While writing a story, scenes are one major part on which you have to do a lot of thinking.

If you create an outline for the story before you write it out, you have a clear idea on how the story begins, what happens in the middle and how it would end. 

And because you have thought out the Beginning, the Middle and the End, all that remains is to think out the scenes that will connect these three main features of your story.

Trust me, it is not as easy as I have just written.

A scene is something which connects parts of your story and is really important to move your story forward. Keep in mind that each scene you write should serve a purpose as well or else it will only make readers bored and click out of your book to find a new one.

For instance, you are writing a fight scene. Like, it's 1864 and Katherine Pierce is trapped in the tomb while the Salvatore brothers have to go rescue her (and get shot later, you know how the plot goes), everything is full of panic, anxiety and frustration. Guiseppe Salvatore is on the peak of his anger at discovering that he got betrayed by Katherine Pierce and that she wasn't a human, Stefan and Damon equally anxious to get her out and the town people with burning stakes in their hands. Literally, all the scene spells KILL, KILL, KILL. But all of a sudden, the author shows that Damon Salvatore has crept out to warn the love of his life (not Katherine, I'm talking about an OC) of what is going to happen and hastily confesses his undying love for her and then they get to share a moment or two where the writer gets carried away with the emotional aspects of the scene and it seems like the whole universe stopped and the clocks became out of order just to let the two helpless lovebirds confess their love to each other and strengthen their vows etc etc. 

Honestly speaking, please refrain from doing that.

Even though the scene itself may be very emotional and likely to get readers all sentimental searching for tissue boxes to wipe tears and all, but including such a scene while a fight is going on is highly unrealistic.

Adding such scenes in the story disrupts the theme of the previous and the upcoming scene and as I mentioned earlier, all the scenes have to connect with each other and also serve a purpose.

Anyhow... Getting on with the real stuff for which I planned to write this chapter...

There are about 13 main types of scenes. Or rather, 13 scenes you normally see in a good story.

1. Establishing Scene:

Also known as the opening scene, this is the first thing your reader comes to contact with in the story. The establishing scene is usually the starting scene of the story in which a good writer reveals the tone, time and theme of the story.

In easier words, this is the scene which establishes in your reader's mind what is to be expected from the story.

Remember, that you have to write a hooking opening scene so as to captivate your reader into the story completely. If you succeed in getting your reader's attention from the start, then it is one big achievement.

I am mentioning below the opening scene from Dystopian, a mystery / thriller novel by Angelily2015

It revolves around the life of Lysander Smith, a skilled target killer and focuses on his life. Questions like how he became a target killer, why, what would happen to him, will he have to face consequences, how will his story end etc are focused on throughout the story.

Even though it is not a Vampire Diaries story, still it's opening scene has all the elements of a captivating establishing scene.

The silence of the night was nothing when compared to the echoing screams of death and revenge. It was horrifyingly dark in the room and only a dim light was visible but even that weak flame contributed to the unspeakable terror of the place.

A silhouette of a boy was visible standing over a limp corpse like figure. The stench of blood was filling his nostrils and the faint painful cries were reaching his ears. Bending down he pulled the knife out from the wounded man's chest where it had been stabbed again and again.

"You... Why...?" He seemed to be breathing his last and the pain he felt was excruciating.

"That was for killing my father," the boy whispered in a low voice. Incoherent words came out of his mouth in reply followed by a stream of blood. "Oh so you don't recognize me," the blue eyes flashed in the dim light and the flame reflected in them gave the impression of a fire blazing inside those crystal clear irises, "look at me closely, I want you to see who caused your death. I want you to know who I am."

The man coughed and sputtered as the boy jabbed the knife close to his throat. "Well, I'll give you a hint; does the name Smith ring any bells to you?"

The man's eyes widened in horror and disbelief, "n-no..."

He chuckled softly, "unfortunately, yes. The day you killed Alexander Smith 10 years ago was the day your fate got marked. And now... You get to die at the hands of his son."

The above scene is the opening scene for Dystopian. I have said it is a good establishing scene because it gives a very clear idea on the theme of the story. 

