Writing Scenes That Flow (Fiction Writing Advice)

Make your story scenes flow with this invaluable tip.
Get Brandon's horror/thriller novel BAD PARTS: amzn.to/3esTFYC
Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain
amzn.to/3giCIRz
Advanced Fiction Writing article “Writing the Perfect Scene”:
www.advancedfictionwriting.co...
Follow Brandon McNulty:
WEBSITE (Join my mailing list!) - brandonmcnulty.com/
TWITTER - / mcnultyfiction
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DISCLAIMER: Some of my videos and/or descriptions contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. This helps support the channel and allows me to continue to make videos like this. This does not affect my review of products. All opinions are my own. Thank you for the support!
#WritingAdvice #WritingTips #Writing #author #betterstories #authortube #booktube #authortuber #howtowrite #BrandonMcNulty #WriterBrandonMcNulty #BadParts #WritingScenes #Scenes
Credit to SkyDilen for my video intro.
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[@Kitandroo]

Seriously, the person who has helped my writing the most would be you & Brandon Sanderson via the BYU lectures. Some people contributed a bit, but never much outside of a few specific subjects.. your channel teaches so much and it's so specific, I don't have to navigate a bunch of bloat to get to the one thing I want.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Hey thanks! My goal with this channel was to get straight to the point with these videos, so I'm glad that style clicks with you. Let me know if you every want me to do a video on a particular topic.

[@NeptuneJr]

people named brandon be writing.

[@cosmicprison9819]

@@NeptuneJr Writers can say “Let’s go Brandon!” and mean it entirely as a compliment. 😁

[@chriswest8389]

We're gonna need a Smaller Bloat. Sorry.... again.

[@kerri-lynbryant293]

So goodx

[@omnikrator9711]

Brandon you formulate yourself so succintly, straight to the punch, with useful information and no riff raff. Keep it up mate!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thank you!

[@BidwellRunner]

I really appreciate how focused and to the point these videos are.

[@nocturne3455]

This is wild . I always felt there were patterns to writing but I never found any videos about it. This is it.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad it helped!

[@robinstrength_]

Hello Brandon, sorry for being late to recognize your channel. I want to say thank you. You have no idea how much your videos helped me designed my draft. Seriously.

[@N_Campesino]

I'm two years late but THANK YOU! You're the first person to really make me understand this whole scene/sequence MRU thing. I'd always been able to use it for plotting but never practically in writing until I found your two videos on this topic, so thank you very much!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thrilled I could help! Thanks for watching

[@johnrossman6679]

Techniques of the Selling Writer is one of my favorite books.

[@eatmorenachos]

Your videos are REALLY insightful and you pack a lot of info into each of them.. Thank you.

[@Sheree27]

I am binge listening your videos at the moment. I have learnt so much already and just purchased the Entry Wounds audiobook. I haven't read a supernatural thriller before as I usually read detective series but this sounds intriguing.

[@TheBluenyt09]

Yeah for every action there is a reaction. It keeps the story flowing 😎👏👏👏🤘🤘🤘

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Exactly! Just gotta keep those reactions coming or else your scenes will draaaaggggg

[@lozane9084]

This is so insanely helpful! I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year and was a tad frustrated with my writing because my scenes felt flat. Turns out I'm focusing too much on the external events and as a result, I leave out some important reactions that would give the scene more emotion. Thank you so much for your help!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad it helped! And, yeah, when I learned about this, it blew my mind. Easily one of the most important things for a writer to learn. Check out that article in the description if you haven't already. Well worth the read.

[@lozane9084]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty I'll definitely check it out. Thanks again for sharing this!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@lozane9084 Sure thing. If you ever want me to cover a specific topic, let me know!

[@ridleyformk1244]

8:03: Pretty well I say. Two charathers are talking about comic books and Harry Potter, and I hint little snippets of what the main POV is thinking. There isn't action, just characters talking to each other, but it's back and forth. I love the scene anyways, just two little kids talking about what makes them happy.

[@MikaMills-ci8xq]

this is super helpful!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

How well do your most recent scenes follow the Event Reaction Pattern? Let us know!

[@TrevorDuran3390]

After reading those scenes from Altered Carbon, I realize I need wayyyy more descriptors in my writing.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Hahaha Morgan can be pretty wordy, so remember that the level of description varies from writer to writer.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

And you don't have to hit all 3 steps every time. It helps, but if you always aim for 3, you can end up overdoing it. Try skipping a feeling or reflex, then see if the overall reaction still works

[@TrevorDuran3390]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty very true. Thanks.

[@eg7737a]

Love your videos. Keep making them. Looking forward to reading Bad Parts.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Hey thanks so much--hope you enjoy the book! Please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, etc. when you're done. Reviews help a ton!

