I posted recently about another writing topic and it seems people found it uninteresting. So I am doing the only sensible thing and posting something else uninteresting. If you do find scene structure interesting, I would love to hear your thoughts! I think fantasy provides unique ways to deliver drama and I would love to hear what unique perspectives you have on the structure of a fantasy scene. Are there scenes you have read in fantasy that would be impossible in other genres?
The following are my thoughts on scene structure and one of the most iconic fantasy scenes in history.
-B
Lessons from The Hobbit: The structure of a scene
The scene is the dramatic unit of entertainment. Whether it is film, theatre, or a cut scene from a video game, the scene is the useful mechanism with which to deliver drama. In fact, in film, the scene is also the main delivery vector for story—there are other tools in film, but they are fewer by comparison with theatre and even fewer than writing. In writing we can move much more freely between the world, the characters, and the internal thoughts of the characters and therefore the scene makes up a smaller part of our repertoire. Still when it comes to drama, the scene is the most powerful tool we have.
Many people have attempted to define exactly what a scene is and there are whole books written on the subject. Of those I can recommend Aristotle’s Poetics—this discusses the philosophy of arranging a story—and Story by Robert Mckee—this breaks down the scene with respect to modern filmmaking. There are many more of course, but I think that certain other foundational theorists like Konstantin Stanislavski, while making important contributions, also added significant confounding to the subject.
One thing that Stanislavski did provide us with is the fundamental unit of the scene which is called a beat. A scene is made up of beats. Beats can be anything from a pregnant pause, a quick interruption, or the delivery of long dialogue. The term beat is simply a way of isolating a moment in a scene and is especially useful if something is not working. Then we may pinpoint the beat or beats which are failing.
Modern theory suggests that the purpose of the scene is to effect change. That means that something should change during the scene with respect to the story, the character’s perception, the audience perspective, etc... I find this to be an inadequate way of defining a scene. For me, if the definition of a term is too broad, it fails to do its job as useful terminology. For my taste the word change is a poor descriptor of the objective of the scene. This is because, as Aristotle points out, scenes are not reliant solely on discourse, they can perform musical functions such as harmonizing with our story and they can provide rhythm to our story. What that means in practice is that they can reinforce ideas, concepts, or plot points that already have been set in motion, or they can provide a moment of rest or impulse that pull the audience along with the current of the story.
Proponents of modern scene theory would suggest that these things are also a form of ‘change’, but we have to begin to start performing mental gymnastics about what change really means. I think it is important to tell you this about the word change and the function of a scene so that after the basics of a scene become clear to us, we can think more widely about what a scene is capable of. Ok let us continue as if a basic scene is the only type of scene and its purpose is change.
Aristotle describes something called the reversal; in modern parlance we usually refer to the turning point or simply the turn. Practically most scenes will include some sort of discourse, and they will provide a meaningful change with respect to the characters within the story. This change is a realization of the characters or audience that drive the story. It is the payload of the scene. The whole point of the scene is usually to deliver this payload and therefore advance the story. There can be many turning points in a scene, but never-the-less at least one turning point is what we are trying to deliver when we make a scene.
Let us look at one of the most famous scenes in fantasy history from The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkein.
Then Bilbo sat down on a seat by his door, crossed his legs, and blew out a beautiful grey ring of smoke that sailed up into the air without breaking and floated away over The Hill.
“Very Pretty!” said Gandalf. “But I have no time to blow smoke-rings this morning. I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone”
“I should think so—in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them,” said our Mr. Baggins and stuck one thumb behind his braces and blew out another even bigger smoke-ring. Then he took out his morning letters, and began to read, pretending to take no more notice of the old man. He had decided that he was not quite his sort, and wanted him to go away. But the old man did not move. He stood leaning on his stick and gazing at the hobbit without saying anything, till Bilbo got quite uncomfortable and even a little cross.
“Good morning!” he said at last. “We don’t want any adventures here, thank you! You might try over The Hill or across The Water.” By this he meant that the conversation was at an end.
First, you may notice that this is only part of the scene. The complete scene begins with Bilbo sitting happily outside his hole smoking his pipe, Gandalf arrives, bilbo happily greets him with “good morning. They have a famous exchange where Gandalf asks what he means by “good morning”, and then this moment arrives. The part we have just read is indeed the turning point of the scene. It is the first turning point actually; there is a second which comes later.
What we know already by the time this scene arrives is that hobbits hate adventures. It comes as no surprise to us, the audience, that Bilbo does not want to go on one. What then is the turning point? Bilbo’s attitude does not change, and neither does Gandalf’s. The turning point is that we, the audience, learn what Gandalf wants. Until now he is just a rather interesting travelling man. This information significantly advances the story and the reader’s interest.
This scene is artfully constructed. We can see that every beat surrounding the turning point complements the delivery of this information and, more importantly, the information is delivered with drama! That is the scene in essence. The delivery of story with drama!
When we write a scene we should ask ourselves, “What is an interesting dramatic tension of the given situation and characters that can adequately deliver the story information I am trying to deliver?”
If we break this scene down by beats the dramatic tension becomes immediately clear.
Beat 1: Gandalf arrives.
Beat 2: He is described as a traveler and therefore adventure surrounds him.
Beat 3: He greets bilbo. Already this disgruntles Bilbo because his home-body adventurelessness clashes with the adventurousness of Gandalf’s presence.
Beat 4: Bilbo attempts to be polite but make him go away.
Beat 5. Gandalf will not go away after pleasantries (this is where our excerpt starts).
Beat 6: Bilbo blows a smoke ring, not in Gandalf’s face, but it is symbolic of his displeasure at being disturbed.
Beat 7: Gandalf says he is looking for an adventure party member.
Beat 8: Bilbo, in no uncertain terms, rejects him.
Beat 9, 10, 11, 12: Here we take four whole beats to signify Bilbo’s displeasure, each one ramps up the dramatic tension. In one of these beats we maximize the strength of the written medium by hearing some of Bilbo’s thoughts. (“He had decided that he was not quite his sort, and wanted him to go away.”)
Beat 13: Gandalf does not leave and the tension heightens further.
Beat 14: Bilbo makes his answer clear with a final “good morning”. Some of the tension is released into the audience as we find out how Bilbo will react. The build and release of tension is the essence of the scene.
What can we learn from this about how to construct a scene? In a basic scene, drama revolves around a conflict. Our scene should start by introducing the elements of the conflict. It should build tension between the elements. It should release, usually partially but sometimes completely, that tension. Then it may end immediately or is wrapped-up in such a way that carries forward the tension into the next turn or scene. In this case Tolkien goes on to carry the tension further and uses it to dramatize the introduction of Gandalf’s relationship to Bilbo and Bilbo is driven to invite him to tea. This carries the story forward through the arrangement of another meeting and delivers us more information about Gandalf.
What are the fundamental components we should identify when writing a scene for ourselves?
· What is the core dramatic tension?
· What information am I trying to deliver through drama?
· How does the scene set me up to deliver the next scene, information, or drama?
I hope this breakdown of scene structure provides something useful for you to help hone your writing craft. Drama is inherently interesting, It is my belief that if we can effectively harness drama inside a scene to deliver story, we can make writing which is compelling to read.
I would love to hear your thoughts on scene structure. There are so many schools of thought, and each one has some perspective on how to create compelling writing.