My teaching of writing technique for the novel, memoir and short story is based on my unique use of what I call The Five Ingredients of the Scene. These five are all you have to know. Everything thing builds on these.

1. Point of View: whose story are you telling? POV puts you inside your main character's head, heart and gut -- you see the world through the eyes of your character.

2. Dialogue is one of the fastest ways into character. Think you can't write dialogue? I've never worked with anyone who can't write dialogue, only with people who think they can't.

3. Dramatic Tension/Action. You can't have a story without it! Dramatic tension can come from outside the character or an internal emotion or dilemma.

4. Mood. How does your character see a scene? In other words, what the character sees is more important than what you as the writer want to describe.

5. Flashback is a scene from the past that informs the present. Once you are in the flashback, you are once again in scene. All of the above applies.