A great scene is about more than just describing what's there--or what's going on.
As writers, we strive for beautiful writing, but a novel is more than just pretty language. It's a story about characters overcoming obstacles, and to capture that action (and those readers), it's important to dramatize our scenes and bring them to life.
If we only focus on painting word pictures and describing what's going on, we miss out on the chance to show that scene in action. Just as we miss out on opportunities for engrossing pictures if we only focus on the drama.
Let's take a look at the two sides and how you can use both to create a novel that is both vividly painted and well dramatized.
