Scene & Structure Quotes

“let’s just say once again that viewpoint is the technique by which the author picks a character inside the story, then tells the story from that person’s view, so that the reader sees, hears, feels, and knows only what that viewpoint character can experience. Of course it’s possible to have a so-called omniscient viewpoint, where the reader is made privy to the sense impressions, feelings and thoughts of virtually everyone in the story, but it’s a terribly difficult way to write, and not very popular today. After all, each of us lives his or her life in a single viewpoint, so why not tell the story the same way?”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“The old woman was not a quitter. She had her story goal – to get home – and I the reader had my story question: Would she get home that night? So she kept moving along intent on her story goal, and soon came to a pool of water. “Water, water, quench fire,” she urged. “Fire won’t burn stick, stick won’t beat dog, dog won’t bite pig, pig won’t jump over the stile, and I won’t get home tonight!” But – you guessed it – the water wouldn’t. So – but you’ve begun to get the idea, I’m sure. As a small child, I was not only fascinated with this story, but can still recall a certain degree of worry and tension in me as my mother read the tale to me over and over again. It was only many years later that it dawned on me that the story worked because all the scenes worked so well, all relating very clearly to the story question, and all ending in a disaster.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“The most important way you attain this end is by presenting each scene moment by moment, leaving nothing out, because there is no summary in real life, and you can’t have any summary in the scene, either, if you are shooting for maximum lifelikeness and reader involvement.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“Let’s assume for a moment that we are starting to write a novel using Fred’s goal of wanting desperately to be first to climb the mountain. The reader now forms his story question. But the story has to start someplace, and it has to show dynamic forward movement. Let’s further assume, then, that Fred comes up with a game plan for his quest. He decides that his first step must be to borrow sufficient money to equip his expedition. So he walks into the Ninth District Bank of Cincinnati, sits down with Mr. Greenback, the loan officer, and boldly states his goal, thus: “Mr. Greenback, I want to be first to climb the mountain. But I must have capital to fund my expedition. Therefore I am here to convince you that you should lend me $75,000.” At this point, the reader sees clearly that this short-term goal relates importantly to the long-term story goal and the story question. So just as he formed a story question, the reader now forms a scene question, which again is a rewording of the goal statement: “Will Fred get the loan?” Here is a note so important that I want to set it off typographically: The scene question cannot be some vague, philosophical one such as, “Are bankers nice?” or “What motivates people like Fred?” The question is specific, relates to a definite, immediate goal, and can be answered with a simple yes or no.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“For maximum effectiveness, you should start your story at the time of the change that threatens your major character’s self-concept.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“He has made enormous progress – backward.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“It’s axiomatic among professional novelists that when things are going hideously for the lead character, the book is probably going along just wonderfully, thank you.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“5. Disaster works (moves the story forward) by seeming to move the central Figure further back from his goal, leaving him in worse trouble than he was before the scene started. It may seem paradoxical to beginning novelists that scenes work best when they move the lead character further from his story goal – that the best narrative progress often appears to be backwards.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“Remember how stimulus-response transactions work, with an internalization in the middle? Simply recognize that there will be a number of sharp twists and small setbacks during the conflict portion of the scene, and your viewpoint character will experience each of these turns as a stimulus; before he replies in most cases you the author have the option of going into his brief internalization concerning what was just said or done. It is in these internalizations that you can remind the reader what’s at stake, and how things seem to be going in the opinion of the viewpoint character.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“invariably the character with the strongest, clearest goal motivation going in. To say this a different way: The goal that starts a scene ordinarily should be stated by the story person who is to be the viewpoint character in that scene. And once this viewpoint has been established, you will be wise to stay in that viewpoint at least through the disaster ending the scene.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“1. The goal of each scene must clearly relate to the story question in some way. 2. The conflict must be about the goal. 3. The conflict must be with another person or persons, not internally, within oneself. 4. Once a viewpoint has been established and that viewpoint character’s problem and goal have been stated, it’s wise to remain with that same, single viewpoint through the disaster. 5. Disaster works (moves the story forward) by seeming to move the central figure further back from his goal, leaving him in worse trouble than he was before the scene started. 6. Readers will put up with a lot if your scenes will only keep making things worse! 7. You can seldom, if ever plan, write, or revise a scene in isolation of your other plans for your story, because the end of each scene dictates a lot about what can happen later.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“Finally, whether you work on a story you have on the drafting table or do it strictly as an exercise, please take at least a half dozen 5 × 7 file cards and plan some scenes. At the top of each card, write the word Goal and then fill out in ten words or less what your central character wants in this scene. Two lines below, write the word Conflict and write down who the conflict is to be with, where the conflict is to take place, how long in story time the conflict is to last, and at least four twists or turns that the conflict is to take during its playing out. Near the bottom of the card, write the word Disaster. Write down what the disaster would be for this scene. These working cards do not have to link. They can, in other words, be isolated imagined scenes from as many different possible novels. But if you can make some of them hook together, one behind the other in a cause-and-effect fashion, so much the better. For that’s what you do when you plot.