Not too long ago I wrote an article about a “cheat” to write good plots and dynamic characters. I’ve worked with many authors who have used these two things to get themselves off the ground and write novels that hit the mark and move decent numbers. I’m not talking Stephen King or James Patterson numbers but enough that they can start to make a living from writing, which is more than most can say.
Those two tools were the basic plot structure, started by Syd Field and taken deeper by Larry Brook and others. Which is first plot point, midpoint contextual shift, second plot point, and the like. These give your plot “poles” so to speak to keep the “tent” of your story up. That way you can flow freely from one to another while keeping the whole thing still standing.
Then the “cheat” sheet for character was the enneagram. The enneagram is an ancient system of personality profiling complete with motivations, fatal flaws, and built in character arcs. The enneagram has enough leeway to make it your own while enough structure to keep you from getting lost in the woods. I find it much more robust than other personality typing paths as it deals with things on a deep level. Making it easy to write characters based of certain enneagram styles, and then there’s wings, cycles of decay, and a whole lot more that can help you with the enneagram.
So that covers plot and character, so you should be good right?
Well, not quite.
There’s another huge part of story telling.
And that is scene writing.
Translating The Big Picture Onto The Page
You can have a great plot thought out and amazing characters to fill that plot but still fail if you can translate all that greatness onto the page. You can have bad writing, even read 5o Shades of Grey?, and still sell well. But you scenes have to have good structure and flow to make people read your books and want to read the next one. But how do you go about making a good scene? There is another cheat sheet for that, this one by Lisa Cron, someone who I highly recommend you read if you want to write stories that change hearts and minds.
She has a scene card in one of her books called “Story Genius” a book I highly recommend you pick up and read. I’ve been using her scene cards for some work and they’ve worked very well. In Lisa’s scene cards she has the following lain out for each scene. It’s on page 150 if you purchased the book.
The Alpha Point:
Subplot:
What Happened:
The Consequence:
Why It Matters:
The Realization:
And So?:
She had them laid out in a grid in her book but you can use the above as well.
Let’s go over the definitions for each.
Alpha Point – The alpha point is the cause and effect trajectory the scene has in your overall novel. It must answer the question why is this scene here. So how does it move the story forward, externally. Must be concrete and action based, not conceptual.
Subplot – A good scene will do more than one thing. Which subplots does this scene also move forward? If the answer is none you may want to look for any you can include.
What Happened – This is what is happening in the first half or so of your scene. What are the actions taking place within the scene?
The Consequences – What are the consequences (in this scene, not the next) 0f the “what happened” portion?
Why It Matters – Why does what happened matter to your protagonist, given that protagonist’s agenda?
The Realization – What does the “why it matters” trigger in the protagonist. What realization is triggered in the protagonist as a result. The realization must cause the protagonist to shift their game plan. It must lead to action.
And So? – What happens next, as a result of what happens in the scene. A concrete action based event, not conceptual.
Let’s use an example. Say we have a Conan pastiche we’re writing.
The Alpha Point: Bronan must find the location of the Gwalin Jewels and a crook in the Decrepit Spire knows where they are
Subplot: Mischivio is also at the Decrepit Spire and first notices Bronan there.
What Happened – Bronan tries getting the information by asking around but is nearly throw out. He brawls twelve men while drinking their ales before realizing the thief that knows where the jewels are is heading out the back. He chases and grabs him, extricating the information from him.
The Consequences – Bronan angers the thieves’ guild who sees their own being beat up. They surround him and put a price on his head. Bronan makes a deal with them. He’ll escort the thief to the palace of the jewels and fight his way in for half the profits.
Why It Matters – Bronan is not used to being outmanned. He reluctantly agrees but knows that half the profits will not free his second wife from the clutches of the skeleton king. But he doesn’t see another option.
The Realization – Bronan realizes that he’s not going to be able to bully his way to the information and will have to make an alliance, if only temporary
And So? – And so Bronan agrees to the terms but knows he’ll have to go back on them at some point, something that does not sit well with his barbarian heart, stirring up more internal conflict. He sets out with them for the palace.
That example is not perfect and was done on the fly but it gives you a gist of what to expect. The “why it matters” and “realization” are the parts to really drill down and get right as they deal with the characters internal struggle and misbelief.
How Many Scenes
The more that you do this the more natural it will become. First time I did this I had to continually back track to make sure I was heading down the right path and still screwed it up somewhat. Even above was not perfect. The why it matters probably could have more to do with the characters internal struggle and misbelief, but given that I was pulling this out of thin air it was a little hard to make concrete.
This gets easier with time.
The average novel will have forty plus scenes in it.
Meaning that you’re going to get very familiar with this system. So make sure that you’re doing it right. Go slow at first to go fast later. It pays off. Don’t rush things. The skill will come as you put the time in. Combine character, plot, and good scene writing and you’ll have good novels that’ll have a decent ROI.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
