. All life seemed to have withdrawn into thrilling isolation. A horse went by upon the streets with muffled hooves. Storm shook the houses. The world was numb. I went to sleep upon this mystery, lying in the darkness, listening to the exultancy of storm, to that dumb wonder, that enormous and attentive quietness of snow, with something dark and jubilant in my soul I could not utter." 2

LOCATION

   1. Snow had been gusting when he left Chicago's O'Hare Field. Three hours, three martinis and a filet mignon later, he emerged into California sunshine.
   2. Coming home from work on evening I saw her again.
   3. As he reached the sagging pasture fence ...

References:
1. Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
2. "The Child by Tiger" by Thomas Wolfe
3. "A Domestic Dilemma" by Carson McCullers

Suggested Reading:
Laurence Perrine, Editor: Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 5th Edition.
Bill Henderson, Editor: The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses.

Copyright ©  Janet Kent. All rights reserved.