The Necessary Elements

Conflict, emotion, action and dialogue: the necessary elements of a narrative scene
Generally, there are three elements a good narrative scene requires, as the length of each scene will probably be short.

Conflict: We humans thrive on conflict of all types, whether it is a rich tapestry in a good novel or well written movie or people yelling at each other on Jerry Springer.  There are five types of plot conflict, each offering an element of risk to at least the protagonist.

• Narrative conflict

Emotion: Conflict creates tension, which amplifies the emotional impact to the reader.  Even better is when the characters have an honest emotional response to the conflict and action.  It could be as simple as being late for something or as complex a threat to the planet, but anger, worry, jealousy, raw emotions the reader can identify with, helps bring them into the story.

Action: Things should happen in these stories. Static conversations over lattes and biscotti will struggle to create tension no matter how much challenge is in the conflict, truth in the emotional responses and well written the exchanges of dialogue.  Each scene should include action, whether it is in the story, has just happened, or is a future outcome.

Dialogue: New information should happen to the characters and thus to the reader.  Readers should touch, taste, see and smell the world around them.  Dialogue goes further and provides a powerful mechanism to avoid simple explanation on the writer's part.  People discuss the issues and events around them.  When time becomes critical, tempers flare and communications either streamline or falter, depending upon the fortitude of each character. 

Let's look at some examples.