Writing Craft
A scene often becomes useful after the thing people came for has already happened.
The explosion, confession, duel, betrayal. Fine. That is the loud part. The bit worth keeping is usually what comes after, when everyone has to stand in the wreckage and pretend they are still in control. Someone is lying badly. Someone is suddenly practical. Someone says the wrong small thing and reveals the whole mess.
Clean-up scenes can look like leftovers, but they’re where the mood settles into its real shape. And sometimes the important event is only there so the characters have something to fail at gracefully.
The explosion, confession, duel, betrayal. Fine. That is the loud part. The bit worth keeping is usually what comes after, when everyone has to stand in the wreckage and pretend they are still in control. Someone is lying badly. Someone is suddenly practical. Someone says the wrong small thing and reveals the whole mess.
Clean-up scenes can look like leftovers, but they’re where the mood settles into its real shape. And sometimes the important event is only there so the characters have something to fail at gracefully.
The trouble is that some scenes are too tidy after the fact. Real aftermath is often admin, embarrassment, and people trying to work out who has to phone whom. That can be useful on the page if you let it stay awkward.
A character washing blood off a mug, or arguing about a missing coat, tells you more than another speech ever will.
A character washing blood off a mug, or arguing about a missing coat, tells you more than another speech ever will.