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How do you rate your scenes?

JadedSidhe

Minstrel
If anyone is familiar with Ywriter, there's a screen that allows you to rate your scene with tension and quality. I know there are other things that authors consider when reviewing a scene, such as conflict, humor, action, reaction, plot, subplot.

What else do you use?

And here's the tricky question that I just can't seem to come up with an answer for.

How do you decide where it should be on a rating scale?
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
That's a very interesting question. I can't say I rate our scenes (I write with a partner), but I do work with a detailed outline so I know what each scene and chapter needs to accomplish and I try to guide the characters in that direction. I say "try" because characters do have agency and like to have things their way. My job is to mess with them and see how they react to it.

Loving your signature, btw :D
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
I think in terms of movie ratings and catagories:

G, PG, R, NC17, and X for explicitness and violence,

and action, comedy, horror, ect for the 'tone'.

This is scene by scene, not merely by story.
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
I've used y-writer and the rating system in it, but I didn't find that feature useful. It might work for you, but I found it was more of a distraction from writing than an aid.

I don't rate my scenes. I use the three act structure, and I make sure my scenes build up to the act transitions and to the mid-point climax and the story climax. I find that's enough. For me it's about knowing what type of scenes belong where for the type of story I'm trying to tell.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
This scene is unrated by the MPAA. :)

Seriously, why bother? A rating scheme is only useful when it allows one to make comparisons. At the point of writing a story, one is certainly not in the comparison business.

By all means evaluate your scenes. Ask yourself if they work or not. But there's little benefit to be had from assigning a number to them. I am not a believer in numbers; I believe in words. Objectivity is overrated (by 74.38%).

Is there a particular problem or challenge you're addressing, JadedSidhe?
 

Guru Coyote

Archmage
One thing to consider: It's all about the context, baby!
Any scene's impact is always dependant on what came before and comes after.
I've had this happen more than once: the reader's experience of one scene changed dramatically not by changing said scene, but adding/removing something in another scene that came before - it changed the setup and that changed the perception of the scene. Let me repeat: the perception of one scene changed without me changing anything in that particular scene. Now... how would I possibly rate this scene in any meaningful way... without considering all the other scenes that might change or not?
 
If I'm not totally happy with a scene I edit it until I am. I've scrapped entire sections and rewritten them because I wasn't totally happy. I try to make them as good as I can. I read them and see if they flow well, making sure everything is right. I don't really rank them with numbers. By the end I'm either happy with a scene or I know I have to come back to it later, because I know it can be better.
 

JadedSidhe

Minstrel
skip.knox
Is there a particular problem or challenge you're addressing, JadedSidhe?

It isn't exactly a problem, but I'm trying to keep track of the ups and downs of the story arc. The rating system in Y Writer seemed like a good way to track it, the problem is, I can't seem to judge how much tension, etc there is in any particular scene. I think it's because I know what's coming, so the foreshadowing or clues are obvious to me, but, might be too subtle to a reader.

Guru Coyote
Let me repeat: the perception of one scene changed without me changing anything in that particular scene. Now... how would I possibly rate this scene in any meaningful way... without considering all the other scenes that might change or not?

Now, in all of the blogs, books, forums that I've been on, no one has ever mentioned this. It is something I have never would have considered. I am so glad you posted that. Maybe that particular subject would be a good blog post.


All of you have great advice and I really do appreciate it.
 
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