Scenes vs chapters: 3 benefits of using scenes

Depending on whether you are a pantser or a plotter, you outline your story to a great or to (almost) no extent. Many authors give advice about the right method you should use: the 3-act story structure, the save the cat or 27 chapters. But have you ever considered that your way of dividing your story in chapters as you draft may not be your best option?

Novels have chapters to guide your reader through your story and control the reading experience. They divide your story into manageable chunks, but those divisions are arbitrary, i.e. they do not tell your reader anything about your story's structure.

Scenes, however, are in fact mini-stories, with a start, a middle and an end. Your character has to make a choice and due to that choice they continue their overall character growth. You would combine multiple scenes which share a similar message within one chapter after you are ready with your drafting process.

Now you know the difference between chapters and scenes, but why should you use scenes instead of chapters when you are writing your story? There are a few benefits which I will discuss below.

Benefit #1: Clear scene structure

The main benefit of using scenes versus chapters is that scenes have a clear structure. Check the outline of a scene below to help you create scene cards.

1. Scene goal: Your character has a goal at the start of the scene, but will have to rethink their plan to achieve it.

2. The inciting incident: This is the first moment your character experiences some conflict or gets unexpected events thrown her way.

3. The turning point: The conflict reaches its peak and as a result, the original plan of your character will no longer work.

4. The crisis moment: Your character is faced with a decision on how to move forward. Make sure that the choices have the same weight, i.e. choosing is losing.

5. The climax: This is the moment where you character makes their choice. This is also one of the key moments where you can show your reader who your character is as a person.

6. The resolution: Here you show your reader how the choice affected your character. You can also set up events and/or inner conflict for the next scene.

This structure makes plotting your story a lot easier. If you don't know as a writer where you are headed with your story, the scene structure may help you figure that out. At least, it worked for me. I had absolutely no idea about where I wanted to go with my story, but as soon as I switched over to scenes instead of chapters, a lot became clear.

Benefit #2: Pacing your story

Similar to the previous benefit, using scenes also lets you figure out how quick or slow your story should go. It is especially useful combined with the save the cat method, because you can measure how long each part of your story needs to be. Imagine that you are writing a story of about 80k words, and you divide your story according to the save the cat method:

• Start: 20k words

• Middle: 40k words

• End: 20k words

Divide 20k through 1 500 words per scene and then you can calculate how many scenes you need to fill out each part of the story. The answer is roughly 14 scenes for the start and end and 28 for the middle. Of course, you can customise the scene length or the number of scenes in each part according to the total word count of your story.

Benefit #3: Easier editing process

Working with scenes instead of chapter can help you in the editing process. Why? In a chapter it is less clear which exact part might be a problem area. But with scenes, you can spot much easier which ones work and don't work. You have discovered in advance why each scene matters to the story and should be included. As a result, you have less "filler" or weak scenes to deal with, which leads to less deleted scenes and rewrites. In short: a much easier and forward editing process.

The main benefit of using scenes versus chapters is that scenes have a clear scene structure.

You now know some benefits to using scenes instead of chapters. Are you convinced? Let me help you in your process! For subscribers to my newsletter, I have created a new template which can help you plan out your scene structure. Not a subscriber yet? Subscribe at the bottom of this page and get all your perks, including a personalised poem!