Finding success in writing for many is the torturous enjoyment and catharsis that the writing process brings. But publishing success is largely down to captivating readers, whatever that means for your chosen genre.

This, of course, doesn’t just happen on the macro level. You need to be creating an experience on the scene-by-scene level because there is always a scene that is a reader’s last when they choose to abandon a story, which also means that a good scene can keep them moving forward even when they didn’t expect it. So, we’ve put together the five things each reader needs from their scenes to stay fully engaged. Let’s get into it.

*Hint hint* You just might notice that each of these falls in line with the key elements of a plot curve. Funny how that works out.

A Moment of Transition

There are going to be moments between your scenes that readers need to know happened but aren’t worth really showing. Since the resolution of your scene (or the cliffhanger you leave instead) is important to keep intact, the best place to put these transitions is at the beginning of your next scene. This is a great way to start setting up the situation or exposition before you dig into the central conflict for your scene. It gives readers a moment to breathe and process the outcome of the last scene while providing a check-in that they can compare against once the scene is resolved to fully internalize both what has changed and what it means for your characters.

A Clearly Communicated Set of Stakes

If you’re wanting to create a page-turning experience for your readers, they will need to know what could happen should your main character fail. This is true in a larger sense for your narrative, but it is also true for each scene. Giving your readers the answer to why the main character needs to take their next action in advance will naturally ramp up your conflict. It allows the reader to engage emotionally in a scene and gives them reason to root either for or against an outcome. Though the level of severity of your stakes should ebb and flow throughout your story, there should always be the possibility of loss to keep readers interested.

An Unexpected Complication

Conflict is all in the complications of your scenes. What obstacles are your characters up against? Though the stakes of a scene should be communicated in advance, your complications should be revealed as your character encounters them. Pre-meditated complications are only useful when they can be subverted. This creates a sense of urgency to take action and will guide your characters toward the scene’s climax quickly.

A Turning Point

This is the crux that an entire scene sits on. Just like how a story isn’t a story without a climax, a scene isn’t a scene without a turning point. There will always be a moment in which your characters will be forced to make a decision, and the choices they make will affect the outcomes that follow not just in this scene but as your character continues their story as well. It’s important for these moments to be made very clear to readers with no vague language, and as such it’s quite common for the moment to slow down pacing momentarily before speeding back up as readers see the consequences of that action.

An Emotional Reaction

The final necessary component of a scene to give your audience a fully robust reading experience is consequences for the action they took during their turning point. This must always be paired with an emotional experience to give readers continued relevance in the story. It can be something small like an annoyed scoff or as big as a sense of triumph, but every scene has an emotional component to it, and the conclusion will not feel fully resolved until the reader has been made aware of it.

Giving your readers the space, expectations, surprise, change, and emotional catharsis they need in a given scene with these steps can help create an irresistible experience they’ll want to recommend to all their reader friends. But there’s still a chance that even after all this that a scene or two of yours isn’t hitting beta readers the way you expected. That’s when it’s a good idea to bring in a book coach. They can give you the equivalent of a developmental edit on a scene-by-scene basis and make sure you’re delivering the best possible experience to your readers.