Writing Tip #4 What Scenes to Keep

What Scenes to Keep in a Story

(And Which Ones to Cut) 

We’ve all been there. We’ve read a book that was arguably really good, but just felt way too long. Like it was good, but could have been condensed. That 700 page epic fantasy that could have stood to be about 200 pages shorter. 

The reason this happens is largely because authors choose to leave in “filler scenes,” or scenes that didn’t necessarily add anything to the story and should have been cut in the final draft. 

Even professional published authors struggle with this sometimes, so it is definitely difficult to know what scenes are necessary to the story and which ones (though you may personally love them) don’t really add anything to the story.

So let’s dive into it! 

Generally speaking, all portions included in the story should advance the story in some way. This most predominantly includes any scenes that move the plot forward, but also extends to scenes that are used for significant character development or world-building that will be relevant in some way later. 

Finding the balance among scenes that advance plot, build character, and world-build is key because it helps smooth out the pacing of your story. Too much plot all at once can make the story feel rushed, like everything’s happening way too fast, but too many slower, character driven moments might make the story feel slogged-down. The result is that sometimes writers end up with scenes that are meant to break up the pace of your story and smooth it out, but really just add unnecessary chapters to your story and make the pacing even bumpier. 

So below I’ve made a list of things that authors include in stories, often thinking it improves character development, but doesn’t really. 

1. Character waking up and getting ready

This is so common. There are so many books I’ve read where one chapter leaves off with some major plot point, and the next chapter picks up with the main character waking up the following morning, getting ready for work or eating breakfast, and thinking about what just happened the night before (in the previous chapter). 

The intentions behind why authors include scenes like this are good. It establishes a time table by showing that this chapter picks up the next day, it breaks up the action by not following a major plot point with another plot point, and the general idea of showing the character thinking about what happened implies character development. But that’s just the problem. This implies character development without actually showing it. Just because your character is thinking about what happened in the previous chapter, that isn’t enough to tell us how specifically they feel about the events, or if the reaction is different than how it would have been 200 pages ago. It’s just a rehashing of the previous chapter’s events without any real reason to rehash it. We don’t need the MC to tell spend ten pages thinking about the fact that her rival just kissed her last night before declaring his hatred of her and fleeing into the night. We read the last chapter, we know that happened. The next chapter does not need to function as a previously-on segment for a book. 

You can set the stage clearly as the next day by cutting out the wake-up-get-ready-think-about-last-night montage completely and picking up with the character at work; that’s enough to clearly set up that it’s the following day. Want to establish that your character didn’t sleep because they were thinking about it? Instead of 3 pages of tossing and turning in bed, use one sentence to say that the MC was 25 minutes late to work because her thoughts kept her up all night, and she slept past her alarm. Congrats! You just cut three unnecessary pages from your story and conveyed the same relevant information in one sentence! 

But wait, you might be thinking. What about character development? Don’t I want to show how my character is feeling afterwards? 

Yes, but like I said. Just showing that the character is thinking about what happened, it isn’t enough to show how they feel about it. And if you’re using your MC’s rumination and rehashing of the event to just say, “she kept thinking about the kiss from last night, and she was so angry that he fled right after” then you’re breaking the golden rule of Show Don’t Tell. If you want to show that she’s angry, maybe include a short scene where she comes home and punches her wall, then when she shows up at work the next morning late, her hand is also bandaged, so she couldn’t use it to apply concealer over her fresh under eye dark circles. 

All this establishes that your character is clearly mad without just point-blank telling the reader she’s mad. It shows she’s impacted by what happened. It shows clearly that it’s the next day, and she definitely didn’t sleep because of it. And it did it in a much more interesting and effective way than just showing your MC sitting around eating breakfast and thinking about the events of the last chapter—we’re actually getting some real emotion come through here, and that’s what leads to character development because now your reader can judge her anger and decide if this is how she would have reacted in the beginning of the story, or if she’s changed/evolved emotionally, and if the change is for better or worse. You’ve also managed to narrowly avoid a cliched scene where your MC stands in front of the mirror, brushing her teeth, and describing her dark circles! (See my previous writing tip on writing descriptions). 

And if you really feel the need to show that the previous events are bouncing around in your MC’s brain, you can insert little moments where the MC is reminded about it while other plot points are going on without rehashing the last chapter completely. 

Say, for instance, your character’s boss is lecturing your MC. Maybe the way he calls her stubborn reminds her of the way her love interest said she was stubborn last night. That’s it. That’s all you need to show that the memory is lingering. One sentence is sufficient. 

2. Dream sequences 

Okay, so there’s nothing inherently wrong with dream sequences or nightmare scenes if they actively fit into your story. Like, if your character is psychic and has prophet dreams, then a dream sequence foreshadowing a major plot point later is called for. Or, if you’re writing a horror or dark fantasy/science fiction story that’s supposed to spook your reader, a chilling nightmare sequence where you can’t tell what’s real and what’s not would probably work. As long as these are used sparingly, they can be effective. 

That being said, if you’re writing a contemporary story, and you have a whole chapter or a large portion of a chapter dedicated to your character dreaming about something, you probably need to revisit whether that dream sequence is actually adding something of value to your story. Is the dream reliving something that’s already happened in the story? You probably don’t need it, as we’ve already read about that moment and don’t need it rehashed in its entirety for another chapter just for the sake of having a dream sequence. Say that it’s a nightmare about something horrible that happened in the previous book. You want the nightmare to show that your character is impacted. You can simply show your character waking in a cold sweat with a racing heart. Any actual nightmare sequence that rehashes the previous book’s event can be cut entire or probably drastically condensed. Your reader knows what happened, trust that they remember. Besides, there are other ways to show that a character has been traumatized, not just with nightmares. 

