Making Sense of Scenes
Isn't it so fun to read a scene in a book that gives you chills it was so well done? I love that, too. So, let's look at how to make your scenes sizzle at a very basic level.
What makes up a scene? How is it structured?
1. There has to be a goal. There are two goals you need to be conscious of. The goal of the story and the goal of the scene. All the scene goals are tiny baby step goals that need to be attained in order to realize the goal of the story. And it must appear that the goal is easily attainable.
Ex: Story goal- The prince must save the princess
The scene goal-The prince must find a way to get to the princess who is far-far away. In other words, he needs a horse. Everyone has horses, right?
2. Wrong. In this story they can't, because you need conflict. There has to be something that gets in the way of the character achieving that goal and it must be realistic, believable.
Ex: Conflict-No one has a horse to spare because it is time to plant the crops and they have to plow the ground and he has no money to give to the rental agency to rent one. :)
Or if you want it to be a villain that prevents his attainment of it, the villain is powerful and tells the townspeople that if they give him a horse, they will regret it. Either way, it is conflict and readers love conflict. You must have conflict or you don't have a story
3. The character cannot achieve the goal. The character fails and the reader must know it.
He does not get the horse, . When the goal is not achieved, it keeps the tension in the story alive and kicking.
4. The scene must lead to another scene. You want to keep the reading reading and the conflict going.
Ex: While the Prince fails, he comes up with an idea to get the money or the horse, that is dangerous or crazy
The series of scenes linked together creates your book with each scene advancing on reaching the story goal.
What books have you read that embrace this idea of scene structure?
Meet author Ciindy M. Hogan here.
Cindy M. Hogan is the author of the Watched series: Watched and Protected. The final book in the trilogy will be out in Nov. 2012
Visit Cindy on these blogs too!
Sheila Staley
Karly Kirkpatrick
1 comment:
When I read Jack Bickham's "Scene and Structure," it was such an eye-opener to me! Great book. Thanks for a great post!
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