What is scene? What is summary? And when do you use one or the other?
In this episode, I’ll define the difference between scene and summary. We’ll talk about the purpose of each, and when to write in scene, versus when to write in summary.
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Episode at a glance:
[2:03] Writers often think they’re writing in scene when they’re actually writing in summary. Learn common ways writers get scene and summary confused, and how to tell the difference.
[04:37] Whether you’re writing a novel, memoir, or short fiction, story is about characters moving through time. We’ll look at how scene and summary treat that time differently.
[08:21] When do you use scene and when do you use summary?
Learn how summary enhances scene, and what moments you can reserve for scene.
[09:52] Scene are strong in part because they follow summary.
We’ll talk about 2 types of narrative summary: circumstantial and sequential. Plus examples of both.
Links mentioned in this episode:
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Bullet In The Brain by Tobias Wolff
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