Story 1: Drama + Scenes
The concept of ‘story’ is something that we’re all familiar with, yet it’s one of the most elusive concepts to try to tackle or describe objectively. We know a story when we watch one, read one, or hear one, but what actually makes it a story?
Let’s start by trying to break a story down into its simplest little bits. (Keep in mind, too, that we’re predominantly talking about story as it relates to motion pictures, but, for the most part, story is story.)
The Tangible
Location
We need a place for our story to exist in. Of course some stories can take you all over the world, but we still need to have some definition as to where we are at any given point in the story. Even if you were to write an artsy little piece where your story is set in some purgatorial void called ‘nowhere’, that’s ironically a pretty damn specific and heavy place, don’t you think?
Location might not *mean* anything more than where the writer lives in the present day, which is common and okay; it’s why about half of the movies and shows we see are set in Los Angeles, and the other half in New York. (Not all writers are imaginative or traveled, and it’s usually a good idea to write what you know.)
Location can, however, carry a lot more meaning to the context of the overall story. More on that elsewhere.
Time
Likewise, we need to decide when our story is set. This can mean time of day, month of the year, year, time period, and everything in between.
Much of the above about location can be applied directly to time as well. Many writers just write in the present day, and time of day only matters so far as what the characters are doing. This is fine, but also realize that, as a writer, you have total control over your story (although production constraints and whatnot are totally valid reasons why you would just set your story in the present day).
Setting your story in the past makes it what people refer to as a ‘period piece’, meaning the story takes place during a different period of time. This allows your story to potentially take on a different meaning while it exists in a different cultural context. You can even take this opportunity to rewrite history, which Quentin Tarantino so gleefully did in Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019).
Location and time together make up our story’s setting.
Character(s)
Now that we have our setting, we need to populate our story with characters... or at least one anyways.
There’s a lot that goes into making characters, especially as it relates to the overall story and the other characters. The most basic aspect of character, though, is that stories, with few exceptions, have a main character. The main character is referred to as the protagonist.
Most stories also feature at least one character that is referred to as the antagonist, who operates opposite of your protagonist. More on that below.
The Intangible
All of the above are things that we can see on screen, or at least easily understand or deduce. But what about the more abstract aspects of story? There’s a lot happening to make a story work that goes beyond the semi-tangible pieces listed above.
Plot
As David Trottier writes in The Screenwriter’s Bible, “stories are about characters with problems”. Any given story is focused on the protagonist’s problems above all others. Among them, there’s usually one big problem. Solving this one big problem is the protagonist’s primary goal. Plot is the protagonist’s pursuit of their goal, including all the steps toward and away from that goal.
There’s so much more to unpack as it relates to plot, but that’s the gist.
Theme
Theme is another word that carries a lot of baggage. It can be used to mean something seen or heard repeatedly, but this is a pretty superficial use of the term. The more relevant use of the term refers to the underlying meaning or message of a story. Basically, what is the writer, and by extension the story, trying to say?
Creating Drama
Story is about drama. Without drama, we are just following along as things happen. This feels too much like life, so we as writers need to strive to control the drama in a sophisticated way.
What is drama?
The concept of drama is a bit hard to pin down to a simple definition, but I think of it like a controlled cause-and-effect process that’s directly related to our chosen set of characters and their goals.
In other words, we define our character(s), their goal(s), and the drama is their pursuit of that goal.
Story Problems
So, in many ways, a story is simply a character’s pursuit of their goal. This sounds easy, right? But what about this:
Brad is hungry, so he eats a bowl of ramen.
Is this a story? We have a character, Brad; an understood goal, to eat; and the achievement of that goal, he eats. So it’s a story, right? Well, technically yes, but it sucks. But why does it suck? Because, as is, there’s no conflict.
What creates conflict?
Your character needs something. This is their goal. The goal could be something like collecting eight different melodies from different regions of the world, slaying an evil dragon, or getting to the movies on time. The conflict arises when things get in the way of your character achieving their goal.
Those things in the way? That could be another character who has the same goal, or just wants to keep the other person from achieving the thing they are trying to achieve. That could be a sudden downpour that ruins your character’s outfit, or wind that blows their important document away. That could be just really bad luck, such as a jet engine falling through their bedroom ceiling. That could be internal turmoil within the character, which eats away at them (self-doubt, anxiety, etc.). All of these things act as forces of antagonism, meaning they negatively affect the protagonist’s pursuit of their goal in some way. If the force of antagonism is a person of sorts, then they might simply be known as an antagonist.
