![]() The turning point provides new information and a goal for the next scene.Īt the end of the scene, what is the state of your POV character’s value? Is it positive, negative, or both? Compare the charge at the beginning and the end. The effects of turning points, according to McKee, include: surprise, increased curiosity, insight, and new direction. This outcome is the turning point of the scene-the moment where your character’s value changes polarity. ![]() Engage in conflict (exchange escalating behavior beats).Encounter the opposition (who also has a goal and value of their own).Your characters begin the scene with two things: the current charge (+/-) of their core value at stake, and their immediate goal. His goal is to undergo a vasectomy (a procedure so intense you have to read it for yourself!), a small step in gaining that freedom back-or so he thinks. He’s between a rock and a hard place and needs to increase his freedom to gain some financial breathing room. Once you’ve highlighted the core issue, state the charge of that value at the start of the scene: positive or negative.įor example, with Tom Furst in THE SIXTH SEED, the value of freedom at the start of chapter 1 is negative. So how do you set this up? Polarity Must Change In this way, a scene creates change in a minor yet significant way. ![]() Your character asks, “ Why won’t you stop doing that? It’s hurting me.” The scene antagonist replies, “Because your best friend likes what I’m doing. The effect is to crack open the gap between expectation and result, turning his outer fortunes, inner life, or both from the positive to the negative or the negative to the positive in terms of values the audience understands are at risk. In this process of mounting action/reaction between your characters, their conflict produces a big reaction that your character failed to anticipate. The last beat must end with a turning point. Your character says, “Stop doing that.” The opposition says, “I won’t.” Beat by beat, this dance of behaviors escalates progressively. The process is built on beats, individual units of action and reaction. In a scene, your character goes after this scene goal by enduring conflict or opposition to make a decision or take a specific action. This scene goal must be sub-goal of his or her greater story objective. In each scene your character pursues an immediate, short-term desire. Tom’s goal is based on a desire to change the current state of his freedom. In chapter 1 of THE SIXTH SEED, my protagonist Tom Furst’s freedom is at stake, both personal and financial.Įxamine each of your scenes and identify what’s at stake for your character. Educational stories turn on interior values such as self-awareness/self-deception or life as meaningful/meaningless. What’s at stake? Love? Truth? Safety? Honor? Justice? Meaningfulness? Action genres turn on values such as freedom/slavery or justice/injustice. “No matter locations or length,” says McKee, “a scene is unified around desire, action, conflict, and change.”Ī scene begins with a problem or goal that’s based on some value at stake in your character’s life at the moment. And every scene must “turn.” What’s at Stake for Your Character?Ī scene is like a story in miniature: it has a beginning, middle, and end. Robert McKee in his seminal STORY recommends that every scene be a story event. What’s a Scene?Ī scene is a discrete story segment in which your characters engage in conflict and take significant actions that you portray memorably as if the events were happening in real time. And every scene must “turn.” Here’s some insight about the turning point, a crucial ingredient of every scene.
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