Scene objectives and the decision wheel
A philosophy of fiction that I like very much holds that characters get one of two outcomes from a scene,
governed by the following two questions:
Question 1: What is the characters' objective in this scene? This is an objective that will be resolved by the end of the scene. It is a baby step toward the overarching goal of the story.
Question 2: Will the characters achieve the objective successfully? OR did they fail to achieve the objective?
Question 3: What are the consequences of that success or failure? Even when things do go the way your characters hope, it's your job as a writer to make sure that success earns them more trouble, at least until the climax. After all, trouble is what creates tension!
Sometimes I over think the answers to these questions. Even though I'm mostly a pantser, I do want my plots to be sufficiently complex and logical. Anything too obvious is boring. So I like to add a little chance into the process. Behold, the wheel of character consequences!
So the way to use this is:
Step 1: Ask yourself question 1, note your answer.
Step 2: Ask yourself question 2 and spin the wheel. Record the result, either YES, But... or NO And...
Step 3: This is the MOST IMPORTANT step. DO NOT SKIP!! Replace those ellipses up there with your answer to Question 3. You may notice that there is no option on the wheel for answers like, "No, but..." or "Yes! Yay!" This is because, of course, those options would destroy the tension in the story, break your promises to the reader, or both. There is also no response for MAYBE or PARTIALLY. This is because the stronger emotions associated with clear victory or devastating failure make it more likely that readers will be moved by the events in the scene. It does not eliminate the possibility of ambiguity or pyrrhic victory; It just means that those more confusing realizations should come a beat or two later than the realization of success or failure.
governed by the following two questions:
Question 1: What is the characters' objective in this scene? This is an objective that will be resolved by the end of the scene. It is a baby step toward the overarching goal of the story.
Question 2: Will the characters achieve the objective successfully? OR did they fail to achieve the objective?
Question 3: What are the consequences of that success or failure? Even when things do go the way your characters hope, it's your job as a writer to make sure that success earns them more trouble, at least until the climax. After all, trouble is what creates tension!
Sometimes I over think the answers to these questions. Even though I'm mostly a pantser, I do want my plots to be sufficiently complex and logical. Anything too obvious is boring. So I like to add a little chance into the process. Behold, the wheel of character consequences!
So the way to use this is:
Step 1: Ask yourself question 1, note your answer.
Step 2: Ask yourself question 2 and spin the wheel. Record the result, either YES, But... or NO And...
Step 3: This is the MOST IMPORTANT step. DO NOT SKIP!! Replace those ellipses up there with your answer to Question 3. You may notice that there is no option on the wheel for answers like, "No, but..." or "Yes! Yay!" This is because, of course, those options would destroy the tension in the story, break your promises to the reader, or both. There is also no response for MAYBE or PARTIALLY. This is because the stronger emotions associated with clear victory or devastating failure make it more likely that readers will be moved by the events in the scene. It does not eliminate the possibility of ambiguity or pyrrhic victory; It just means that those more confusing realizations should come a beat or two later than the realization of success or failure.