Jack M. Bickham’s Scene & Structure, Chapter 6: Planning and Revising Scenes for Maximum Effect

The goal of each scene must clearly relate to the story question.

The conflict must be about the goal.

The conflict must be external.

The viewpoint remains the same throughout the scene, and is the viewpoint of the person with the goal. Don’t break this unless you know exactly what you’re doing.

Disaster moves the story forward by seeming to move the character backward, further from achieving the goal. What is really happening is that the character’s desperation and commitment to the goal is increasing, and options are being eliminated, until we reach the climax, where the character has only one desperate option left.

If you keep making things worse for the character, the audience will stay interested.

The end of each scene dictates what can happen later, so it can’t be planned in isolation from the overall story. Scenes should link in cause and effect.

Make the relevance of the scene goal to the story question, and its importance to the viewpoint character, obvious and explicit.

Provide adequate justification for the opposition, have the opposition clearly stated early in the scene, and don’t let up.

Know what both the protagonist and antagonist are thinking, even if you don’t tell the reader, because it will guide the development of the conflict.

Make a list of possible disasters. Don’t pick the first one – it will be too obvious to the reader.

The antagonist can try to get the protagonist off the point of the argument, but the protagonist must keep focussed on the scene goal and fight to keep the argument on topic.

Dialog at cross-purposes is a form of conflict. Use it occasionally, to convey background information in the form of clarifying dialog.

People aren’t always logical under stress. Characters can lose their temper or act irrationally if it’s in character for them.

Get as much out of the scene as you can. Revise it if it has too much impact, and cut it if it has too little and you need to up the pace.

Watch out for opportunities to raise the stakes (but don’t go over the top).

Never let your characters relax or feel comfortable in a scene.

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