Drop a comment below or tweet me at aliventures to tell me how you get on. The Aliventures newsletter includes a short article on writing, and comes to your inbox every week. You can learn more about the newsletter here.
Sign Up. My contemporary fantasy trilogy is available from Amazon. The books follow on from one another, so read Lycopolis first.
A teacher suggested your website and more specifically this page about scenes. Scenes are much more complex than I ever imagined. And have quite a lot to think about. Thank you for all the effort that you put into this in order to help others. Your valuable time should be directed to your website. My mini-ebook Time to Write has all the tips you need to get started. Pop your email address in below to join my newsletter list. You'll get Time to Write plus other free ebooks, as well as my weekly blog posts Mondays and short newsletters Thursdays to help you make the most of your writing time.
The true cost of war is usually shown side by side with glory and valor. This is the opening scene of the film. The scene establishes him as a great leader and a strong, respected warrior. Conflict Enhancement and Avoidance : Most of the conflict within the scene is literal and physical, as the two armies clash. This is part of the culmination of the story, and is the all is lost moment for the protagonist, who has turned to the dark side.
He stands above a battle that he has inadvertently caused, and tries to make amends by using mystical powers against the enemy. His companion in white actively fights on the ground to buy him time to complete the magic. The clip cuts off short the battle goes on for many minutes of screen time , but the scene does what a good Big Battle culminating scene should do: it brings all the key characters and their arcs together.
In this case, it ends tragically but inevitably with the death of the protagonist. Conflict Enhancement and Avoidance : As in most Big Battle scenes, the main conflict is the clash of the opposing sides, the actual fight. The companion on the battlefield is actively trying to support the protagonist, who is the only one with the power to end the conflict sooner. Like driving to a destination or eating a meal, the mundane activity of packing a suitcase is pure shoe-leather unless it serves a story purpose.
What a character chooses to take on a journey tells us something about their current circumstances, their priorities, their wealth or poverty. How they pack tells us about their state of mind and their values: order or chaos? Speed or deliberation? What they forget to take on the journey could drive the whole story. The suitcase itself is emblematic of the emigration theme of the story.
Conflict Enhancement and Avoidance : The coming separation between the sisters creates emotional tension, which the older sister tries to avoid by focusing on her own failure to do enough. The departing sister refutes her.
Almost the same scene as the one from Brooklyn , but in a completely different kind of story, with a very different tone. Of course, the gift of a sword is a guarantee of future violence, so it creates tension for us.
Conflict Enhancement and Avoidance : The girl is annoyed at the rules of packing. As in all such packing scenes, the characters try to avoid the emotional conflict of the coming separation by talking around it and putting on brave faces.
However, the fight can be metaphorical and the weapons can be symbolic, and the scene type still serves similar purposes.
It serves as a tension-building pause in the action, allowing characters to express emotion in various ways. How they prepare and what they say to each other reveals skills and character traits—loyalty, courage, fear, humor, rancor, etc. The scene type is an opportunity to deliver exposition about the fight to come. It can also foreshadow the outcome of the fight.
Each member of the team of protagonists clearly demonstrates their characters through specific words, actions, and choice of weapon: skeptical, timorous, resolute, commanding, humorous.
Dialogue naturally delivers exposition about the risks of the coming battle and the nature of the enemy. You can perceive a faint Speech in Praise of the Villain in here. Conflict Enhancement and Avoidance : The skeptical crewmember refuses to get involved, pointing out the stupidity of the mission and creating conflict within the ranks.
The leader avoids that needless conflict by ignoring him and continuing to prepare, and the scene ends in solidarity.
The experienced warrior offers advice about how to carry out the ruse. Here again, the superior power of the enemy comes out naturally in dialogue. He actively avoids it at the same time by no longer listening to the advice. This scene, like the previous one, focuses on selection of armor and weapons—in this case clothing and accessories—in service of a risky ruse.
Using a cinematic montage of music and images, it bypasses both inner reflection and most dialogue, but does show the complexity of the plan. This pre-loads tension into the optimistic note at the end: all those moving parts are bound to fail later.
Conflict Enhancement and Avoidance : The conflict here is in the underlying premise: the absurd idea that a ruse this bold could possibly work. Our aim is to build a kind of grab-bag of possibilities that we can all reach into to stimulate our writerly imagination, either while planning or revising our stories.
Can you think of other Scene Types with examples from novels, movies, or television? You can help build the database by letting us know in the comments. Your email address will not be published. Download the Math of Storytelling Infographic The scene is the basic building block of a story.
What is a Scene? A real or fictitious episode, especially when described. A public display of passion or temper. A view of people or places; picture or spectacle. An awkward or embarrassing display of strong or excited feeling before others. The location of an event that attracts attention. They stood in the centre of the scene. So much of a play as passes without change of locality or time, or important change of character; hence, a subdivision of an act; a separate portion of a play, subordinate to the act, but differently determined in different plays; as, an act of four scenes.
The place, time, circumstance, etc. An exhibition of passionate or strong feeling before others; often, an artificial or affected action, or course of action, done for effect; a theatrical display. They saw an angry scene outside the pub. The crazy lady made a scene in the grocery store. An element of fiction writing. Having another scene that takes place in a different bakery might feel repetitive, so how about this? Your character is in a panic as they rush to the party.
The family gives your character odd looks as he enters. He apologizes and explains himself, silently vowing to make up for the mistake. This character wants to do right by his family and give a good impression, which has now been compromised. The resolution: The character attempts to resolve the conflict by explaining himself and saying sorry, but the key to the resolution is his silent vow to do better.
Believe it or not, most writers, including you and me, have a natural instinct when it comes to knowing where a scene begins and ends. We get this from the number of stories we take in, whether it be a book, movie, or other forms of storytelling.
By digesting this content, we train our brains to subconsciously recognize resolution when it occurs. If you feel like the scene is over, it most likely is. This is a tricky question, because the answer varies from author to author and story to story. Sometimes, chapters only consist of one scene. This is often when a scene is longer or contains something monumental to your storyline.
Letting these scenes stand as their own chapters may allow your reader to digest them in the best way. Think of chapter breaks as a moment to let your reader step back and breathe.
0コメント