Here’s my review of Jack M. Bickham’s Scene and Structure, which I just finished reading. I found it excellent and very clearly laid out. As I mention in the review, the closer your book is to being a thriller, the more relevant you will find the advice (and even then it may not all work for you, but what advice works all the time)?
I’ve also posted extensive notes under the hashtag #sceneandstructure if you want to look through them.
Jack M. Bickham, Scene & Structure, Chapter 14 (and last): The Scenic Master Plot and How to Write One
Every writer has a (different) general idea of what a novel is and how it should be structured. The more conscious that model is, the better you can manipulate and vary the scene-sequel structure to fit that general pattern.
A “master plot” is the way one writer sets out to write one novel – the kind of things that may happen and their sequence. It’s flexible, not prescriptive, and not fill-in-the-blanks or paint-by-numbers.
The master plot is a tactical plan for achieving linear story development (a story starting in one place and ending in another through logical development step by step, involving rising action).
Each new twist (scene disaster) adds more for the character, and reader, to worry about. And most novels also have subplots.
Bickham now gives a sample “master plot”. He emphasises that it’s an example rather than a template.
A prologue may or may not be used. If it is, it usually isn’t from the main character’s viewpoint, but establishes intrigue and hooks the reader, hinting at what might be wrong or mysterious. It can take place some time before the first chapter, or immediately before.
The time span of the first three chapters should be very tight, keeping the pressure on until the reader is properly hooked. The first chapter needs to start quickly and hook the reader hard, showing, in the main character’s viewpoint, the major change that alters the status quo and puts the character’s self-concept in jeopardy. By the end of the chapter, the MC has either the major story goal or a short-term goal that will make matters worse, or both.
In the subsequent chapters, you could (you might put some of these on cards and shuffle them if you’re short of ideas):
Establish the villain, the villain’s goal, and the villain’s capabilities and attitude (typically powerful and ruthless).
Establish supporting characters: best friend, minor antagonist, romantic lead.
Establish the hero’s background and show the hero pursuing the story goal with dedication (motivation drawn from the background).
Develop secondary characters and their subsidiary story goals, starting major subplots.
Characterise the hero, villain, situation or all three through the eyes of a secondary character.
Raise stakes suddenly with a “shocker question”.
Run a short-term ticking clock.
Bring in more background on the supporting characters and their motivations.
Introduce red herrings and false leads.
Drop in side quests and sub-quests, all leading towards the attainment of the story goal, all resulting in disasters which seem to take the hero further from its attainment.
Show confrontations with the villain in action sequences, providing big “peaks” and running straight on into more action.
Progress the romantic relationship through the hero’s struggles to deal with defeat and disaster.
Advance the villain plot onstage.
Give the hero a pause to rest up, heal, recover, regroup and reconsider. Answer the question “Why not just give up?” by restating the story goal, perhaps in different terms in light of what’s happened so far, and leave the hero newly determined and moving back towards new action.
Avoid the “boggy middle” by using a short mini-story across several chapters, fast-paced, related to the central story question but with side issues, if possible involving a ticking clock, with lots of development of the situation – towards the point where things can start to be resolved.
Flow action scenes into one another without a pause for a sequel.
Reveal the villain’s plot and/or motives to the hero.
Resolve a mystery, in a way that makes it look like the hero won’t live to use the answer.
Take the hero to the brink of ruin.
Switch viewpoints just at the critical moment to one of the secondary characters, then link back into the main plot – too late to rescue the hero (who should be self-rescuing).
Switch to review and analysis and backstory in a major subplot, just when the main plot is looking particularly dire.
Take away some support the hero has been counting on.
Hero and villain both escape their confrontation, but it’s not over.
Resolve some red herrings or bring major subplots towards conclusion.
Put the romantic lead in danger. [I find this one cliched and annoying.]
Show the connection of the prologue to the main story.
Kill off a secondary character or villain’s minion to show how dire everything is getting.
The hero must choose between the personal and the important.
Lead into a hero/villain showdown.
Showdown is one long, exciting, extended scene. A lot of plot threads resolve in this scene, leaving only the main question and the romance. By the end of this scene, both the main question and the romance seem doomed.
Villain gets the upper hand and offers a devil’s bargain: your integrity or your life. Hero chooses integrity.
Top everything you’ve don so far. Go large. No, larger than that. LARGE.
Hero finally wins – but was it worth it? Downside is apparent.
Tie up any remaining loose threads in the final chapter, including those for the secondary characters, but in the main character’s POV.
Resolve the romantic subplot.
