Scenes

The following is adapted from Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell

WHAT DOES A SCENE DO?

Your scenes must do one or more of the following:

•Move the story through action.

•Characterize through reaction.

•Spice through deepening.

•Set up essential scenes to come.

In addition to these purposes, each scene must have a degree of intensity. This does not mean equal intensity throughout. You don’t want the cartoon feel of a coyote chasing a roadrunner in every scene.

But something does have to be at stake in the scene, something has to matter. Even when the characters are taking time to breathe or reflect or regroup, the underlying story question needs to roil, like the bad goo under the streets of New York in Ghostbusters II.

It is best to approach scenes as primarily involving action and reaction, set-up and spice.

ACTION SCENES

An action scene is any scene where a character is trying to get somewhere, solve a problem, move forward in the story. Action doesn’t mean a car chase or shootout, though those certainly qualify. An action scene has the following elements:

Objective

Each action scene must have a scene objective. That is, from whatever POV you’re in, there must be a moving force in the scene, trying to make something happen.

•A cop is questioning a witness, trying to get information

•A mother who has lost a child is trying to forget her pain

•A Navy SEAL is trying to kill five assassins at once.

•A man is drinking to keep from confronting the fact that he’s cheated on his wife.

And so on. In addition to that, you need some sort of …

Obstacle

What person, place, thing or circumstance is keeping the POV character from gaining the objective?

•The witness is lying to the cop, and even has a gun.

•The mother keeps seeing her missing child in every object in the house.

•Assassins are good at what they do. That’s why they’re assassins.

•Alcohol dulls, but doesn’t destroy the conscience.

As you can see, the opposition element can be outer (as in another character) or inner (as in the character’s psychology and thought patterns).

Further, you can have social opposition. Any group of people who have an interest in the status quo can provide this. For instance, Rick Dadier in Evan Hunter’s The Blackboard Jungle is a teacher who thinks he can make a difference in a tough school. Most of the other teachers, and administration, don’t think so. This makes for several tense scenes in the book and movie.

Finally, nature itself can provide opposition in a scene. It can provide the basic opposition for an entire novel or script, as in Stephen King’s Storm of the Century. Don’t ever get stuck on an island off the coast of Maine in winter if King is writing the story. He’s liable to drop a pathological killer in there.

Nature or circumstance can be a great obstacle when time is of the essence. The character needs to get to town, but the bridge is out. Or a storm puts a tree across the road. Or the car itself breaks down.

The nice thing about being an author is you get to choose.

Outcome

Each scene has to end at some point. In general a scene can end:

1. Well.

2. Not so well.

3. Terribly.

In the realm of fiction, the worse the scene ends, either overtly or implicitly, the better.

Because people read to worry. They want to watch a Lead they’re bonded with go through the trials and tribulations of the story. The more success, the less worry.

Design your scenes so, for the most part, the Lead is in a worse position after the scene is over.

She doesn’t get the information she wants.

Worse, she gets some information that hurts her.

Worse still, she is knocked out by a hammer.

There is an infinite variety of bad outcomes to choose from.

This does not mean that the occasional scene cannot end well. Occasionally, for breathing space, have something good happen.

But use that good to lead to something bad.