We work in drafts

When writing a scene, we do not aim to make it the perfect manifestation of itself. We find that a lot of time can be wasted when a masterpiece scene ends up needing to be altered, and this happens more often than you’d think. Therefore, we work in drafts or passes, with each pass lengthening the scene, fleshing it out, and giving it more depth, dimension, and beauty.

The book gets longer as the scenes get longer

In the outline of a forty-scene book, each scene will contain nothing more than bullet points. In the first pass, each of these scenes might be translated into three hundred words of prose. At the end of the first pass, the book will be about twelve thousand words long. On the second pass, the scenes might be expanded from three hundred to six hundred words. While the task of expanding a scene like this is quite manageable, it will result in doubling the length of the manuscript to twenty-four thousand words.

Each pass adds depth and detail

Each time you do a pass of a scene, you not only lengthen it, you make it better. You add more detail. You give the characters more personality. You give the dialogue more zing. You give the locations more description. You also get to think carefully about the sentences you add to the prose, thinking about each one and making sure it serves a purpose, and is clear and concise.