(Again, this is an example “master plot” for a specific kind of suspense novel. It isn’t a template for writing every kind of fiction.)
#sceneandstructure
Jack M. Bickham, Scene & Structure, Chapter 13: The structure of chapters.
Chapters are arbitary, a convention descending from the days of serial publication. There is no set length, though keeping the length fairly consistent within a book is good practice.
However, if you don’t want the reader to put the book down, make sure they can’t do so at the end of a chapter.
The best place to end a chapter is at the end of a scene, i.e. with the disaster.
The second-best is in the middle of the conflict.
You can also use the middle of the thought process of the sequel, where there seems no way out; at the decision point; at the beginning of new action, before a conflict starts.
There’s usually more than one scene in a chapter.
The place to not end a chapter is at a transition, like going to sleep or skipping some time when nothing exciting happens. Chapters should “link forward” to prevent the reader putting the book down.
When you feel it’s about time to end a chapter, ignore this feeling until you reach a point where the reader won’t be able to bear to stop. Then break.
#sceneandstructure
(Again, bear in mind that Bickham is giving advice for writing a particular kind of book, basically a thriller or other action-oriented story.)
Jack M. Bickham, Scene & Structure, Chapter 12: Specialized Scene Techniques
If you hit a troublesome plot situation, the answer is nearly always to bend the “classic structure”, not get rid of it.
1. Scene interruption
This is something to do deliberately for specific effect, not randomly for “realism”. Use them to intensify already strong suspense in a crucial scene. Ideally, set a clock going to intensify suspense further.
Most commonly, scene interruptions come from a character emerging from the hidden story. They may demand a brief scene of their own.
The interruption can function as a stimulus to change the motives of a character in the main scene.
A scene within a sequel can be used to bring in backstory, or jar a character loose from being stuck in emotion and unable to think. This can be achieved either with a sympathetic character offering encouragement, or a hostile character offering criticism. Or the interruption may give a clue which enables the thought portion of the sequel to conclude.
If you want to place a sequel at the end of a chapter for dramatic purposes, you can delay it by placing a scene straight after another scene with no time to react until later. Or if the scene-end disaster is so profound that it needs a big decision, but the plot is so pressurized that new events will occur almost at once, you can delay the sequel in order to do it justice.
Sometimes a scene can be started with a goal announced not by the viewpoint character but by another. Tends to be more early in novels (when the main character is more passive) or at major transitions in space, when the viewpoint character is still disoriented.
The viewpoint character’s job in such scenes is to figure out the non-viewpoint character’s goal as clearly as possible. The viewpoint character then opposes the goal, creating conflict and getting the scene moving.
The disaster still strikes the viewpoint character, meaning that the non-viewpoint character generally attains the scene goal. (Antagonists should also generally attain their scene goals, even if they are viewpoint characters, because that’s bad for the protagonist.)
Flashbacks: these are most common in the thought portion of a sequel, while the character reviews story events and possible new actions.
If you have space, you can play flashbacks as full moment-by-moment scenes, eventually returning to the sequel where you left off. The danger of this is making the old events too interesting, so that the transition back is jarring, or bogging down the forward momentum of the story. It’s usually better to summarize.
You can also use a fragment of a past scene, just the critical moment, and summarize the rest.
“All-dialog” scenes are not actually just dialog; they need attributions (he said), internalisation, description, stage action. Otherwise they’re hard to visualise and become too abstract.
An “all-action” scene also needs some internalisation in response to some of the stimuli: repeating the scene goal, orienting the reader to the viewpoint character’s interpretation of what’s happening, what the options are and what the character will try next, showing secondary goals as they develop, conveying the character’s feelings.
Manoeuvres against an unseen opponent: create conflict by lengthening the internalisations, with the viewpoint character considering alternatives and possible disasters, trying to interpret any sensory evidence of what the opponent is doing, and imagining what they might be doing.
Multiple-agenda scenes occur when the hero faces a group of people, who have different agendas. Keep the viewpoint character clinging to the scene goal despite the confusion, and have one antagonist stronger and more vocal than the others, while the secondary antagonists interrupt the main fight at intervals (which is seen by the hero, and possibly the antagonist, as an impediment to resolving the main conflict).
The protagonist can win some of the side conflicts, because this makes the other opponents more determined and increases the impact of the final disaster.
#sceneandstructure
Jack M. Bickham, Scene & Structure, Chapter 10: Problems and how to fix them
1. Too many people in a scene. A scene normally needs two people, one to want something and the other to stop them getting it. If you have more than two, find a way to shut the others up for a while or send them away, and the scene will be more intense.