How do we use this information when creating narratives? Give your characters goals to strive towards, and then put points of conflict in the way. Generally speaking, that is the gist of every (good) story.
What are the kinds of conflict?
While you can think of any number of things to get between your character and their goal, your conflict will almost certainly fall into one of these categories:
Man vs Man
Conflict between characters
Man vs Nature
Conflict between a character and natural forces; rain, wind, etc.
Man vs Fate or the Supernatural
Conflict between a character and happenstance, chance, or some personification of it (the gods, etc.)
Man vs Society
Conflict between characters and the status quo
Man vs Machine
Conflict between characters and technology
Man vs Self
Conflict within a character, usually due to morals or ethics
Making Things Happen
So now we know we *just* need to define our characters, their goal, and add a good heaping of conflict to create the perfect drama… Right? Well, sure, but we still have to write the actual story, which means it needs to be delivered and/or played out in some way. As it relates to motion pictures and screenwriting, the story plays out in scenes.
Scene-Writing
‘Scene’ is yet another word with a few different meanings, but at least the various meanings are fairly related. At its most simple meaning, a ‘scene’ is a particular place at a certain point in time. In the greater idea of motion pictures and screenwriting, a ‘scene’ is where our drama physically unfolds, and, more greatly, the actions that take place there within a continuous sequence. I say physically because you have to always remember to stick to what can be seen and heard by the viewer. Any kind of internal thoughts, feelings, and emotions must be said through dialogue or acted out in a way for the viewer to understand.
Objectively defining when a scene starts and ends can sometimes be difficult. Most of the time, it’s obvious when a scene ends because we change locations and jump forward through some time, to the next location and time that most directly affects the plot, characters, or themes. Sometimes, though, a narrative will stay in the same location, but change time. Is it the same scene? Maybe. It depends on how far we’ve jumped in time, and, more importantly, whether the tone and action of this stretch of the narrative continue from before.
Screenwriting is really scene-writing.
What should happen in a scene?
I was once taught, and have read so many times since, that a scene needs to advance the plot of the story. That’s narrow-minded thinking, however, because there’s so much more that a scene can and should do.
In short, a scene should advance plot, character, and/or theme. A scene can advance plot by taking the protagonist one step closer or further away from their goal, or sets up some upcoming conflict related to the goal. A scene can advance character by expanding the viewer’s understanding of a character by showing us some aspect that we haven’t seen before, or showing us a way in which they’ve been changed by the story so far. A scene can advance theme through dialogue and actions that aren’t directly related to the plot, but speak to the larger ideas and messages of the story.
If you don’t think your scene advances plot, character, or theme, you should think about what purpose that scene is really serving in your story. I’d bet that if you’re really attached to a scene, it probably advances at least one of the three, and you just haven’t realized how.
Speaking of which, a scene doesn’t have to advance just plot, character, *or* theme, but can advance two or even all three. That being said, it’s rather difficult to write so efficiently.
It’s also good practice to work some level of conflict into as many scenes as you can. It’s important to note, though, that conflict doesn’t always have to be massive in scale. Something as small and simple as a hesitation, second guess, or a bit of bad luck is enough conflict to keep your audience interested.
Are there scenes in TV and film that *don’t* advance plot, character, or theme?
Of course! Most of the time, however, these scenes purely act as set-ups or punchlines to cheap jokes. You can see this in any episode of Family Guy.
I’ll be honest, however, and say that this isn’t good writing (sorry, Seth). A good comedy writer would know how to weave that joke into a scene that advances plot, character, or theme. The Simpsons and South Park have been so successful for so long because their comedy is very smartly written into the plots, characters, and themes of each episode.
Drama + Scenes
We’ve established that story is really about drama, which itself is simply controlling your character’s pursuit of their goal. That drama is played out in scenes, which should advance the plots, characters, and/or themes of your story. Like everything in life, it’s never quite so simple, but these foundations should help you to analyze and approach stories differently. The next ‘story’ installment is a deeper dive into plot.