7 Step Scene Structure

Let me preface this by saying I am not a plotter. At least, not by nature. My typical writing process goes: A) idea!!! B) spends several days/weeks fantasizing about idea C) starts writing half-coherent scenes until the original idea runs out.

Unfortunately, this process has led to a consistent problem: I overwrite. Whatever my intended word count for a piece is, I go well over that, whether it's an essay that must meet certain guidelines for a contest or a fantasy novel that has to be roughly within industry standards for length.

In my research on how to avoid overwriting, I've come across several helpful tips, most of which are what you'd expect: Cut characters, cut unnecessary words in prose, cut subplots... cut, cut, cut! And that's all great if you're trying to deal with overwriting in the editing stages. But what if you don't want to deal with it after the fact? There has to be a way to prevent overwriting in the first place.

The answer isn't setting tighter goals for yourself. It isn't trying to edit as you write. Unfortunately, the only proactive solution to overwriting is to plot.

I have trouble with plots. When I told my friend I was overwriting, she asked, "Where are you in the Three-Act Structure?" I ashamedly admitted I didn't know what the Three-Act Structure was or how it worked, I'd just heard people talk about it a lot. So when I realized the only way to mitigate my overwriting was to plot, I did some research.

One of the big tips I heard was to plot your scenes, because if you decided ahead of time what scenes you needed and how long they should be, that would make your stories a lot shorter. So, I looked up different scene structures to come up with a plotting framework. The most common trend I saw went like this:

1. Problem/Question: What is the problem your character is facing? What is the question you want readers to be asking at the beginning of the scene?
2. Strategy: The character comes up with and implements a way to face the problem.
3. Failure: The strategy they came up with fails, leading them to investigate other options. (Ever heard the rule that your character should fail three times before finally stopping the villain? This is that principle, scaled down to the scene level.)
4. Solution: The character succeeds/solves the problem, and the readers' questions are answered.

This was followed by a step called "Late Start/Early Ending." Once you know what happens inside the scene, you can figure out what is the latest moment the scene could start at, and the earliest moment it could end. That's how you cut words: by knowing how things begin and end.

This was a pretty good structure for a little while. It got me used to the idea of planning scenes (even though I didn't have a plot for the book as a whole, though I roughly knew how it would end). But eventually, I noticed a problem: My "Solution" step usually included a second, smaller "Failure." What should have been the last quarter of the scene was really the midway point. So I decided to modify the structure. Here's what I came up with:

1. Problem: The immediate conflict that the character faces. This can be trivial: There is no breakfast cereal. Or it can be your climax, the final battle with the villain. What matters is that it's immediate--the character can't put it off. It must be dealt with now.
2. Strategy #1: The character's first, gut-level response to the problem. It's misguided and based on the old beliefs/habits/principles the character is used to living with.
3. Failure: The first strategy fails. This is followed by a moment of realization (be it an "oh, duh" moment or an epiphany), and a redirection of thought.
4. Strategy #2: Based on new beliefs/behaviors/principles rooted in the theme (or a minor theme/sub-theme) of your story, the character formulates a new plan and puts it into action.
5. Hardships: Reasonable problems arise that the character has to overcome, but these aren't necessarily signs of a bad plan. The unpleasant and unexpected just happen sometimes.
6. Victory: The problem is no longer immediate--either the character is victorious, and the problem is totally resolved, or the character has merely put off the battle royale until a later date.* ("Alexa, add cereal to the shopping list.")
7. Late Start, Early Ending: The same old steps of figuring out where your scene begins and ends.

*Preferably, by putting off the problem for now, the character has made a bigger problem for herself in the future. Problems are like steam in a pressure cooker: If not resolved, they build up and will eventually explode.

This scene structure works better for me for several reasons. First, it's structured more like a book: Even once the character has found a "solution" to the problem, things don't always go according to plan, and that's not necessarily the character's fault. Second, my modified structure includes theme. Theme is part of what makes a story good, and it shouldn't just be confined to the emotional climax of the character's arc. Small steps in the right direction should be occurring throughout the story as the character begins to change, and this scene structure incorporates that. Third, it leaves an option that's more realistic and builds more suspense than a mere "solution"--a temporary victory. The problem isn't the problem. The problem is the immediacy of the problem.

If you like this structure and want to use it, yay! That's great! I'm glad I could help! But there are so many ways to plot scenes, and I'm not suggesting this is the best one. It's just what's worked for me.