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“Let me urge you to go through your work and mark the scene-opening goal statement in red, the conflict portion in blue, and the disaster in black. Then, with other colors, go back through the conflict section and underline in a different color each subtle shift of argument or change in tactics you can identify. Having done all this, go back through yet another time and circle in some additional color every time you have allowed your hero to repeat or reiterate his scene goal. If you have kept things on the track, even a complicated scene with many shifts in the argument will find the hero trying doggedly on several occasions to repeat what he’s here for. (This keeps him a bit on the track, and it doesn’t hurt the reader’s continuing sense of focus on the scene question, either.)”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“This was fine, structurally. Goal: Learn who was near. (Scene question: Will hero learn who was near?) Conflict: Informant doesn’t want to tell. Disaster: Yes, hero learns it was George, but now he has to go off elsewhere and search for George. It immediately became clear at this point in my analysis that all I had to do was change the nature of the disaster. Simplicity itself: Hero asks friend for information, just as before. But the new disaster: “Yes, Mr. Hero, I know who was near the murder site, but it was the son of the mayor, and you will never be able to pin anything on such a prominent person.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“What if,” you say to yourself, “Mr. Greenback starts attacking Fred’s business background, and Fred angrily hurls onto the table his home mortgage and papers for an existing loan made to his company?” (With this escalation, you figure, the conflict will toughen up.) It’s highly possible that the escalation would indeed make the conflict sharper and more interesting. It’s even logical that such an escalation could take place, growing out of a goal statement that didn’t necessarily promise such huge single-scene stakes. But throwing so many blue chips on the table carries with it the danger that the disaster which must now grow out of such an escalation could have greater scope than you desired early in your story; it’s possible that Fred could leave the bank not only sans his desired loan, but with his company loan called in for immediate payment and his home mortgage in jeopardy. And maybe that’s a disaster with considerably broader scope than you intended when you started to write this scene! Occasionally such a “surprise” may stimulate you to heighten tension throughout the rest of the story; usually, however, you’re in danger of losing control of both the direction and pace of your story. In like manner, overdoing it in an effort to bolster a scene’s conflict can bring on results that are too immediate.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“Finally, in terms of scene goals, it’s important always to keep in mind the general direction in which you the author want the story to go after this particular scene. If you’re intent on writing a mountain-climbing story, you don’t have Fred go in for the bank loan, telling himself that if he fails to get the loan, he’s going to go get a gun and rob the joint. The result of such an ill-advised plan at the outset of the scene will force Fred to turn bank robber after the disaster ending this scene – and we wanted to write a story about mountain climbing (not bank robbery), remember???”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“if you set up a goal which will lead to an outcome that isn’t final at all. We can return to our friend Fred for one example. Let’s suppose he enters the bank, wanting his loan, but we take note of the fact that there are five banks in town, and this is just the first one. Now after he is turned down, the disaster isn’t final at all; it’s just a momentary setback, and he has four more banks to try.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“It’s also possible to select goals which will result in scenic outcomes with too much immediacy. You’ve perhaps seen published books where this problem caused pacing too hectic to be believed. Going into the warehouse, gun in hand, with the intent to do or die, hero George gets shot at, almost run down by a car, and then mistakenly arrested for improper entry. He then runs for it – one disaster following another with machine-gun rapidity, so that he never has time to think or plan at all. Ideally, a goal will be picked which will have immediate results, but not so horribly immediate and pressing that the character won’t have time to draw a few breaths.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“It’s also possible to select goals which will result in scenic outcomes with too much immediacy. You’ve perhaps seen published books where this problem caused pacing too hectic to be believed. Going into the warehouse, gun in hand, with the intent to do or die, hero George gets shot at, almost run down by a car, and then mistakenly arrested for improper entry. He then runs for it – one disaster following another with machine-gun rapidity, so that he never has time to think or plan at all.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“The careful writer of fiction wants the disaster which grows out of the goal to put considerable additional pressure on the character very soon. If you allow Fred, for example, to pick a scene goal of convincing the Smithsonian Institution to fund his expedition, it could well lead to a “disaster” in which some Washington official says “Yes, but” such requests have to be formally approved by a board which meets only twice a year – thus meaning that the result of this disaster is a waiting period of several months. Or – and this is a much more common mistake – you might err by failing to have Fred note at the outset, in stating his goal, that he needs a decision or declaration right away; in such cases, disasters have a tendency to look more like indefinite delays – and again the story bogs down because the goal was not set up or stated in such a way that a fairly immediate result could be forthcoming.