A Possible Craft Discussion on Scene Structure

[CageSage]

I'm trying to find a simple and easy way to define what a scene is, how it works, why, etc.

My understanding of a scene comes from a wide variety of sources, but the basics are that a scene is:

One event, in one location/setting, from one POV, where something changes.

Of course, there's more to it than that. Each scene is a smaller story within the larger story. Each scene builds on/up to from what's gone before and is yet to come. Each scene has a purpose and problems and enables the reader to experience the 'yes' or 'no' of whether the POV character achieved the goal they came in with. Each scene fulfils more than one element of the story (characterisation, plot, foreshadowing, etc.).
There's more, but I'm looking for a simple methodology that says it plain as a summer day in Australia, and clarifies more than I can think of at the moment.

I've used Randy Ingermanson's methodology (Writing The Perfect Scene: Advanced Fiction Writing Tips) to help me shape the scenes and progression of a story. That's a long post. How can I simplify that?

Help! And thanks.

 

[Steve C]

Was it you recommended I read the book? Anyway, it is a brilliant book and links nicely with 'Techniques of the Selling Writer' by Dwight V. Swain.
He simplifies it at the end of his book.
I could post a screenshot but not sure if that is allowed
Essentially a proactive scene = Goal, Conflict, Setback/Victory
reactive scene = Reaction, Dilemma, Decision

 

[CageSage]

Thanks, @Steve C, that's the big picture of scene structure, and I know it works. Most of my pre-writing planning goes into making sure that the moment in the story has a reason to be there by ensuring the scene structure works, but I'm trying to find a way to explain to another writer the how/why it works, why we need it, and how to use it for each character's progression through a story.
However, I even confuse myself sometimes. I did come up with this:

Problem/goal — gotta get to work.
Obstacles/blocks — no clean clothes, no socks, can’t find the shoes! Water cold in the shower. ETC.
Result/disaster — late for work. Again. Docked.

I can do this for each scene in a story, using the flow for each character with a POV (okay, sometimes, there's the reaction/sequel is very short, to speed up the pace), but ...

In the end, I suppose, a writer learns what they need to learn when they need it. Nothing is simple or a light-bulb moment until we're ready to see it as such.

 

[Carol Rose]

I think it’s a great approach to make sure there’s a reason for each scene, and that each one serves a purpose to the story. They need to accomplish the same things dialogue should: Give the reader new or important information, move the story forward, or show characterization. Otherwise they’re just fluff and probably aren’t needed.

 

[RK Capps]

I can only think of an analogy: each scene is like a domino and when you push the first domino, that one pushes the next, and so on, until they all topple. They blend into one.

 

[Steve C]

I think the essence of writing is to create emotion in the reader, that's it. There is no other sense we can reach unlike a film which has sight and sound and in some theatres even feel with shaking seats etc. It is not a bad question to ask oneself. What emotion am I creating in this scene? How can I resolve it and move on to the next emotional provocation? Clearly the emotions created must link and make sense in the overall story which itself must create emotion. Will the hero save the world? Will she get the man? etc
Just my tuppence worth but I have ditched scenes that can't answer that question forcibly enough so for me it works.

 

[CageSage]

I did find this:
The term structure is an all-encompassing word for an organized relationship of parts to a larger whole, which means that everything in your writing has structure:
the whole book, chapters, sections, scenes, paragraphs, and sentences. The idea behind the phrase character-driven is that any and all units of structure are in service to characterization. Who wants to live in a castle or a cottage? Different people. Castles without mortar or with too much weight on top may topple. Cottages without strong beams to support roofs and walls may crumble. When your characters walk in and out of the story houses you’ve built, you don’t want a roof collapsing on them. Structure and characterization must support one another.
Most novels, perhaps as much as ninety percent, are built using a universal “architectural” blueprint called dramatic structure. Its simplest form has three sequences or stages: problem, climax, resolution.
Lyon, Elizabeth. Manuscript Makeover (pp. 64-65). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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Not all that sure it helps me in terms of finding something simple yet definite about what a scene structure is and why it works. I'll keep looking, even if it's only for my own satisfaction.

 

[Steve C]

I understood this sentence. The other stuff??

Its simplest form has three sequences or stages: problem, climax, resolution.

 

[CageSage]

Maybe if we start from the other end?
A sentence is structured to impart meaning. It does this by [all that stuff it does].
A paragraph is structured to impart the flow and direction of the depth of meaning. It has two power points - the first word/sentence, and the last word/sentence. Another form of structuring a paragraph relates to fiction: It's a new para for each character - which is an internal/external thing. If the pov character is thinking, that's in internal thing, personal narrative of the pov char. If he's looking at someone or something, that's external. There's also the thing about motivation reaction units - something happens, the char reacts. The something happens is in a different para to the reaction because one is external and causes the internal. etc.

A scene is structured to impart a more complex meaning to an action or need to act to progress the story along the ladder toward the main goal. It's how a char sees and feels and needs to find a way to deal with a problem.

A story is structured to impart a journey toward resolution of a longer-term goal. It's how we learn without getting our fingers burnt.

Maybe. I'm quite happy to take on board something that says it in a simpler construction.