---
title: Scene Metrics
category: Scene Metrics
tags: scene metrics, pacing, emotion, intensity, revision
contextKey: sceneMetrics.overview
micro: Manage the sliders used to track pacing, tension and emotional shape.
quickTitle: What are Scene Metrics?
quickSummary: Scene Metrics define the sliders available on scenes, helping you compare intensity, tension and emotional movement across the story.
screenshot:
---

# Overview

Scene Metrics are the configurable sliders used to describe the shape of a scene. They can track overall intensity, tension, emotional weight, action, darkness, romance, comedy, mystery or any other story quality that matters to your project.

The values are not a scorecard. They are a planning and revision tool. A quiet scene can be excellent with low action. A comic scene can still carry high emotional weight. The purpose is to make patterns visible so you can see whether the story rises, falls, rests and turns in ways that match your intention.

This management page controls which metrics are available for the project. The scene inspector uses active metrics as sliders, and timeline graph views can use them to show peaks and troughs.

# When Should I Use This?

Use Scene Metrics when you want to track story qualities consistently across scenes. This is especially useful for thrillers, mysteries, romance, horror, action-heavy stories, emotionally intense fiction, or any project where pacing and tonal balance matter.

You may also create custom metrics for a specific book. A ghost story might track "Uncanniness". A political thriller might track "Public Pressure". A romance might track "Trust" or "Longing".

# How To Use It

Review the existing metrics first. Activate the metrics you actually want to use and deactivate those that do not fit the project. Add a new metric when a repeated story quality needs to be visible across many scenes.

Keep the scale understandable. A 1 to 10 scale works well when 1 means barely present and 10 means dominant. The default value should represent a neutral starting point, often 5.

Use sort order to keep the most useful metrics near the top of the scene editor. Writers are more likely to maintain metrics when the important ones are easy to find.

# Example

A gothic mystery might use:

- Overall Intensity
- Tension
- Emotional Weight
- Darkness
- Mystery
- Hope / Lightness

If several chapters feel flat, the graph may show that tension and mystery both remain at mid-level for too long. That does not rewrite the book for you, but it tells you where to look.

# Writer Tip

Do not try to measure everything. A small set of meaningful metrics is more useful than a long list you stop maintaining after three scenes.

# Common Mistakes

- Treating high numbers as automatically better.
- Adding too many custom metrics with overlapping meanings.
- Changing metric definitions halfway through a project.
- Forgetting that missing values may simply mean a scene has not been reviewed yet.

# Related Guides

- [Scenes](/Help/Article/scenes.overview)
- [Writer Workspace](/Help/Article/workspace.overview)
- [Project Settings](/Help/Article/projectSettings.overview)
