Episode 19 - Inside the Scene: Action, Dialogue & Narrative Unpacked

In this episode of Fictional Problems, hosts Gary J. Martin and A.R. McNevin break down what makes a scene work: action, dialogue and narrative. They debate whether scenes need a three‑act microstructure, when to cut or keep 'vegetable' scenes, and how scenes connect and pay off across a story.

Using examples from film and TV  and literature, they explore pacing, subtext, exposition, and the eternal argument over dialogue tags like "said" versus more expressive verbs.

Practical, opinionated, and often funny, the conversation offers writers a loose toolkit for thinking about scenes as the building blocks of a story and how to shape them to serve character, plot, and reader experience.

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