Every scene needs a foundation

Stories are about change. Without change, there’s no story.

Yes, this applies to the story overall. But also to every scene that hinges together to make the story.

Tim Grahl says it’s critical to get the foundational building blocks of a scene down on the page that ensure something changes. How? By asking 10 questions of every scene.

The first thing we want writers to be able to do is get the foundational building blocks of a scene down on the page that ensure something changes.

1. What forces are driving the antagonism?

2. What forces are driving the protagonism?

3. What does the antagonist want?

4. What does the protagonist want?

5. What disrupts the status quo (aka the Inciting Incident)?

6. Where does the scene turn (aka the Turning Point)?

7. What decision is forced (aka the Crisis)?

8. What action is taken (aka the Climax)?

9. What is the outcome (aka the Resolution)?

10. Who, ultimately, wins the scene?

If you can’t point to the exact sentence where each of these is on the page, the scene isn’t unfinished. It’s unstable.

And there’s no point going any further.