Transitions in Fiction

Every story requires transitions between action scenes. These transitions can lose a reader if done poorly. The job of a writer is to make these breaks in action applicable to the story, tie in the two scenes the transitions are connecting, and provide them with relevance.

To do this, give the transition a topic. The most common topic is the character's reaction to the previous action scene. Sometimes the topic will be incorporated into a passage of time.

For example: Rupert hated to see Kelly leave angry. Yet, as the weeks passed, her angry look dissolved into the pool of forgotten memories, and so also his hurt. When Christmas crowded the calendar with activities, he only vaguely remembered her angry outburst, and decided that this year he would avoid the subject of Santa Clause all together.

The topic in the above transition: Kelly's anger. The passage of time: from Christmas to Christmas.

You will also notice that Rupert translated the disaster of Kelly's anger into a new goal: no discussion on Santa Clause. This too connects the former scene with the coming scene.

Another virtue of the transition is the ability to provide distance that allows for a summary of events. You don't want to read every detail of Rupert's life between Christmases, so the transition can cover it all within a few sentences.

A fourth function a transition can perform is to control the tempo of the story. Instead of having one action scene after another, leaving your readers breathless and overwhelmed, the occasional slower pace of a descriptive transition can provide a necessary point of relaxation, as long as it doesn't remove the reader completely from the emotional tension of the story.

Your transitions should always provide a topical link between two scenes. This link should include the point of view character's thoughts and feelings regarding the dilemma the previous action scene left him in. It must also include the character's decision that leads him into the next scene.