If plot, character, and theme are the foundational underpinnings of story itself, then they must be present in every scene as well, right? But that gets tricky. How can you make sure these elements are doing their job in every scene? And if they’re not present in every scene, does that necessarily mean the scene is problematic?

That first question was put to me this week in an email from Dennis Tannenbaum. It immediately pinged my storytelling radar, because, frankly, it’s not something I’ve ever specifically considered on the scene level.

I talk all the time about how high-performing stories must be founded on the intertwined arcs of plot and character—with theme as the glue that holds them together. I also talk a lot about the balance of action and reaction on the micro level in proper scene structure. These two  subjects come together in the assumption that if we ace story structure and if we ace scene structure, everything else will come together on every other level.

Today, however, I want to dive down and take a closer look, not so much at scene structure, but at how the story should look down on the ground level, scene by scene.

1. Plot on the Scene Level

Plot is the external conflict that moves the story’s physical events. At its most basic, plot is what happens in the story. The good guy fights the bad guy, gets the girl, hurrah, hurrah. That’s plot.

Structuring Your Novel (Amazon affiliate link)

Cohesive plot is executed through application of story structure. There are many different perspectives and explanations of story structure, but all boil down to essentially the same thing: pursuit of a goal that arcs through the basic steps of Set-Up, Conflict, and Resolution. (I talk about this in-depth in my books Structuring Your Novel and its freebie “sequel” 5 Secrets of Story Structure).

This is the big picture of plot. But what about the little picture? What about plot on the scene level?

5 Secrets of Story Structure (Amazon affiliate link)

Plot is perhaps the easiest part of our story trifecta to double check on the scene level. Scenes are, essentially, mini stories of their own. As a result, they follow their own structural and emotional arcs. When properly constructed, they form the links that, in turn, construct the chain of the larger plot.

The best and simplest way to approach scene structure is to view every scene as requiring two halves to make a whole. You can think of these mates as any or all of the following:

• Action>Reaction
• Question>Answer
• Action>Lesson
• Emotion>Opposite Emotion

Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain (affiliate link)

Although not omnipresent, my favorite remains Dwight V. Swain’s classic approach:

Part 1: Scene (Action)

a. Goal (character wants something on the scene level that will ultimately help him reach his overall plot goal—and he tries to get it)

b. Conflict (character is met with an obstacle to obtaining his goal)

c. Outcome (usually disastrous, in the sense that the character does not achieve the goal or achieves only part of it)

Part 2: Sequel (Reaction)

a. Reaction (character reacts to the outcome)

b. Dilemma (character must figure out how to overcome the new complications and still move forward toward his main plot goal)

c. Decision (character decides upon a new scene goal to cope with the new complications and move forward toward the main plot goal in a—hopefully—more effective way)

>>For an even more complete discussion of scene structure, see my series How to Structure Scenes in Your Story.

In plotting my own stories, I find this approach endlessly useful for the simple reason that it provides both consistent cause and effect and a continuous chain of scenes that all connect one to the other. The Decision at the end of one scene always leads seamlessly into the Goal in the next scene—ad infinitum.

But now we must ask the question: Does perfect scene structure automatically mean the plot is being perfectly executed on the scene level?

Yes, it’s a good rule of thumb. But, no, it’s not a guarantee. The guarantee comes into play when you can verify the following:

• Every scene’s Goal is pertinent to the overall plot goal. (And, yep, this is even true for subplot scenes.)
• Every scene’s Outcome moves the plot by changing the plot.

2. Character on the Scene Level

When we speak about “character” as part of the plot-character-theme trifecta of cohesive and resonant storytelling, we’re talking about many things.

We’re talking about presenting interesting and engaging characters who hold readers’ attention. We’re talking about developing characters into complexity that resonates within the plot and comments upon the theme. But most of all, we’re talking about character as the representative of the shadow side of the plot’s external conflict.

We’re talking about internal conflict.

Perhaps the single best way to approach and manage what we might call “the inner plot” is via the theory and structure of character arc.

Creating Character Arcs (affiliate link)

Character arcs (which I talk about in my book Creating Character Arcs) come in many shapes and sizes—from classic Positive Change Arcs to tragic Negative Change Arcs to heroic Flat Arcs (in which the protagonist doesn’t personally change but rather positively changes the story world). Choosing the right arc for your story will have everything to do with plot. This is the first step to intertwining plot and character to the point that they cease being separate entities and instead become two sides of the same whole.

Once you’ve chosen an arc for your characters that integrates seamlessly with the plot, how do you make sure you’re executing it properly in every single scene?

Although this is a less logical and less straightforward process than applying scene structure to support the plot scene by scene, the answer is inherent in scene structure itself. Specifically, it is found in the emotional arc of a scene.

For plot and character to work together, the external and internal conflicts must impact and drive one another. What happens in the external plot must change the character, and what happens in the character’s internal conflict must impact the external plot. And this mutual impacting must happen in every scene.

Remember how I said the only way to make sure a scene is meaningfully incorporating the plot is to check whether that scene has changed the plot? Well, same goes for character.

Take a look at a recent scene. How has it changed your character?