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“We must always be on the lookout for scene goals that are too small to allow for sufficient scope of disaster. Just as obviously, we must guard against allowing our heroes to pick goals of such magnitude that the scope of scene disaster will destroy them. Another goal-selection error can be found in picking a goal which cannot logically lead to a scene-ending result with any immediacy”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“How could you err by giving Fred, the mountain climber, a scene goal too insignificant to have measurable results in terms of a later disaster? Suppose you decide that he chooses as his first scene goal the procurement of a good pair of climbing boots. (Scene question: Will Fred get good boots?) Leaving aside the obvious fact that few readers in their right mind will be willing to worry much about such a petty matter, suppose you develop a scene around this goal anyway. How much meaningful scope can possibly come at the end of such a scene? Maybe Fred learns that there simply aren’t any boots made that are as good as the ones he has envisioned (a “No!” disaster). Or maybe Fred learns that the kind of boot he really wants is so expensive that he’ll have to borrow a few hundred dollars – or work overtime a few nights – to be able to afford them (a “Yes, but!” disaster). Maybe he even learns that they don’t make boots to fit his oddly shaped foot, and sprains his big toe trying to fit himself into an ill-fitting pair that happens to be available (a “No, and furthermore!” disaster). Big deal! So what? Who cares? How has such a “disastrous” result really made things significantly tougher for Fred? The goal was too small, the scope of the result too narrow. The story has bogged down to a virtual standstill.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“Here is your working practice list: 1. Accused of cheating on a test, Janis goes to visit her math professor with the goal of convincing him she did not cheat. 2. Searching for an embezzler, Calvin accosts the bank examiner with the goal of convincing the examiner to give him the name of the prime suspect. 3. Lost in the caverns, Billy explores a narrow shaft with the goal of finding his way out. (A hard one! No living opponent.) 4. Ted visits Jennifer with the goal of getting her to marry him. 5. Wanting to win permission to enter graduate school, Bari goes into the office of the graduate dean with the goal of convincing him to let her in. (If the dean is a male, there is a very obvious “Yes, but!” disaster possibility lurking at the end of this scene.)”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“The question: “Do I have to have the conflict outside the character? Can’t I have the character at war with himself inside his head?” Answer: The conflict has to be on the outside. If you remember the example of writing something which could be put on the theater stage, you will not forget this principle.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“If you have serious doubts about how long a given scene should be, I think your best course would be to write it for all you think it might possibly be worth. Novels that a publisher considers too long – but are excellent in all other respects – will usually attract an editor’s invitation to “boil.” But the scene you underdeveloped – so that it lost its potential dramatic punch – will not get the publisher’s attention at all, and your manuscript will simply be rejected. In my own teaching experience, fifty manuscripts fail because of scenic underdevelopment for every one that fails because the scenes were written too long.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“Today’s “fully developed scene,” consequently, tends to run shorter than it once did. You may encounter scene situations where you simply can’t develop all the complex immediate issues in fewer than a dozen pages. If so, that’s fine. But I suspect that the average, “developed” print-fiction scene today runs between four and six pages, and some are shorter than that.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“None of this tells you how long a given scene should be, of course. A general rule might suggest that the length of the scene should be directly proportional to its importance in the overall plot. Thus Fred’s scene with the banker – vital as it may be – probably should be shorter in the final story than a later scene in which Fred and a competitive climber struggle for momentary possession of a rocky shelf halfway up the mountain – the loser likely to lose not only the race, but his life. The higher the stakes, the longer the scene.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“There is no simple answer. You have already noted, I am sure, that the statement of the scene goal will ordinarily be very brief, seldom more than a few lines. Even if the viewpoint character reiterates the scene goal several times during the conflict portion of the segment, all the total word-age directly specifying the scene goal will be quite small. The disaster, too, often comes in a very few words – a cannonade fired at the very end of the scene, and seldom more than a hundred words in length. This leaves the inescapable fact that the length of any scene will depend largely on the extent to which you the author develop the conflict section – how long you write it.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“Whatever type of disaster you concoct for your scene ending, however, please note that it must answer the scene question and none other. You cannot get by with a disaster that says to the reader, in effect, “Well, I don’t know if Fred got the money, but he had a coughing fit.” Or: “Did Fred get the money? I don’t know; but he sure left the office depressed.” Or: “Did he get the money? Who knows? But there was an earthquake!” This simply won’t do. You have to play fair with your reader. You stated a character goal, and the reader formed a scene question. Your disaster must answer the question that was posed.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure

“But as you study popular fiction in the days and weeks ahead, notice how often the scenes indeed do end with something more complex than a simple “No!” disaster – how the writer skillfully turned events at the ending of the scene so that the character quite clearly left the scene in far worse shape than if he had never entered the scene and tried. This kind of development not only tightens reader tension and increases reader worry, it also tends to build reader sympathy for the viewpoint character, who planned so well and fought so hard – only to be swatted down once more.”
― Jack M. Bickham, Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure