21.29: How to Make a Scene

Writing Excuses by Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

Jul 19, 202628:58Arts

What makes a scene feel like a scene? This week, we unpack one of storytelling's most basic building blocks. Our hosts explore where scenes begin and end, how they differ from beats, and why framing and narrative purpose...

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from Writing Excuses.

21.36: Twists: How to Make the Unexpected Feel Inevitable

Sep 6, 2026 - 23:47

A great twist shouldn’t just surprise us—it should make us rethink everything that came before. This week...

21.35: The Four Acts of Kishōtenketsu

Aug 30, 2026 - 21:43

This week, our hosts explore kishōtenketsu, an Asian story structure that appears under different names i...

21.34: Knowing the Distance

Aug 23, 2026 - 23:35

How close is your reader to the story? Should they be closer? Today, our hosts get nerdy about narrative...

21.33: When To Shift Gears

Aug 16, 2026 - 22:30

A story doesn’t always need the same tools from beginning to end. In this episode, we talk about recogniz...

21.32: Barrier Breaking- Time Constraints

Aug 9, 2026 - 27:51

There never seems to be enough time to write—but is time really the problem? Our hosts explore the realit...

21.31: Deconstructing Save the Cat

Aug 2, 2026 - 27:22

Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by Blake Snyder was published in 2005 and i...

21.30: Chapter Breaks Soon

Jul 26, 2026 - 27:56

A lot of times people want to know what the "ideal length" is for a chapter. But chapters can range from...

21.28: Narrative Transitions

Jul 12, 2026 - 26:48

How do you move readers from one scene to the next without losing momentum? Our hosts dig into different...