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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/23843
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/23843
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The pertinent question here is: **what is it you're trying to show?**

In other words, you need to first understand what the focus and purpose of the planning scene is. Only then do you know what to show, and therefore how to do it.

A few simple examples:

- If the purpose of the scene is to set up a brilliant plan _which later fails dramatically_, then you obviously want to show the details of the plan - build it up so that later you can knock it down.
- If the purpose is to demonstrate how dangerous the plan is, and how high the stakes are, then what you want to show is the threats and challenges. 

- If the purpose is to demonstrate how clever and ingenious the characters are, then you don't need to show _what_ they're planning; you need to show _how_ they plan it. 

- Likewise, if the purpose of the scene is to establish character dynamics, you show those dynamics playing out _while doing the planning_, rather than going over the plan in detail.

...and so on. A scene can have pretty much any focus you come up with; I hope these examples make clear how to work with your particular choice.

A single scene can have multiple points of focus (maybe you're showing that the team's really smart _and_ that the leader's obsessive). That's fine; you just show _all_ of them.

If you feel like you don't _have_ any focus, then good focuses that work in most situations are:

- Building tension.
- Showing off character.
- Establishing group dynamics.
- Setting the current mood of the story.

Hope this helps, and all the best!

Original score: 3