[@sugarpie5191]

Thanks again!!

[@dianahaugh7521]

You’re an exceptional teacher

[@PhoenixCrown]

Yea Brandon kicks ass. So organized and insightful!

[@alexandraegera1622]

really helps me. thanks for the advice.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad it helped! If there's ever a subject you want me to cover, let me know!

[@choxomoxxo565]

I just woke up and already on my way to do this instead of eating breakfast

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Awesome, best of luck!

[@Call_Me_The_Storyteller]

The part where he says "splinters magically flew out of the leg of the table in front of me", I love this kind of scene in books, because you (or at least I) can't understand how this is supposed to look or what means, and only in the next paragraph is this somewhat explained, which makes you go back to the previous words, re-read them now with a little more context and actually understand what just happened...

[@gamewriteeye769]

😅 5:18 being the exception in paragraph construction, huh? With my current writing style combining paragraph information in such a complex way, I realized how difficult I made this on myself to analyze line level edits for “completed scenes”. Boy...this doesn't account for exposition, forms of embedded telling (If I can call it that), persuasion/narration, and general description that might be static like say, a physical or setting description. I'll have to really comb paragraphs if I really have to separate this one out, line by line, the “event” not mixing in the same paragraph as the “reaction”. That comment understanding this'll have to wait. I had some great suggestions. The problem I immediately noticed with Swain's method of line level edits (MRU's-even saw the article in the link) is it ignores the whole side of telling entirely (besides examples giving filter words-and I've learnt to write with little to no filtering at all). When I get my notes in order, I'mma bout to get so esoteric on Swain. And I was actually looking for a line level trick/hack to figure out what details are missing from a scene-this seems simple, yet misses so much.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

I hear you. It's far from perfect, and it won't work for every writing style, but it helps provide structure to build off of. The most important takeaway here is the idea that you want sensations and thoughtless reactions to come before thoughtful reactions

[@ThatsJustMyBabyDaddy]

So glad I found your channel.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Happy to have you aboard! Thanks for all the comments--I'm told they help KZbin algorithms favor certain videos more

[@potatokitty]

Please do more paragraphs.

[@johnynoway9127]

Anime be like: 1. Get punched 2. Explaining the geometry of the punch followed by strength and the damage and then finally the actual person gets shown. 3. Whole life of all the possibilities in all the multiverses within a nano second.

[@blairharper970]

My big issue is transitioning from stream of consciousness to a more sequential flow. I read the examples of the same passage written in both forms, but it just feels like another brutally murderered darling It's quite daunting. I

[@yapdog]

I totally agree with the overall concept. However, that passage from Altered Carbon is not the best example of flow, especially not for new writers. It's an action scene told first person past tense. What that means is, in this case, there's a danger of too much "poetry" getting in the way of flow. For example, _"For some reason the rage puddled abruptly out of me"_ gets in the way of flow. Why? It requires analysis (i.e. rereading) to be fully understood and appreciated. That, too, goes for almost the entire passage. *That is not good flow.* Or rather, it only _becomes_ good flow when one comes to understand everything in its intended context. Anyway, SUBSCRIBED for the great lessons 👍

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks for the sub!

[@yapdog]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Thank *you!* You video showed in my Recommendeds, and now I click every single time one shows up. Your content is tops 😁

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@yapdog Haha thanks, I appreciate that!

[@milkflavored]

As a new writer I agree that this left me a confused - can you suggest a good third person example or another channel/video that discusses the same topic?

[@jenilynneful]

Not just seen. Heard, smelled, felt, tasted

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Yep, gotta use all 5 senses if you're writing prose

[@NotMolly-jf2rh]

Please do this omniscient.

[@RM-yw6xe]

I have a lot of work to do

[@john94949]

Sheesh. That writer was using adverbs like they were going outta style. His delivery needs some fine-tuning

[@anthonycosentino463]

The worse Almost takes strength out of a sentence...

[@PresidentHotdog]

I think in the case of "almost gently," the "almost," is to make the point that he was being passively gentle, like in a state of shock your movements are without thought or reason. At least that's how I interpreted it.

[@fscottfitzgerald115]

This is a tough one for me. I've actually tried to dissect many paragraphs from famous authors. Sometimes it's hard to find these motivation/reaction units, or they're not made very clear, or I just don't know whether an ambiguous part of a sentence stipulates as reaction or motivation. Is the following right? [REFLEX] The finger tips scraped over the roughness of torn bone in the wound, and I felt something membranous throb against one of them. [EVENT] The bullet had missed my heart. [ACTION] I grunted and attempted to rise, [EVENT] but the grunt turned into a cough and I tasted blood on my tongue. Thanks for your videos on the subject. They're better and more valuable than most on youtube.