In screenwriting we learn a lot about creating meaning in everything we write. If a producer is going to put several thousand dollars into every scene—you better bet they need to know that every scene is absolutely necessary. I find the same process we go through for writing with intention, or meaning, is useful in novel writing too because endless chapters that make me question their purpose is going to lose me as a reader. So today I’m going to go over the anatomy of a scene so that we can make sure that every one you write is written with intention, and adds to the work as a whole.
Firstly, scenes all fall under one of these main functions:
- To move the plot forward
- To develop characters (backstory, objective, desires, characteristics, relationships)
- To reveal something unknown about the world or past
In screenwriting this is all done through dialogue because film is a visual/audio medium, but in novel writing we have a lot more freedom. There are a number of ways you can convey these functions in a scene, whether through conflict, inner dialogue, action, etc. However, you still have to fulfill at least one (but better if more) of these functions in every scene.
Now that you know why the scene is there, we need to be able to actually write it.
The first thing you need to know is that every character wants something. They want something overall throughout the story—they also want something smaller within scenes that may aid them in getting to that ‘overall’.
As an example, Jenny wants to win the science fair contest, this is her goal throughout the story. In a scene where she runs into one of the judges, she might want to make a good impression, or even make another contestant look bad. This is what she wants/her goal in that specific scene, and so that ‘want’ drives that scene. This scene would probably function as characterization, and maybe—depending on if she succeeds in her goal or not—would move the plot forward.
In this specific example, Jenny is interacting with someone else, so likely you’ll be using dialogue and conflict to structure this scene. That’s where subtext comes in, dramatic writing’s best friend. We will talk in greater lengths about subtext in the future, but for now what you need to know is that characters never say what they mean.
So, Jenny would never go up to the judge and say, “I really want to win the contest so I’m going to make a good impression on you, oh and also that other person entering really sucks.” Yeah, it sounds clunky and ingenuine. However, if you know that’s what she wants out of the conversation, it’s going to make writing the scene a lot easier.
So with that in mind, maybe Jenny goes up to the judge and says something around the lines of, “I really respect your dedication to science.”
Here’s the last point I’ll make about dialogue and character intention, it’s something we do in directing. To make sure you keep on point with your subtext, it might be useful to write what the character is doing to get what they want.
In this case, Jenny is trying ‘to flatter’ in order to make the judge like her, and hopefully win her some points in the contest at the end. Characters say things to get something from the other character. For example: To convince, To praise, To reprimand, To prove wrong, To impress, To comfort, etc.
Every line of dialogue has an intention behind it. In real life, people say things all the time without really meaning anything of it, (or most the time: to make conversation), but in writing, especially screenwriting, characters never just say things. They always have intention, they’re always trying to get something. That’s what drives your scenes.
So to recap. Scenes have functions within the whole that contribute to the outline, (characterization, plot, worldbuilding), characters go into every scene with something they want (goal), and we know what they want through the subtext of what they’re saying (to: blank etc.)
With all these things working together we can create a very intentional scene—then another, then another, until you reach the end.
This is a pretty large topic and there’s still so much more about dialogue and subtext to get into, but for now that’s the very basics of writing with intention you’d need to know to get started. Good luck!
