Story Deconstruction Basics II: Which Characters And Scenes Actually Matter? ...Again
How the hell are ya?
This post is aimed at folks just finishing up with their first draft and looking at a rewrite, and is a follow up to my previous post on story deconstruction.
This time we’ll be going to the next step (short and sweet, as well, I promise. Unless I don’t stop wasting real estate promising you that ;)
Now that you’ve done everything in Part One of this, hopefully, helpful serial blog post, it’s time to do the next logical thing
List Out Every Single Scene Or Chapter And The Significant Parts Of It
For the purposes of this post (and because this is how I write), I’m going to consider a chapter and a scene to be the same thing. If you write chapters with breaks and include multiple scenes, then do this step for each scene within your chapters.
Now, the simple part. For each chapter, write a short little summation. I prefer to use this format:
CHAPTER NAME OR NUMBER (OR BOTH)
Pages/Words: 1-14/3775 (Not necessary, but might be helpful to you if you’re looking for disparity between chapter sizes)
Setting: Bob’s Childhood Town (Where does the scene take place?)
Characters: Bob, Some other guy (What characters are involved in this scene? - I usually include characters who may not be physically there, if their existence is causing some conflict or helping to further the plot)
Goals and conflicts: Bob is broke and he needs to pay his water bill. (What is the conflict (or are the conflicts) in this chapter? What are your character’s goals in this chapter? Who wants what? What’s standing in the way of them getting that?, etc.)
Purpose: To introduce Bob and his world. To show that Bob isn’t having a very good go of it. (Why are you writing this chapter? What thematic threads (See previous post) are being strung through this chapter, or which ones are being terminated or begun (SEE BELOW)? What questions are you raising? What questions are you answering?, etc.)
Summary: Bob is having a bad day and they’re going to turn the water off. The mail comes and he receives a check for a ton of money. (In as simple a form as possible, just write what happens in this chapter)
And, then, beneath that (unless you prefer to mix it into the summary above, which I find to be more confusing), I like to break it down even further so I can track the themes. From the previous post, you might recall that the only theme listed was:
(#)THEMATIC ELEMENTS #00 = MAIN THEME: (Ex: Life Is Awesome)
So, since this story is so plain-vanilla simple, I’d just list that, and what about the chapter, or in the chapter, relates to that theme
#00 = LIFE IS AWESOME: (JOE FALLS ASS-BACKWARD INTO A TON OF MONEY)
The primary goal here is to help you, as a writer, figure out, for each chapter or scene, all of the main elements. Where is it happening? Who’s involved? What goals or conflicts exist, are beginning or ending? What’s the purpose of the chapter or scene?
If any of these parts (especially the location and character portions) are lacking or essentially empty, the scene can go. Ultimately, it’s a judgement call on your part, as the writer. But, once you’ve done it (Written one summation for each chapter or scene in your story) it should be much easier to figure out what scenes are lacking and can go. It may also help you realise where some additional scenes are necessary.
Writing up each chapter or scene in this fashion, combined with the thematic weaving from the previous post on this topic, should give you a very nice bird’s-eye-view of your story and make it much simpler for you to find problems, fix them and maybe (if your story’s already perfect) see ways to make it even better!
As always, best wishes to you with your writing!
Peace,
Mike
