How to make every scene a great scene

Almost all comic stories are broken down into scenes, each scene covering action in a particular place or over one continuous period of time. A strong story will be composed of well-crafted scenes where each and every thing that happens in a scene not only makes sense in relationship to the other elements of that scene, but the scene itself makes sense in the context of the story as a whole. So if you want to have a strong story, you've got to have strong scenes. Here's how:

Make your story come alive by sculpting each scene:

Kraven's Last Hunt

Account for every decision a character makes

Everything in your story needs to be there for a reason. This includes what your characters say and do, and why. When looking at your characters' decisions, make sure you know the following:

• Why do they do it - what is the character’s motivation?
• What challenge must they overcome specific to the scene?
• How do they transform to make the right decision?

Everything must have consequences

Consequences help drive the story and keep character tension. Make sure you're aware of the stakes in each and every thing that your characters do and in what happens to your characters:

• How a character responds must have consequences.
• What happens to a character must affect him/her.

Provide conflict everywhere

Conflict is the sun around which all your story elements should be revolving. A strong story has strong conflicts that are relevant both to the characters and to the readers.

• Portray every character in some sort of conflict of interest.
• Use the conflict to either demonstrate or grow the character.
• You can always have a third party inserted for comic relief where necessary.

Kid Miracleman

Create suspense

Suspense is part of the fuel driving the readers to keep reading. Here are some ways to keep those pages turning -

• Let the audience in on an agonizing secret important to the audience but unknown to the characters. They'll fret for the heroes to find out.
• Action with peril (of death if possible).
• Have the audience root for an outcome (success, romance, etc) but frustrate them terribly with endless obstacles.
• The trick is to set up an expectation but fulfill it in a completely unexpected way.

Everything must have a reason

One of the most important things both new and experienced writers seem to forget, is that everything - EVERYTHING - in your story needs to be there for a reason. How can you tell if a scene needs to be in your story? Try cutting it out. Does your story still make sense? If it does, then delete the scene. A tight plot is where every single scene is so necessary, that removing one can make the story fall apart.

This goes for characters, too: delete characters that don’t change the story and don’t affect its outcome.

Magneto rips out
Wolverine's adamantium.

Provide focus

Don't confuse the reader by giving unimportant events or characters too much time. Keep the main story events and character(s) central.

Great scenery

• Choose backdrops that are majestic or demonic, but always larger than life. Don’t just have a meeting, have a meeting at the top of a mountain or at a picturesque waterfall.
• If you are using a familiar, grander-than-life setting that is familiar to the audience, see if there's a way to make it seem odd or unfamiliar in some way. This gives the audience a new world to discover. For example, bring your characters to an abandoned circus, the world fair at a time when it is being broken down, or the White House at night or under attack, etc.

Bring everything back

Repetition can be a strong friend and ally in your story. Whether it's a minor character used for comic relief, and artifact that was used briefly, or even a theme or a rarely used super power, your audience will appreciate the familiarity these story elements bring. One way to do this is to make a list of everything that is mentioned, every artifact, character, etc. and make them come back at some further point in the story.

Foreshadowing is also an excellent tool for bringing back your characters and artifacts: a momentary introduction to a character at one point of the story can foreshadow their playing a key piece in plot pages later. Just make sure you don't wait too long to reintroduce whatever element you're using.

In the end, your story is only as strong as its scenes. Making sure every scene has purpose, a driving force, and all of the elements mentioned here will go a long way towards getting your audience hooked and keeping them there.

For a more involved tutorial, be sure to check out: Maximizing Emotional Impact: How To Keep Your Audience Engaged Scene by Scene.