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Scene Structure for Engaging Stories

The document outlines how to effectively structure a scene in storytelling, emphasizing the importance of starting late and ending early while maintaining tension. It details a scene's essential components, including a clear goal, conflict, and external obstacles, and stresses that scenes should connect to the overall story arc. Additionally, it provides an assignment to revise existing scenes and write new content while ensuring plot coherence.

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SelinaCrystal
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7 views1 page

Scene Structure for Engaging Stories

The document outlines how to effectively structure a scene in storytelling, emphasizing the importance of starting late and ending early while maintaining tension. It details a scene's essential components, including a clear goal, conflict, and external obstacles, and stresses that scenes should connect to the overall story arc. Additionally, it provides an assignment to revise existing scenes and write new content while ensuring plot coherence.

Uploaded by

SelinaCrystal
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

03​: How To Structure A Scene

Get into a scene as late as possible and end the scene as soon as you can after that.
- Bryan Thomas Schmidt

LESSON RECAP
➔ Plots​ are made up of a series of interconnected scenes that create a larger story.
➔ All well written scenes use the following pattern: ​Statement of goal > Introduction and
development of conflict > Failure to reach the goal.
➔ Reader interest ​is kept when tension increases throughout the scene. This can be
accomplished by continuously putting obstacles in between the characters and their
goals.
➔ To increase dramatic tension​, all scenes must end badly.
➔ Be aware​ about what characters are in a scene. Too many can make a scene confusing
and too little can make it ineffective.
➔ Scenes should start​ in tense moments of action or conflict.

KEEP IN MIND
❏ The goal of each scene must clearly relate to the larger story question.
❏ The conflict must be about the goal.
❏ The conflict must be external, not within one’s self. Either with an objection, animal,
or person or more than one.
❏ Point Of View should be maintained from goal to resolution in the same scene.
❏ Disaster always works by pushing the character away from his or her goal.
❏ Readers will tolerate much if you keep making things worse and worse in every
scene. This is how you build tension and suspense and create a compelling read.
❏ Since the end of each scene dictates what will happen after, scenes cannot be
written in isolation from the overall arc, goals, conflict, etc. of the story itself.

ASSIGNMENT
➔ Look back at the scenes you have written so far and make sure they follow the structure
Bryan lays out in this lesson. Then, outline your next three scenes.
➔ Write the next 2000 words of your novel, making the total word count 6000 words.

TAKE IT FURTHER
In the lesson, Bryan suggests a technique to check if your plot and scenes make sense. Go
through your plot, writing down all plot questions that are asked and answered, as well as when
and where they are asked and answered. If you are missing questions or answers in your plot
there is a problem that needs to be fixed.

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