Consider this excerpt from a scene in Ben Winters’s excellent The Last Policeman. After reading it, answer the following questions:

1. What methods of characterization are used? (Can you list five?)
2. Describe the merits of the dialogue.
3. How does the plot begin to change in this scene?
4. How is setting created in this scene?
5. Identify an image. Identify an instance of the use of figurative language.
6. How are relationships between these characters revealed to readers?
7. What, if anything, distracts you from this scene? How might it be revised?

Draft a scene for your novella. Take a moment to plan it. Be able to describe techniques you’ve used.