Blocking Out The Scenes of Your Novel

You’ve developed strong story ARCs. You’ve fleshed out and built strong character ARCs. You have determined point of view and which tense you’re going to use throughout the book. Your novel has a strong beginning and a strong ending.

Building a Scene

The basic building block of any story whether play or novel is the scene. Every scene is a step from the first scene to the last.

Look over the story ARCs that you’ve created and determine where each scene of the ARC will occur in the story. The first thing to do is to determine what the purpose or purposes each scene will have regarding moving the story forward.

Different types of scenes exist. These types fall under three broad categories. First is the action scene. The second is the introspection scene. Third is the transitional scene.

Determine what action needs to occur within this scene and what needs to be discussed by the characters during this scene. Work any good details from the first draft into this second draft and eliminate any empty dialogue and rambling internalization. Develop character voices and craft unique characters based on the information in your character bible.

The Anatomy of the Basic Scene

Just as the body is made up of cells, so the novel is made up of scenes. Each scene has a goal, something to be accomplished. Two, a set-up, three location, for characters at odds or in conflict (in the case of introspection, a character could be at odds with himself.) Action, emotion, and dialogue. Finally, each scene must have a conclusion either to jettison you into the next scene or toward the next conflict.

The most important aspect of the scene is the goal of what you want to accomplish with this scene. Scenes should never be part of a story just to fill space. The more you’ve defined the scene’s goal, the better it adds to the storyline.

The object of the setup is to get characters together or to get one character alone so that character can be involved in introspection.

Location involves knowing when and where the scene is occurring.

What conflict is at stake during this scene?

How is this conflict carried out in action, emotion and dialogue? What drama is involved?

What is the conclusion of this scene? How does it set up for the next scene?

The Main Scenes

A novel has ten main scenes with various other scenes between. The main plot will be the main event of each of these ten scenes. These scenes are:

#1 – First scenes Introduce protagonist in her world. Establish her core need. Set the stage, begin building the world, bring key characters on stage.

#2 – Turning Point #1 inciting incident.

#3 – Pinch Point #1 Give a glimpse of the opposition’s power, need, and goal as well as the stakes.

#4 – Twist #1: Something new happens: a new ally, a friend becomes a foe. New info reveals a serious complication to reaching the goal. Protagonist must adjust to change with this setback.

#5 – The midpoint No turning back. Important event that propels the story forward and solidifies the protagonist’s determination to reach her goal.

#6 – Pinch Point #2 The opposition comes full force. Time to buckle down and fight through it.

#7 – Twist 2: A surprise giving (false?) hope. The goal now looks within reach. A mentor gives encouragement, a secret weapon, an important clue.

#8 – Turning Point #4 Major setback. All is lost and hopeless. Time for final push.

#9 – Turning Point #5 The climax where the goal is either reached or not; the main questions are answered.

#10 – The Ending scene. the aftermath, the wrap-up and resolution. (more discussion about this in last week’s post).

Determine what occurs during these scenes and write the scenes according to the guidelines of a basic scene and you will have the main scenes of your main plot well established.

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