This is the continued saga of my foray into Janice Hardy’s Revise Your Novel in 31 Days at-home workshop (blog.janicehardy.com).

Today I will be looking at my chapter transitions to see if there are any rough or jarring areas between scenes and ideas.

Chapters should end with something left hanging or a question left unanswered. There should be a sense of anticipation about what will happen next. It should leave a sense of where the story is going.

Results: I mentioned before that I was a member of a local writing group. They have been very helpful in looking for things such as transitions. As a result, my chapters have been reworked to include good endings that lead the reader forward and into the next chapter.

However, I have decided I need to add more scenes involving a secondary character who has befriended my protagonist. She will be someone the air-traveler can discuss things with instead of just thinking about them internally. She will show her what friendship means on Earth, since there is no concept of it where my protagonist comes from.

This means I have to find the right places to insert this information so the transitions will continue to be smooth and not interrupt the story.

Take-Away Value:

Transitions are similar to flow. A reader should be able to read from one scene or chapter to another without realizing any interruption in story. Always leave the reader with a thirst to know what happens next.

Do you have problems with transitions? How do you fix them when you run across them?

See you on the next page.