Also keep in mind, most people don’t have dramatic realizations about situations, conflicts, or memories during their dreams that hold the key to solving a major dilemma. Some writers will use dream sequences as a way of having the character suddenly realize something they never noticed before, and usually that leads to a plot twist or helps solve some kind of problem. Be cautious of using this tool. Dreams don’t really work this way in real life, and unless you can really, really sell it, this might feel like a cop out—both because you withheld one small detail from a canon event and retconned it in a dream later to help solve a plot hole, and also because it implies you couldn’t find a way to have the character make this revelation or solve the problem on their own, so you needed mystical dream intervention to do it. 

3. Extra Fluff

Yes I know. Every fanboy and fangirl is throwing tomatoes at me. But there’s a reason that I say “extra fluff” and not just “fluff.” Look, everyone likes to see small fluffy moments in books between couples we’re shipping. If these scenes weren’t here, we would start to question if there was actually any romance going on. This is especially true when talking about HEA, light-hearted, contemporary romances. If it’s going to be a romance-heavy story, we need to actually feel every aspect of the relationship, including the more domestic stuff sometimes. 

But generally speaking, even a cute little romance probably still has some sort of underlying story or character arc for your main character, and it probably exists outside of doing laundry and getting coffee with their SO. Quite honestly, it’s boring to read long, extended passages of this domestic stuff when there’s an actual plot going on. And besides, that’s what fan fiction is for anyway. 

So instead, you should try to insert glimpses on fluff and domesticity into scenes without spending entire scenes on it. Like, for instance, say you want your main couple to be having a leisurely stroll through the park together just before a major plot point—your MC gets a call from her mother saying her father died. Do you need an entire chapter about the walk through the park, ending with the phone call, and then the plot picks up in the following chapter? No! You can start your chapter with a brief mention or even just a few introductory paragraphs about the walk—a lovely day, they’re holding hands, laughing at an inside joke—when the call comes in, then go from there. It’s enough to show the easy, fluffy, domesticity of the main couple without focusing so much on it that you take time away from the important beats of the plot. 

Talking about cutting extra fluff scenes may have you wondering about the other end of writing romantic relationships, you know, spicy scenes. Should they be included? 

If you’re writing YA, the answer is always no. If you’re writing new adult or adult fiction, this is a personal call. 

Everyone’s preference about how much they enjoy reading spice is different. Some people don’t want it to be included at all, some like it moderate, others want all the detail—so no choice is going to please everyone. That being said, there are some guidelines depending on what kind of genre you’re writing. If you’re writing a romance specifically, or another genre where a romance happens to be a heavy factor into the story, then sexy scenes are more important to include. If you want people to root for your couple, you need to show that they have attraction and/or intimacy, and showing how they function in sex scenes does accomplish this. Plus, sex is a realistic part of romance in real life, so there’s no need to act like it isn’t in fiction. How detailed you want the scenes to be is totally a personal call. 

Plus, sex scenes do more than just exist for the sake of having spice. They can actually be major plot points—is your MC cheating on his wife?—or they can reveal something important about the character—is your MC’s partner disinterested during sex while your MC absentmindedly enjoys it? 

If you’re writing a different genre outside of romance entirely and romances aren’t a major factor of the story, you should contemplate how much spicy content really benefits your story. You don’t have to cut sex out completely—sex can exist outside of romance, so you don’t need to be writing a romance for sex to occur—but if you’re writing a massive epic fantasy/political war story, you probably have a lot of world building and politicking and plot to include in your story, so you should probably make sure that detailed sex scenes that aren’t really focusing on an important relationship in the story aren’t really taking up too much of your story’s page space. 

4. Travel sequences 

Ahhh, the worst offenders in unnecessary chapters. Look, maybe I’m alone in this, but I hate boring travel chapters in books. (I’m look at you, GRRM). 

I get it. If you’ve created a universe that’s large, and you’ve got characters that are traveling from one location to another that’s far away, you don’t want it to seem like they got there overnight. But if you’re just inserting chapters of your characters going from one place to another where nothing of importance happens, your story will suffer for it. The pace will get slogged down.

If you’re working on a story with multiple POVs, the easiest way around this is to just focus on the other characters storylines for a while until the traveling characters get where they’re going. The absence of having chapters in their POV while other major plot points are going on will convey the passage of time without the need to insert meaningless travel sequences. 

Also consider using travel sequences to move other plots along or introduce new ideas into your story. Maybe the characters meet someone new who will be important later while they’re traveling. Maybe the little village they stop at is going to get burnt to the ground later and spurn a revenge arc. As long as the people they’re meeting and places they’re going while traveling matter later, these travel chapters won’t feel so meandering and pointless. 

So you may be wonder, why do we leave these types of scenes and chapters in our books? 

Because being well written and being important to the story are, ultimately, not always on in the same. You may write a scene in your first draft—not knowing where all the threads of your story are going just yet. And the prose is good, you’ve got great dialogue, and some fun little character quirks. It reads so well. As a one-shot, it might work. But then as you’re editing your story later, you realize that no matter how well written it is, it doesn’t further your story along. These passages can be hard to cut when they flex our writing strengths.

Sometimes these passages can be reworked, edited into later chapters (or even sequels), or condensed to keep them in. Other times, it’s best to let them go, as hard as it may be for the author. 

The other thing to keep in mind is that everything is okay in moderation. If you’ve got a tiny bit of any of the listed points, and you absolutely feel it needs to be in the story—you’re the author, then you ultimately get the final say on what’s best.