How to Plan and Write a Scene: 3 Step Process

There are 3 simple decisions you need to make before writing your scenes that will level up your writing every single time.

My name is Tim Grahl, I'm the CEO of Story Grid and I'm the author _The Threshing_, _Running Down a Dream_, and _Your First 1000 Copies_. My partner Shawn Coyne is the creator and founder of Story Grid and he's a writer and editor with over 30 years of experience.

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[theimaginarium]

Used Story Grid techniques, got a publishing deal with a mid-size indy publisher. Thanks for this content, it is truly the finest available.

[tomlewis]

Wanting X without having to do Y is honestly something I've never considered consciously (yet I likely consider it unconsciously or automatically) when writing a scene, but this adds clarity to how the protagonist gets from the inciting incident to the turning point. I've had columns in my Story Grid spreadsheets for inciting incidents and turning points all along, but I may have been ignoring how those two things connect. (So my personal turning point is that I guess I have a lot of spreadsheet work facing me!)

People naturally do not want to change. We resist change as much as we possibly can. The status quo is comfortable, and change is a little scary and maybe even a little annoying.

So what we have here is an example of 'the refusal of the call to adventure'. It's not just Luke Skywalker wanting to stay on his grandparents farm, apparently this happens on a micro scale in every scene (although sometimes the change is very welcome or sometimes the change is significant enough to where an immediate decision must be made). Sometimes it takes progressive complications to push the protagonist to the turning point. But they typically do not want to have to get to a turning point, which is probably pretty universal in human nature.

The way I define the turning point is the protagonist having a realization that they're going to have to do something to cope with the change that came from the inciting incident, whether they want to or not.

But this helps a lot. As always, thanks for the insight.

[a.allynharker]

You are so damned good at explaining all of this, keeping it fresh, saying it all like you've never said it before so we can hear it anew. Thank you for these videos. I went to freaking grad school! I TAUGHT creative writing. I READ 'The Story Grid' But you say it...and I GET it. Thanks.

[jeyhey]

Great advice, I haven‘t thought of the „without doing Y“ part.

[toritoot]

This is a great summary of the 5 commandments of storytelling with clear pointers on how to figure them out in any given scene. Really helpful video 👍

[himayathkhan]

I’m still watching this video but want to say- I love your t-shirt, brother. ❤

[zack_feldman]

Thanks! As usual, quick and to the point, easy to understand. Hope all is well in your life!

[himayathkhan]

This video is helpful and has critical guidance for every writer. It's explained clearly as well. Thank you.

[mcrumph]

I am confused. Are you saying that each scene should follow this paradigm? It seems that would become a very repetitious story. I had a scene where my protagonist had just gotten up in the morning, and as he sliced the loaf of bread for breakfast, he pondered about his actions: the slice was sliced so it was no longer a part of the loaf, wasn't it? (this is paraphrased, of course, for brevity). All he wanted was some toast & tea for breakfast, nothing was standing in his way; rather, it was so he could think about something being removed from the whole. It wasn't a whole loaf of bread, but still a loaf, the slice was no longer part of the loaf, but was still bread. All I wanted to do with the scene was to set up this leitmotif, which would then be echoed throughout the story, until it manifested itself in his own relationship with community, society, & even humanity.

It seems like this pattern would only benefit a specific type of writing, or genre. Are there variations on this theme that you will address later? I have to admit, I am more focused on writing the best sentence I can. I don't really think in scenes.

[Makarios]

How does the Object of Desire in each scene relate to the overall “want” of the protagonist?

[berrotutorials]

The beginning of my story don't have scenes like this until the Inciting incident of the story begins. I started a setting, showing what my protagonist desire, but the protagonist is doing nothing to achieve the desire (since she thinks that it is unreachable in the first place) so she is not acting upon what she wants until the first Inciting incident.
I also can't start the book with the Inciting incident because it will lack context that are very important to know why the protagonist has that specific desire.
If you respond it will be very helpful and appreciated.

[SL]

Aww... I thought you would show us a before and after of the scene she wrote.

[paulhriir]

I'm not sure if my view in this is flawed or not but I never really saw the benefit in random scene-by-scene practicing. First of all I'm a subscriber in this channel for a reason; I've really liked your guys' stuff and the way you present information, but this one thing never sat right with me.

The way I see it, forcing yourself to come up with a random scene out of thin air that does not contribute to any larger context, is inefficient and makes a negative result much more common than necessary. I get the mindset of "If you can't write a scene, you definitely can't write a book, " but in this situation, if you are to write a scene, why not do it as part of a book? This way you'll have a much easier time knowing who is the main character and also have other things figured out -plot-wise-, PLUS the scene will be contributing to something bigger. It's gonna be both practicing AND working on your personal craft at once, no?

Knowing what your story is and trying to write the scenes within it, should be the way to practice. Why not?

It's just that I noticed many writing advice is said like it assumes you don't even write a book. Things like "know who your main character is" or the advice like "Don't say 'walked' but say 'crawled'" which also assumes there's no prior context to your scene. Because if there is, this advice doesn't do anything, right? Because whether you'll say walked or ran or sprinted is always dependent on the context of the scene.

I also feel like this promotes filler writing, if that makes sense. The inciting incident you provided as an example later in the video about wanting to drink coffee without leaving home, feels like it would be a mumbling part of a book, would it not? Shouldn't scenes like this NOT be expected to be expanded upon? Shouldn't they just be used as connecting chains to the actual plot of the story?

[GoodWoman]

My personal editorial comment: your ideas are excellent. Your personal word choice…..not so much. I am NOT suggesting you reach for specialist language, college entrance exam vocabulary lists or even, most especially, nothing arbitrarily dictated by the political hot button of the moment……but have you ever heard proper British insults or swearing? It is an art form in itself. So…. Solid program and I challenge you to ban the very few, endlessly, boringly, overused American profanities from your broadcasts, writing(unless truly absolutely character necessary… but really? 😉) and even your life. Try it, you might like it. Believe it or not I never even heard the F word until it was in music…yes, I am a certain age but I was in public schools and on college campuses and travelled. Now I know people who can barely complete a thought without it. I see it as a challenge all writers can engage if we choose to…. We can play to the best of our audiences and hope to expand their minds.