How do you decide what angle to approach a scene from?

I go for a controlled "shock" factor. (Controlled meaning I don't let it get out of hand.

When I go into a scene, I think to myself, "How can I phrase this episode so that it surprises the reader and smells fresh in a world of recycled media?" In other words, what can I do to dispel the norm from the mind of the reader.

Perhaps your scene is a very emotional one for the characters, and they go through some huge changes in attitude and have lots of feeling running through their head. Maybe, instead of writing it as such, shock your audience, by leaving off the last chapter on a very detailed note of the characters' perspectives, then during your "emotional" chapter, make the tone very dry, and very objective. Barely even talk about the emotional turmoil coursing though the brain fluids of you character.

You may be thinking to yourself, "Why would I do such a thing? That seems counter-intuitive." The answer is, simply, not always. You see, depending on exactly what direction you want your story to go in, you may need to include the information of the characters' inner thoughts in that one example, or perhaps you really want it to be a touching or scary scene. In this case, yes, this "shock factor" method is probably not the way to go.

But if you want to have a strong, powerful, authorial feel to your work, sometimes it's good to take literary risks, especially if you think you can pull it off. The fact that you are now not delving into the minds of our heroes will slap the reader in the face and say, "Here's to your expectations." And surprisingly, the reader loves it. Now, in the next chapter, you must go back to your previous emotional tone, if you see fit, just to add extra confusion but reading pleasure to the audience.

Now, this is not just my types of angles for writing a story. In fact, the reason I developed this tactic was because you can see it again and again in various famous works. Stephen King, for example, uses this trope quite often.

The reason the shock factor works, is in part the same reason why people like humor and horror and irony and original works rather than cliches. They LIKE being surprised, startled, having their expectations melted. Something in our brain responds to this type of stimuli; maybe it's our animal instincts, challenging us to stay alert.

However, this type of shock should not be used all the time. Sometimes you should only use shock sparingly to make it all the more special. For different genres of writing you often need different modes of approaching a story.

In comedic pieces, you usually try to make the setting and tone of the chapter as ridiculous and ironic as you can, without making it obvious (or the opposite, making the normal-est circumstances evolve into hilarity). In horror, you want to either create a sense of normalcy that is undertoned with mystery for the story building, or suspense, dread and the sense of hopelessness for the scary scenes. In non-fiction or epics or adventures or life-windows, you want to imagine that you are painting a mural that spans all your chapters, each in its own way, then wrap it up in cellophane.

I hope this answer helped. Good luck and Happy New Year

Start with whatever is important with the scene. Get right into it so you don't waste the reader's time. Maybe start with a bit of description so the reader can build a mental image.

Mostly, I just write it. If it goes in the wrong direction or feels wrong, I generally fix it or delete it when I'm editing.