2. Circularity of argument. Plan the strategies of both parties ahead of time. Keep the protagonist focussed on (and restating) the scene goal, and they can argue about other, related issues without getting off track (problem 4) or forgetting the goal and not answering the scene question (problem 7).
3. Unwanted interruptions. Only allow interruptions with a purpose, not for “realism”.
5. Inadvertent summary. Show, don’t tell. If part of the scene is boring, start later.
6. Loss of viewpoint. Don’t head-hop, and make sure your viewpoint character experiences something every so often and internalises about stimuli.
8. & 9. Unmotivated opposition and illogical disagreement. The antagonist should want something too.
10. Unfair odds. Don’t make the antagonist so powerful that the protag has no reasonable chance of winning.
11. Overblown internalisations (a risk of romance fiction). Keep things happening.
12. Not enough at stake. Make sure scene goals are important.
13. Inadvertent red herrings. Don’t mention something and then fail to develop it.
14. Contrived disasters. The disaster should be unanticipated, but flow logically out of the scene.
#sceneandstructure
Jack M. Bickham, Scene & Structure, Chapter 9: Variations
Bickham’s advice is to plan your book in the “classic structure” of scenes alternating with sequels, with all the parts in order, and then introduce variations as needed.
For example, you can interrupt a conflict with a different scene (that is, different action in which there’s a different goal), in order to realign a character’s motivation so that they will make a decision they otherwise might not.
You can jump into the middle of the scene and supply the goal later, or imply the disaster. Do this sparingly, as a way of increasing the pace.
Your characters’ internalisations will naturally try to become mid-scene sequels if the stimulus is powerful enough to throw them into deep reflection. As a rule, resist this, but allow it if it’s needed to explain a major change of direction by the character, to get the reader in tune with the character, or to work in important backstory. Just watch for the “talking is a free action” or “comics dialog while falling” phenomenon, where the internalisation goes on for pages in supposedly a moment of time.
You can stretch or compress the sequel components, or even change the order a bit. Or you can interrupt the sequel with an unexpected scene if you don’t want the character working out the answer just yet.
Always remember to return to and complete the classic structure before moving on. Don’t leave the reader hanging.
#sceneandstructure
Jack M. Bickham, Scene & Structure, Chapter 8: Scene-Sequel Tricks to Control Pace
A disclaimer before we start: Bickham is writing about how to structure a very specific kind of book, which could be described as “action-oriented popular fiction”. His advice (as several commenters on earlier posts have noted) is not universally applicable.
Scenes are fast-reading, because they’re action-packed, full of conflict.
Sequels are slow-reading, because they’re thoughtful.
Therefore, you can control your novel’s pace by how you handle your scenes and sequels.
If your novel is too slow, consider ripping out a sequel between two scenes that follow on logically from each other (the disaster in one leads straight to the goal of the next), and just running them into one another.
Or replace the sequel with a brief transition.
Consider trimming or “boiling” (reducing down) the sequels you keep – make them less wordy, review less.
Look for more opportunities for big, extended scenes that you might have overlooked.
Raise the stakes. Make the characters more desperate, so that they escalate their argument. Look for other issues they can fight over.
Can you boost your disasters, make them bigger than they are?
Can you make your disasters require action in a shorter timeframe?
If your novel is too fast, with events falling over each other in a chaotic mess in which nobody stops to think and nothing makes sense:
Consider cutting a scene and summarising its action in a later sequel. Warning: this can flatten your book out unless you pick ones that are already at the milder and more minor end of the goals-and-conflicts spectrum. It’s the structure of the scene that makes it fast, not the content.
Trim or soften your scenes to shorten them. This may involve reducing the timeframe in which they take place.
Jump into the middle of the scene and trim out the first few back-and-forths of conflict.
Give your viewpoint character more internalizations during the scenes. They’ll cover little story time, but will slow the reading pace. (My note: this can be overdone, to the point where the reader has to page back to find out what the other person said, having forgotten by the time the protagonist finally responds six pages of internal reflection later.)
Give your protagonist more breathing time between scenes, in which to reflect. You may have to adjust your scene goals or disasters to make the timeline less urgent.
Look for sequels you’ve missed, and insert them; expand the ones you have. Go deeper into the emotion, consider more options. The lack of good options may even drive the character back into emotion again.
Have the character make a decision in the sequel that doesn’t lead to action right away.
Calm down your scenes: give the character a less clear goal, make the antagonist mildly helpful, have a subtle disaster that the character has to think about (in a sequel) before realising that it’s a disaster. This moves the disaster into the midst of the sequel.
