Making memorable scenes

Every scene has to be memorable, otherwise what is the point? No one wants to read about ordinary characters, ordinary scenes, ordinary conversations. Banality is your bane.

Construct scenes (and populate with characters) that highlight something unusual, something weird, something amazing. Don’t describe a room or a city or a natural scene with the average or predictable. Gloss over those aspects. If you mention them, do it in passing, or if it is relevant to an upcoming action. Otherwise let the reader assume. You don’t need to do all the work for them – let your readers put their own ideas and expectations into your work and personalise it.

Instead, mention what is different about the scene. What is memorable. The why of including this scene in your writing at all.

Each scene should be unusual, or a usual setting for an unusual happenstance, or a normal setting that contrasts with something horrible, amazing, fantastic that is occurring to the character.