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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/32529
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

What are various ways to reduce reader fatigue by adjusting scenes?

1. Make sure there is a point to the scene. Does the POV character have a goal? If not, consider adding one. A scene with a goal will give the reader something to look forward to. Will the character achieve the goal?
2. Make sure there is action. What action does the character take to achieve the goal? If there is action, the reader is more likely to feel that there is momentum, that the story is going somewhere.
3. Make sure there is a disaster or obstacle that keeps the character from reaching the goal, or a new complication that develops as a result of achieving the goal. These disasters string scenes together and give them continuity, if done right, in that one disaster leads to the next goal, which then leads to the next disaster and so on until the character finally gets it all figured out or dies trying by the end of the book. In addition to a sense of continuity, disasters also give the reader a sense of conflict and stakes. Story is conflict, and the disaster in each scene is where the story lies. No conflict, no story, bored reader.
4. Include a reaction. From a single phrase in which the character winces, to pages of internal monologue, give the reader a chance to see that the character is a human (or human-like) being by showing a human reaction to the disaster. Reaction is where the reader is going to develop empathy for the character, and if the reader has no reason to empathize with the character, then the reader has no reason to care about the character or the story.
5. Include a debate. This one should probably be used with great subtlety, but after the reaction, give the character a little space to plan on what to do next. This step should probably even be skipped altogether in tense, action-driven stories in which there is a lot of gut reaction, but the reader would probably grow weary of constant in-your-face action. Occasionally, give the character space to breathe and plan in order to give the reader space to breathe and think and see the character once again behave like a person in order to create empathy.
6. Include a decision. Let the character come to a decision on what is to be done next. This leads into the next scene, as this scene's decision become the next scene's goal. Again, this gives the reader a sense of continuity and flow.
7. Cut everything that doesn't belong in the above. The time readers have for reading is growing forever shorter due to other things demanding attention like video games and Facebook and Stack Exchange. Honor the time readers are giving you by not wasting their time. Make sure every sentence in every scene is pulling its weight. If it isn't supporting scene structure, then it's probably there for the author's benefit and not the reader's. Cut it and shorten the scene.
8. Include variation. Between the shorty-shorts and the chapter-long scenes, it sounds like you got this covered, but keep tense scenes short, and let internal, character-heavy scenes linger a bit. Mix them up, but arrange them so that there is rising action throughout the book that climaxes at the... well, the climax.

Original score: 5