Usually, the change will be subtle. If the change is too dramatic, the rapid evolution will either strain suspension of disbelief or end the conflict too quickly. Complete change—either internally or externally—signals the end of the story. Therefore, of course, it can’t happen until the end of the story.

Above, we talked about how you can view scene structure in terms of “Action>Lesson” and “Emotion>Opposite Emotion.” Both of these are keys to nailing down your character’s progression in any given scene.

Action>Lesson

It’s true that Action>Lesson can apply merely to the story’s external process: the character takes an action to implement the scene goal, runs afoul of conflict, and learns something new about how to enact the next goal with more success. However, this is also a useful metric for gauging the character’s internal development on the scene level.

Ask yourself:

• How have the events of this scene changed my character’s internal conflict?
• What new information has the external conflict provided that gives the character insight into the thematic Truth and/or makes him uncomfortable with the Lie?
• In order for the character’s actions to be more successful in the external conflict’s next scene, what internal adjustments must be made?

If the answer to any of these questions is vague, you’ve probably found a scene that hasn’t optimally integrated character development or advanced the character’s arc.

Emotion>Opposite Emotion

Occasionally, it will be appropriate to dramatize an obvious “lesson” for your character, as per the above approach. Most of the time these “lessons” need to be subtle even to the point of being subtext. Otherwise, they quickly become on-the-nose and start feeling moralistic.

So how do you change your character without being too obvious about it?

The answer is emotional arcs.

As you chart the external actions of a scene, make sure your character is internally arcing. Never end a scene on the same emotional note as the one on which it began. Use the events of the scene to change the character in an obvious emotional way. If she starts the scene happy, end sad. If she starts curious, end satisfied. If she starts depressed, end elated.

Needless to say, the emotions at either end of a scene’s spectrum must be organic to the story and must progress the plot. She can’t be depressed for no reason and end up happy in a way that doesn’t force external changes. Her depression at the beginning of Scene 2 must be the result of what happened in Scene 1, just as her happiness at the end of Scene 2 must set up consequences in Scene 3.

3. Theme on the Scene Level

Writing Your Story’s Theme (Amazon affiliate link)

Finally, we come to the ghost of our trifecta. Plot is the astronaut going to space, taking action, looking awesome, and getting things done. Character, meanwhile, is the astronomer, who both gleans understanding from the astronaut’s discoveries and uses that knowledge to help the astronaut achieve their goals.

Theme (to strain the metaphor a bit) is the secret agent. It works behind the scenes. Sometimes the powerful effect of the information it provides is clearly obvious. But sometimes it’s invisible in plain sight. To the naked eye, it seems like it’s in stealth mode most of the time.

But this simply ain’t true.

Theme is always there. Indeed, for a story to succeed in creating cohesion and resonance, theme must not only be present in every scene, it must be the guiding principle of every scene.

Ironically, theme is actually the easiest of the trifecta to implement on the scene level.

Why?

If you’ve already successfully intertwined plot and character to the point they’re crucially affecting each other in every scene—then you can be almost positive theme is already present as the glue holding them together.

Put in its simplest terms, theme in a story’s unifying idea. It should be present in the premise itself and then spread out to every other aspect of the storyform. If a story has no unifying idea, then it’s in trouble on the ground level before you ever get to plot and character, much less their execution on the scene level.

Theme on the scene level is rarely as obvious as plot and character. Unlike plot which is the scene and character which provides the necessary engine that moves the scene, theme is often entirely subtext. It is present by implication.

For example, let’s say your theme is Love Conquers All. The concept of “love,” or its many variations or opposites, will probably only be mentioned in a handful of scenes—or perhaps not at all. But it should be the unifying idea that guides you in choosing each scene’s pertinent action. Specifically, theme will reveal itself in the character’s inner change and actions. Theme is whatever idea is “proven” as the Truth, via the character’s changing relationship to the Lie He Believes.

In other words, even if the character doesn’t realize it, what he’s seeking in every scene is the theme. The ways in which each scene’s plot changes the character are direct advances toward or retreats from the story’s thematic Truth. If they are not, then you have to question whether that scene’s action and character development is actually contributing to the story’s overall cohesion and resonance.

The easiest way to double check this is to take a look at the “lesson” and “emotion” in the character section. Do they both relate in some way to the theme?

For example, if the theme is Love, the character’s “lesson” might be as ancillary as “I can’t achieve this specific goal without help,” while the “emotion” might be gratitude toward a friend who agrees to help or loneliness in the realization that he currently has no loyal friends.

Another actionable way to integrate theme onto the scene level is to look at ways to turn the character’s inner battle between Lie/Truth into an externalized moral or philosophical argument. If one of the obstacles in the external conflict is another character’s resistance to the protagonist’s belief in the way and the why of accomplishing the goal, then the plot itself becomes inherently thematic.

***

If you’ve already set up your story trifecta of plot, character, and theme on the macro level of your story, implementing it on the scene level becomes much easier. Optimally, it’s even instinctive, happening fluidly scene by scene as you pull together the pieces of the story into a seamless whole. Use this checklist to make sure every scene in your story is intertwining the most important aspects of your story.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! Are plot, character, and theme all present in your latest scene? Tell me in the comments!

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