Writing Excuses Season 3 Episode 6: Dramatic Breaks

Writing Excuses · Jul 7, 2009 · 17m

What are dramatic breaks? We open this episode with Howard very genuinely playing Doctor Watson to Brandon's Holmes, which is amusing because as it turns out, Howard uses dramatic breaks every day. Simply put they are the points in the narrative, typically at the end of a chapter, where we cut to another scene. Sometimes we are shifting perspective, sometimes we are advancing the clock, and sometimes we're merely pausing to take a breath. What are we looking for in a dramatic break? How do we identify the right place to cut away from one group of characters and focus on others? How do we…