[stylist] scene and sequel

Wed Dec 10 00:15:40 UTC 2008

Atty dear, that was some good writing!

Robert Leslie Newman 
Email- newmanrl at cox.net
THOUGHT PROVOKER Website- 
Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
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Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 6:36 AM
To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] scene and sequel

Below is the explanation from my class then I'll give my example:
Scene and Sequel: The Basics

All successful fiction is made up of two-and only two-elements: scenes and
sequels. They may be different lengths and written in different styles,
viewpoints,

and tenses, but every piece of successful fiction, when you break it down,
looks like this:

The basics of successful fiction

The purpose of each scene is to move the story forward. It's where the
conflict and action occur. The purpose of each sequel is to give your
character a

chance to react to what happened in the scene.

These components should almost always be the same and occur in the same
order. The structure works, and it's about the closest thing I can think of
to a

guarantee of success in fiction writing.

Scenes

Every scene has the following three elements:

list of 3 items

. Goal

. Conflict

. Disaster

list end

These elements should always occur in this order. A scene may involve any
character, but for the purposes of our discussion, I'll assume the viewpoint
character

is your protagonist.

If you just start writing without understanding what your protagonist hopes
to accomplish in the next few paragraphs, you won't know where you're going.

Neither will your protagonist. And neither will your readers.

So your protagonist begins each scene with a goal. It may be something as
simple as answering the telephone or as complex as breaking into a
maximum-security

facility. Whatever it is, this is the goal for the entire scene.

Next comes conflict. And yes, you must have conflict in every single scene
of your novel. Without it, there's no reason to write the scene. And there's

no reason for your readers to read it.

Something as simple as a ringing phone, for example, could be bursting with
potential conflict. It could awaken your protagonist in the middle of the
night

with bad news, a family emergency, or a menacing message from a stalker. Or
it could be a wrong number, which crushes the hopes of the protagonist as
she

waits to receive urgent news.

If you can't come up with any conflict, then why include the scene? If it
serves no purpose, cut it.

The final part of the scene is a disaster. This event may be large or small,
but it's this sense of perpetual setback that creates dramatic tension and

keeps us reading. You'll often find the disaster in information the
protagonist receives. And sometimes you can even use a reverse
disaster-something too

good to be true-to end the scene. Your protagonist may not know that her
hope is naïve, but your readers do!

Once the disaster occurs, your protagonist must react to it. This happens in
the sequel.

Sequels

As with the scene, the sequel has a fixed set of elements you should almost
always use in the same order:

list of 4 items

. Emotion

. Thought

. Decision

. Action

list end

The emotion is your protagonist's immediate response to the disaster that
ended the scene.

You'll follow emotion with the protagonist trying to reason out what
happened and why. This thought process is often erroneous, but it always
occurs. For

example, if the protagonist is struggling with the larger situation, she may
completely misinterpret everyone's motives. So she most likely won't
correctly

identify the reasons behind the conflict or the disaster of the preceding
scene.

Thinking leads naturally to decision-making. The decision may be large or
small, and it may even be a decision to not decide anything yet.

Action then follows decision. The action usually leads into the next scene,
often with some exposition that compresses time, such as, "Having decided to

travel, she packed her bags and took a taxi to the airport." The scene that
follows would presumably occur on her arrival, either at the airport or at

her final destination or perhaps while in transit.

My example:
Using exposed trees roots I carefully climbed the embankment. A damp chill
turned the night clammy, unhealthy. My guts felt the same way, past scared
and on the way to desperate. (Goal) I had to stop Brent, no matter what.

At the top (conflict) I knew he'd used magic; I could smell it. It was too
dark to see the glisten, but that hot sweet spice was a shield.

Staying to the bluest shadows I made my way to the circle of pain.

My mind kept replaying the same maniacal slide show. Lily's pale thin face;
the torment in her green eyes; Brent's finger prints on her shoulders and
arms, shiny, like ice. (disaster) Distracted by the memory of our last
encounter, I ran face first into the shield.

(Emotion) My heart shook free and tried to squeeze its way into my throat,
my stomach bottomed out! I fell into the weeds, an incantation on my lips.

(Thought)Before a single burning word left my lips, I breathed back in the
magic. Right now Brent didn't know who'd touched his barrier. If I used the
concealing spell he probably wouldn't find me, but he'd know I'd come. And
the hunt would begin for real.

(Decision) The only thing to do was wait. (Action) I got to my feet, and
silent as a wish, I backed away from the shield. When its perfume faded I
conjured a hide. To anyone looking I appeared to be just another tree.

---
I found this hard at first and I still am crap at finding it in other
sstories, but I'm working on it.
Thanks for asking Robert.

Me
Life is short ...forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh
uncontrollably...
and never regret anything that made you smile

"Qui docet, discit."
"He who teaches, learns"

I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget
what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou

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