Scene vs Summary: When to Zoom In - Pacing Through Detail Control
Stories don’t move at constant speed. Sometimes you slow down to show a conversation in real-time, word-by-word. Sometimes you compress a month into a sentence. This is the art of scene versus summary—choosing when to zoom in with vivid detail and when to zoom out for narrative compression. Master this, and you control pacing like a dial you can turn at will. Defining the Terms Scene: The Close-Up A scene unfolds in real-time (or close to it). You show: ...