Most [action-oriented] novels that fail, though, fail because they move too slowly, not too fast. Inexperienced writers dodge conflict, focus excessively on the interior life of the characters, underestimate how many scenes they need for the planned length and pad with sequels, avoid the hard work of writing scene conflict, or dwell too much on philosophy, ideas or character emotions. Or they overdescribe the action, slowing it to a crawl and choking it with internalizations.
#sceneandstructure
Jack M. Bickham, Scene & Structure, Chapter 7: Linking Your Scenes: The Structure of Sequel
Besides scenes, which leave little space for the character’s interior reflection (built, as they are, on outward events in cause and effect), there are also transitions and sequels.
Transitions are direct statements which signal a change of time, place or viewpoint. (“Meanwhile, back at the ranch…”)
Sequels provide linkages between scenes, characterisation, analysis of motivation, planning, information about backstory and summaries of events not played out in scenes.
Ideally, scenes and sequels alternate, leading into one another naturally and logically.
Sequels begin when a scene ends, and have an internal structure: emotion, thought, decision, action. Decision and action plus antagonist gives us the next scene.
Unlike scenes, sequels are largely or wholly internal, and generally involve summary (since emotional processes are often long-drawn-out). They can involve a character alone. They seek sympathy (feeling and understanding) from the reader.
The length of the elements of the sequel can vary based on the writer’s goal, but the order remains constant.
Emotion is the first response to the previous scene’s disaster, and is shown by description, example, or discussion.
Example is the outer gesture or action that displays the inner experience. It can (if well done) be more powerful than direct description, since we recognise emotion in others this way in real life.
Discussion is dialog between the character and another about the character’s feelings.
Thought reasserts itself as emotion runs its course. It usually follows the structure:
Review – looking back over the scene and disaster, thinking about the story goal and its importance, going back to earlier scenes that are relevant.
Analysis – trying to figure out the meaning. As well as reminding the reader what’s important and unwinding the plot, this shows how the character thinks and what he or she values.
Planning – the character tries to find a new way to struggle towards the story goal, given what has just happened. Considers options, weighs them, discards, ranks. Here, your character must come up with emotional and logical reasons, that make sense for who they are, which will drive them to take the next action in your plot.
Decision is when a specific new, short-term goal comes out of the planning. It may be a goal the character is unsure or worried or scared or confused about, but the character does come to a clearly articulated goal which leads into the next scene via action that the character takes.
Sequel is to scenes as internalisation is to stimulus-response.
It’s possible to skip scenes entirely and imply and condense them in the sequels, but it’s an advanced technique. It does allow for deeper characterisation and a slower, more thoughtful pace. However, you still need to plan the (missing) scenes.
Sequels can be a couple of sentences as long as the elements are present. The thought can sometimes be skipped as implied. In very high-action contexts where immediate action is demanded, the sequel can be skipped entirely. However, the skipped sequel should ideally be picked up and played later, when the action abates, so that we still see the character’s reaction to the scene (unless the course of action was obvious and inevitable).
Non-obvious reactions and thoughts in response to disaster are sometimes necessary or desirable, usually for plot reasons.
#sceneandstructure
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.
#sceneandstructure
Jack M. Bickham’s Scene & Structure, chapter 5: Scenes with Results
Scene goals, conflicts, and disasters should be considered in terms of the scope, immediacy, finality and direction of the result.
A scene goal, for example, should be big enough to affect the course of the story, but not so large as to derail or end it entirely.
The goal must lead to a result with immediate effect, but not so much so that the action never pauses for a moment and the character can’t think, plan, or breathe.
A result that’s too final will end the story, but one that’s not final enough won’t be interesting (example: if turned down for a loan, there are four more banks in town to try).
A result that changes the direction of the whole story is also not good.
The conflict must be proportionate, not escalating too much or, on the other hand, blocking off angles of escalation for fear that it will get out of hand, only to leave it bland.
Ducking the conflict comes from shyness, fear or fatigue: being conflict-averse in real life (this is me), afraid you can’t write well enough to do it justice, or being mentally and emotionally weary from too many powerful scenes earlier in the book.
Overescalation is sometimes misinterpreted as “the characters taking over the story”. If your plot has gone off the rails, track back through your disasters looking for one that overshot (or undershot) in scope, immediacy, finality or direction.
If all that seems fine, perhaps you picked the wrong disaster, one that affected the later plot too much.
Scene planning exercise:
Write out a goal in 10 words or less.
Who is the conflict with, where, for how long?
At least four twists and turns in the conflict.
What is the disaster?
#sceneandstructure