Scene Headings

I'm writing this fast-paced, crime-drama novel, where in each chapter there are as many as 30 different scenes. I considered chapter breaking at every scene break, until I realized I'm only half-way into the novel and I have over 200 "scenes." I was curious if adding scene headings throughout the chapter would make the novel read easier (eliminating the need to explain where "we" are every opening paragraph of every scene).

The best way to give you a picture of what I'm talking about is to mention crime-drama TV shows - like Crossing Jordan for instance, where most "scenes" begins with "so-and-so place; so-and-so time" over the corner of the screen. Here's an example:



Department of Social Services - Night - Day 4

Scene - however many paragraphs

#

Blake Home - 20 Minutes Later

Next Scene - however many paragraphs

#

Schiller Times Office - Morning - Day 5

Next Scene - however many paragraphs


Etc...


I really want to take out my painful "first paragraphs" of each scene because after writing over 200 of them, I'm running out of SUBTLE ways to tell the reader where the hell the characters are. I mean how many times can the main character put a coffee cup or folder down on his "desk at work" before readers get bored?

DamaNegra said:

Mmmm, I don't know why your proposal reminded me of Dan Brown. I hate the way he writes, because he includes so many different simultaneous scenes and switches between them at the most interesting moment. This would sound cool, but he does it so often it become boring and completely uninteresting. You need to watch out for that.

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I've never read Dan Brown but I wonder... is it the structure of the scenes or the scenes themselves that make his novels boring to you? In my novel, each scene is important to the plot - no fillers - and I try to make them all heart-pumping and thrilling (building tension), so, would just making them brief and shifting back and forth between them make the novel boring and completely uninteresting even if the scenes themselves weren't? I would think it would take a bit more than STRUCTURE to make a novel boring. But, that's just my assumption.

I've never read Dan Brown, so would you please elaborate? I appreciate any details you can provide that will help me make this structure work for my novel.

katiemac said:

Right. Instead of asking, "is the information still available," I probably should have said, "is the story still coherent?" It's beneficial to readers to have the information there as a helpful addition to the complexity of your storyline. Just be aware the possibility of the style becoming a crutch. Otherwise, I see no potential problems.

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I understand what you mean. I just assumed that adding the scene headings would HELP readers understand, not make it more difficult. See, at times, there are a few stories happening at the same time, that aren't connected to each other, so by switching from scene to scene, I felt if I gave readers a short statement as to where they are and what story is being picked up again, it will help them to get things straight.

I never planned to use the scene headings as substitutes for location description; I plan to use description - when necessary. I just felt by adding the headings, you not only take away the need to explain in a paragraph by itself, where the characters are (when readers just want to get on with the story), but you provide those readers a clearer way of keeping things straight in such a fast-paced, complex novel. I just think quick shifts from scene to scene can have flow issues (therefore losing the tension you want to build in a fast-paced novel) if you take the time, every time, to devote an entire paragraph to reminding readers exactly where the characters are during the scene.

Mistook said:

E.G.,

I thought this over, especially after looking at your sigline and seeing you've been on this novel for a long time. Obviously, you're writing a different kind of novel already with this scene structure, so maybe you're the one to write the rule on this question.

I would say, just come up with a heading that is easy to tune out, and be consistent with it from start to finish.

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The novel I am talking about is a completely different project from my novel series I mention in my signature. But, I was actually considering using the same format for my novel series - since it is WAY more complex (with over 80 main characters and tons of subplots).

There is no rule that says writers can't be different. So, I don't know. I'm going to see how the structure works and if it works well, it's a definite possibility that it will show up in my 5-novel series - which is unique itself, with or without the structure. I actually see the format working BETTER in my novel series, since I invisioned the series as something visual (daytime soap opera then primetime drama) before I started converting the story into novels.

DamaNegra said:

Dan Brown uses scenes like this (this excerpt is made up, following Dan Brown's style):

"He looked at the computer screen, amazed. He had never seen such a thing in his entire life. It was the most troubling piece of information he had ever encountered.
-No- he said. -It can't be-"

And then, there is a scene switch. I understand that the creation of suspense is important in keeping the attention of the reader, but in this case it is used excessively, to the point that the reader sighs and rolls his eyes, because this scene has repeated itself during the last eight paragraphs and three chapters, and is recurrent throughout the story.

Plus, changing the scene in the middle of the action or suspense makes the reader exhaust, and using it too much makes the reader bored and exhaust, using it too much is really a turn-off.

Hope that clears your doubts

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Ah, yes I understand what you are saying. My breaks aren't like that. I don't leave the reader hanging like that. I see the breaks more like the moment during a scene where you'd expect the characters to stop and take a breath. You know there's more to see, but you almost expect the characters to rest before they continue/finish.

azbikergirl said:

If scene heading are short, I'll read them. More than one line, I tend not to. I'm reading Elizabeth Bear's debut novel, Hammered, and finding that I'm skipping the scene headings and getting confused about the timeline because of it.

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I don't plan on making the scene headings any longer than one line. Very short and simple. Even something as simple as "E.G. Gammon's Office - Dusk" would work.

kristie911 said:

My only question is: how often are these scene changes? I mean as a reader am I going to see them every 4 paragraphs? Or one every two or three pages?

If it's more than one every couple of pages, it might be too much...I think I would probably lose interest rather than keep reading. I think they would get tiresome if they occured too often.

But I ran into one every few pages, they probably wouldn't bother me much and it seems like a good way to keep track of everyone and everyplace. I've read novels that do this...though, of course, I can't think of one off-hand. However, just another side note: I think that in the case of the second one (Blake home 20 minutes later), that might be just a bit too quick. When you have just a few minutes maybe you could just do a quick segue into that scene. Maybe that would eliminate having too many. The other ones (Day 5 morning, etc) work for me.

Just my 2 cents as a reader...

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"Scenes" are RARELY shorter than a page (never as short as 4 paragraphs!). There are a few instances where the scene is pretty short, but like I said, it is RARE. One example of this is a party sequence, where I shift from different "groups" there, each shift being a 'scene.' Those can be choppy and short sometimes. But, most of the scenes in the book run beyond 2-3 pages.