Writing Stellar Scenes: Part 5—Scene Events and Situations
Welcome to part five of my series on scene writing!
If you’re just joining in, here’s a quick recap of where we’ve been: I started with an introduction to the eight essential elements of a scene. You can read that here. Now, I’m working through the essential elements of a scene. So far, I’ve covered three: character, setting and goals.
For a quick review, here are all eight elements of a scene:
1. Character – who will be there?
2. Setting – where are they?
3. Goal – what do the characters want to accomplish?
4. Event or Situation – what is happening?
5. Action – What will each character do or say?
6. Emotion (Reaction) – How will each character react to what is done/said? Why?
7. (Incomplete) Resolution – How will the event/situation end? What will make readers want to keep reading onward?
8. Purpose – How does this scene move the story forward, develop characters, and/or add to the conflict?
Now, let’s dive in, today is all about element #4—the event or situation.
Essential Scene Element #4: An Event or Situation
In week one, I defined a scene this way: A scene follows a character through one event or situation in real time until the event/situation ends or gets interrupted by a new event/situation.
After four weeks, we’re finally diving into one of the most important aspects of scene writing—what actually happens.
This post isn’t going to go into plot structure or building character arcs. Instead, I’m going to focus on some questions that you can use to get yourself unstuck when you aren’t sure where to take the story next.
In my experience, these questions are going to be most helpful when you reach the middle of the story—the part that usually comes with the most confusion and the least guidance in story structure systems (for more on that issue, see my post/rant about that here).
So, if you’re in the middle trying to figure out how to get unstuck, use these questions to inspire your brainstorming process!
Question #1: What are the natural consequences of your character’s recent decisions?
This question is one of my favorites for developing new complications and plot events because it contradicts a natural tendency for authors to protect their characters from harm. Don’t worry if this is you—it’s a natural impulse. After all, we try to protect the people we love in real life, why wouldn’t we do the same for our darling fictional creations? Simple: because it’s boring. That’s it.
When you pull your punches and don’t allow conflicts to fully develop, you lessen the impact and create a less engaging experience for readers. Unlike real life, fiction is improved by conflicts and consequences.
So, when you’re stuck in the muddy middle, go back and look at the last few decisions your character has made. Think of ways those decisions (even if well-intentioned) could spectacularly backfire on them.
The exact nature of the conflict will depend on your story, but think about how things can go wrong for your character because of their past choices and you’re likely to think of new & interesting plot events.
Question #2: What events will test your character’s internal flaw and force them to grow in some way?
You probably know what your character’s flaw is at the beginning of the story. You may even know how they’ll learn and change by the end of the story. But what happens in between?
Throughout the middle of the novel, the character should face additional challenges that slowly break down their old beliefs about the world and teach them how to live differently.
For example, let’s imagine a character comes in believing that it’s every man for themselves and that no one else can be trusted. By the end of the novel, they’ll learn that there are people who they can trust. In between, what could happen to push them in a new direction?
Here are some possibilities:
they could get sick or injured and be forced to rely on a supporting character to take care of them
a supporting character could learn a secret about them and then keep it to themselves instead of revealing it to someone who could benefit them in return
a supporting character could offer help or a favor without ulterior motives
an acquaintance could show vulnerability to the main character and demonstrate the benefits of trusting others
the character could face a situation in which they have to choose between doing something selfish and doing something for someone else—whether they choose to help or not, that decision will have consequences (see question #1) that can help move the plot and the character arc forward
These suggestions are just scratching the surface—and of course the specifics will depend on your story and your characters’ flaw.
Question #3: How can you make things worse for your characters OR if things are already truly terrible how can you inject some levity or a moment of relief?
When your story lags, one of the best things you can do is challenge your characters through new or intensified challenges. Take an ally away or create a new enemy. Have a character make a crucial mistake that costs time or resources that they were relying on. Whatever you come up with, find a way to move the character further from their goal with a meaningful setback.
Now, you can’t just make things worse and worse and worse for your character without letup. If things have already been trending down, think of something that could happen to inject your character with a little bit of hope or provide a small amount of comic relief for readers. The shift shouldn’t be jarring—but, changing things up for your readers can help keep them engrossed in the story. Think about giving them a moment of passion or tenderness with another character. Have something break down in a humorous way instead of a tragic one. Introduce a lovable crump or buffoon character to shake things up.
Question #4: What has happened in the past 3-5 chapters? What was their tone, feeling, and outcome?
This question is less about thinking of new plot events and more about ensuring that your story isn’t getting repetitive. Before you move forward with a new scene idea, look back at the past three to five chapters and ensure you aren’t repeating what’s come before. Ideally, you’ve been paying attention to your entire plot so that you’ve varied events throughout, but in a pinch, an audit of the last 3-5 chapters should be enough to make sure that you aren’t repeating events in a way that will stand out to readers.
You can also use this question to help you think of developments that naturally arise from events and situations that have come before. If you’re hard pressed to think of what comes next, looking at what you’ve done in the past three-ish chapters can help you brainstorm what should happen afterward. In my own writing, rereading the past few chapters is one of the best ways to get re-inspired and ready to move forward.
Next steps:
I recommend taking some time to sit with these questions—aim for a multitude of ideas, then narrow your list down to your best ideas. If one question doesn’t work for you, that’s fine, toss it and focus on the ones that do help you! I hope these brainstorming prompts will help you get unstuck and figure out how to move forward with the middle of your story!
Thanks for joining me in another installment of this scene writing series! I hope you’ll come back next week for our discussion of scene element #5—the action of the scene!
Until then, happy writing!