The description of the night and the silence in the beginning, is enough to get a reader thinking that it must be of a darker theme. The author has revealed enough without spoiling the whole story. By this scene a reader can easily conclude that the theme of the story is Revenge and the fact that the story itself starts with a murder leaves the reader wondering on what is going to come up next. Such as what will be the consequences, how is the character going to proceed from then on and so forth.

The details are sufficient and this certainly isn't an example of a purple prose (i.e a prose which is descriptive to the point of infinity). The dialogues are vague but give a clear sense of the speaker's personality.

All in all this is one great Establishing Scene.

And now, here are the main elements of a good establishing scene:

Sufficient description, hooking dialogues, visible theme and appropriate setting with respect to the genre of the story.

In the opening scene, the author usually introduces the reader to the main character of the story and it can be either antagonist, protagonist or both.

2. Exposition Scene:

This is the scene in which the readers are given necessary information related to the characters. The exposition scene reveals the character's past or something that happened in the past which made the character who he / she is today.

The exposition should never come too early in the story. No one would like to read a story in which the author gives all the information too early. Such stories become hard to digest and seem a bit too suffocating since all the detail gives the impression of everything being chucked together. And this aspect of the story makes a reader leave the story for good.

Usually the exposition (or rather, the revelation) is about the character your story focuses on.

For example, I reviewed The Rose That Bloomed In Augustine by Viola130831 earlier in this book. In that story, the revelation of Melanie Salvatore being actually Damon's daughter came way later in the story, I suppose after 20 chapters or so.

Consider another example, The Broken Gilbert by thegirlinyocloset25 and in that story the revelation of January being a Hunter and also adopted by the Gilberts came way later in the story when the readers were least expecting it.

The exposition scene is kind of a shocking scene, which literally catches your reader off-guard if it is well written. The revelation, in spite of being shocking, should also make sense and fit the description of the character's personality and behavior appropriately.

3. Catalyst Scene:

Now this is the scene which sets the story into motion. A strong catalyst shows actions and events instead of verbal discussion. 

For example, in the book Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted by klaroline-4ever the catalyst scene is the fight between Hope Mikaelson and Kate Anderson. The fight supplies the action required for moving the story and also sets a platform for upcoming events to unfold such as Klaus visiting his daughter and Caroline helping her understand the necessity of not reverting to violence at instinct.

4. Love Scene:

Obviously, the love scenes are the scenes which portray and show relationships. Every main character has a love interest and these are the scenes in which readers get to know more about their relationship. Love scenes have a wide range and nowadays writers tend to focus more on such scenes instead of the whole story. Friendly tip, focus more on the plot than on the love scenes.

Usually these scenes are emotional but with the wide variety of writers out there, the possibilities expand. It can either be a romantic conversation, a date, picnic, basically these scenes show the readers why the couple is together, what they have in common, what they do not have in common, their likes and dislikes and more specifically their feelings for each other.

It can be Klaus Mikaelson overthinking his relationship with Caroline in a sort of a flashback, as written in the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted.

It can be Melanie Salvatore's trip to the forest with Jeremy Gilbert, as written in The Rose That Bloomed In Augustine.

It can be Samara Bennett's confession of her love to Elijah Mikaelson, as written in The Bennett Witch.

5. Confrontation Scene:

To be simple here, the confrontation scene is basically a confrontation. One of the main character confronts the other about something which is supposedly wrong or not right in said character's view.

This confrontation does not come at the end of the story because it is definitely not the final scene of your book. In fact, this confrontation happens to be the foil for the upcoming events and is usually the scene which starts off a reel of important events in your story.

For instance, in The Rose That Bloomed In Augustine, the confrontation scene is in which the Salvatore Brothers get involved in a fight. Stefan confronts Damon for still pining for a woman who toyed with his emotions (Katherine Pierce, in case you're wondering) and Damon retaliates burning in the fact that Katherine had loved Stefan not him. 

This confrontation set up the rift between the brothers which caused them to separate their ways and for Melanie to choose either one of them. As the story unfolds, you will discover that the confrontation was absolutely necessary and was a foil for the upcoming events.

Similarly, in The Bennett Witch by avani_bhargava the confrontation scene is the scene in which Damon confronts Samara of her relationship with Elijah Mikaelson. That confrontation foils up the upcoming events such as the disruption and daggering at a dinner party (go read that story because I'm not elaborating any more).

