Scene and Structure Review Flashcards
Self Concept
Mental picture the character carries inside themselves, defining what kind of person they are.
Most precious and emotional possession
So deeply engrained and protected that most people will go to almost any lengths to protect it as it stands today.
When should the story start?
The time of change that threatens protagonist’s self concept.
Event will make her feel miserable and out of sync with the environment and ready to struggle to feel normal again
Story Goal
A goal to fix things so the protagonist can defend self concept
Big view of story
- Starts with change
- Leads to a goal
- Raises the story question in reader’s mind
- Obstacles
- Story question is answered
Stimulus and Response
For every stimulus you must have a response.
For every response you must have a stimulus
Cause and Effect
For every cause, there must be an effect
For every effect, there must be a cause
Stimulus and response must both be…
External- as if the transaction were witnessed onstage.
Character internalization
The feeling and thought process that goes between the stimulus and response.
Conflict twists in a scene will each be experienced by the POV character as a…
Stimulus
Internalization contents
Reminds reader what’s a stake and how things seem to be going for the POV character.
Stimulus response transaction order
Stimulus
Internalization
Response
Scene
A segment of story action, written moment by moment, presented onstage in the story “now”
Pattern of Scene
- Statement of goal
- Development of conflict
- Disaster
Statement of scene goal
Character states goal in an obvious fashion
Short term goal clearly relates to story goal
Reader forms a scene specific yes or no question
POV character reiterates goal throughout conflict
POV character walks into situation with a clear cut, specific goal, appearing to be immediately attainable.
Development of Conflict
Opposing character states opposition early in the scene and never lets up.
People in conflict should be continually shifting their tactics, trying different lines of logic.
The length of a scene should be…
Directly proportional to its importance in the overall plot- the higher the stakes, the longer the scene.
Mentally devise a moving game plan for the protagonist and antagonist so that even if you don’t tell the reader what either is thinking, you know what both are thinking.
Awareness of character’s thoughts will help with imagining angles in the conflict development.
Make sure there is enough motivation from the opposition character to…
Justify his opposition
Antagonist tactic ideas
Antagonist gets protagonist off point with an opposing tactic.
Antagonist either doesn’t understand or is unresponsive to what is at issue that the protagonist keeps trying to talk about.
It is better to overdevelop a scene than…
Under develop it
Consider scene goals, angles in conflict, and the nature of the disaster in terms of…
Scope of result
Immediacy of result
Finality of result
Direction of result
Goal selection errors
- Scene goals that are too small to allow for sufficient scope of disaster.
- Goals of such magnitude that the scope of the scene disaster will destroy them
- Cannot logically lead to a scene ending result with any immediacy
- Outcomes with too much immediacy
Make it obvious that the POV character says or thinks the scene goal is..
Vitally important
The disaster should grow out of the goal to put considerable additional…
Pressure on the character very soon
Scene goals chosen and how the conflict portion is handled have a direct result on…
The scene ending disaster
What adversely affects the finality of the scene ending disaster?
Over intensification of the conflict
Introduction of the wrong angle
Disaster mistakes
Causes scope of following events to be too large or insignificant
Too immediate or not immediate enough
Result that too final or insignificant
Disaster sent the story line off on a wrong vector that the original plot didn’t foresee
Disaster must…
Follow logically out of the stated goal and grow logically but unexpectedly out of the conflict.
Disaster works to move the story forward by seeming to move…
The protagonist further from her goal, leaving her in worse trouble than she was before the scene began.
Apparent backwards progress is…
An elimination of options, that is bring protagonist closer to the final showdown.
A meaningful disaster…
Changes things so that they can never be the same again- good scenes always have impact on later events.
Conflict portion of scene questions
Who or what is the protagonist against?
Where will it take place?
How long does it last?
At least four twists it takes as it plays out
The goal of each scene must clearly relate to…
The story question
POV character should be…
The character with the strongest, clearest goal motivation going in.
The reader will identify with and most strongly relate to…
The POV character
Raise stakes in a scene
What can be won?
What can be lost or destroyed?
Sequel order of events
- Emotion
- Thought
- Decision
- Action
Emotional section of sequel depends on…
- The type of person they are
- The nature and depth of previous disaster and shock
Sequels, unlike scenes can have…
Summary
In sequels, how much space devoted to each structural component is flexible depending on…
- The kind of story
- Kind of POV character
- Harshness of disaster
- Complexity factors the character must consider.
Emotional Chaos
Anger
Sadness
Confusion
Surprise
Fear
Resentment
Bitterness
Disappointment
Suspicion
Sequel can summarize
Earlier story events
Importance of scene goal denied
Strength of the character’s motivation
Importance of long term story goal
Depth of characters surprise
External showing in sequel
Search for gestures or actions that result from the inner storm of character
Advantage- allows reader to reach their own conclusions
Internal Telling
Time seems to stand still as the pain or rage are described.
Sequel dialogue
Character talking to someone else about feelings
Allow character to speak emotions, be questioned about them by the other person, and even experience new emotions as a result of feeling misunderstood.
Thought section of sequel
Review the recent scene
Remembers disaster and what it means in terms of her hopes
Thinks of story goal and why it’s important
Character development- how they think, what kind of person they are
Lays out new plans so she can struggle forward in story goal
Decision section of sequel offers a new ray of hope…
Gambit they can try
Suspect she can question
Search she can make
Request she can lodge
Sequel is more subjective
Character interpretation becomes an integral part of every event.
Scenes pick up story pace
Exciting
Conflictual
Action packed
Dialogue
Fast reading
Sequels slow the story pace
Thoughtful
Potentially extended
Contain summary
Slow reading
Improve scenes
- Analyze the dramatic potential of every confrontation between major characters and see if you missed a chance for them to struggle over a plot point.
- Can there be a reason for the characters to enter the meeting with stronger, more immediate goals?
- Can you extend and intensify the argument by raising the stakes or make the participants more desperate?
- Chance to add secondary issues to fight over?
- Have you made scene ending disaster less destructive than it may logically be?