6. Pay-off Scene:

The pay off scene is what people commonly refer to as the ending or the closing scene of the story. It is the scene in which loose ends are tied up and the author delivers (or rather pays off) the ending of the story.

For example, in White Blood by papertides the pay-off scene is the one in which Klaus Mikaelson discovers a bundle of letters addressed to him. It occurs at the ending of the story and the chapter winds up the whole plot pretty well. I'm not spoiling anymore so if you want to find out what was written in those letters, go check out White Blood yourself.

7. Resolution Scene:

It is the end of the conflict which was created in the Confrontation scene. It is also referred to as the reconciliation scene. It occurs after the climax of the story.

While writing a resolution scene, make sure that the reason you give for ending the conflict is believable. You can not have two people fight and argue and kick each other out of their lives and then make it all up to each other in less than a week because they were too dependent on each other that they could not move a single step without the other.

Just don't do that.

For example, I told you about the confrontation scene of Melanie Salvatore's story. Now the Resolution scene will be the one in which the Salvatores unite and the rift that was created between them resolves.

The author has explained why the Salvatore brothers end their conflict and the explanation is what takes place in the climax. And of course, the story can have multiple climaxes. But they must follow suit and connect with each other. 

The first climax of the story is a Masquerade in which Melanie gets attacked by Katherine and the second climax happens a bit later on when Damon loses his self control and unwillingly retaliates to Melanie. The result of these climaxes is Damon realizing that in order to keep Mel safe from both Katherine and himself, he will have to seek out his brother for help.

8. Realization Scene:

It is the scene in which a puzzle gets solved either by the character or the reader. It is a sort of a truth moment when an essential missing piece of the story gets set and the reader understands why it happened and how.

Foreshadowing is required in such scenes so you will have to rewrite it a few times. It can also serve as a plot twist for your story if written as such.

Some examples of realization scenes are:

In The Bennett Witch when Elijah is attacked and Samara feels his pain and while overthinking it all comes to the conclusion that she has fallen for the Noble Mikaelson.

In The Broken Gilbert, the realization scene is also the very same scene in which January discovers her true identity in a letter from Grayson Gilbert.

9. Decision Scene:

The Decision scenes comes after the Realization and it is the decision which the character takes in order to act upon what he or she has realized / discovered. 

As mentioned earlier, in the Bennett Witch after the realization scene, Samara decides to tell Elijah of her feelings so as to take the burden off her.

In the Broken Gilbert, the decision scene is when January decides to confront Damon Salvatore and turns up at his house for a question and answer scenario.

10. Action Scene:

This scene is the one in which the character acts upon the decision. The Action scene doesn't necessarily have to be a fight or a war or whatever, it is basically characters moving the story forward through their doings.

11. Reaction Scene:

Every action is followed by a reaction. This scene focuses on the character's reaction which arises as a result of the action scene. The reaction can be either emotional or physical.

Usually the realization, decision, action and reaction follow each other in order and are placed together in stories.

12. Flashback Scene:

It is generally advised to avoid writing flashback scenes. But of course it all depends on you.

The flashback scene is what most writers use as the Exposition scene but in reality both of them are quite different.

A good flashback scene reveals what is necessary to the plot and the readers but does not reveal everything. 

For example, in Dystopian, the story from which I took the example of the establishing scene, the Flashback scene occurs only once in the form of a main character's nightmare. It reveals the conflict within the character but does not reveal enough and keeps the readers guessing nevertheless. Which in itself is a good point for a good story.

13. Show Stopper Scene:

In films and movies, these scenes are the musical scenes or something massive like a ball, a prom, an event or gathering. The Show stopper scene is not necessary for the story but nowadays readers and writers both look forward to it. These scenes are the memorable ones in the story.

For example in After A Thousand Years by GhostLoveWriter the show stopper scene is the one in which the main character Elisabet Haraldsdotter makes a grand appearance at the Mikaelson Ball and announces her presence as the Eighth One of the Mikaelsons.

And this story too is a real good one, the plot is really unique and you should check it out if you want to find more about what happens in there.

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So these are the main types of scenes which a good story should have. I hope this chapter helped you get an idea on what scenes to include and how to connect them.

Stay tuned for the next update.