The concluding segment on elements of scene.

Fiction Craft: Ending a Scene

By

Robert Ferrier
(rferrier2.cox.net)

How do you end a scene?
By hitting the protagonist with a disaster, blocking not only her scene goal, but shoving her further behind in her story quest.
Three Types of Scene-Ending "Disasters"
Following are three disastrous events in "answer" to the protagonist's scene goal:
1. "No." For example, during a night drop by parachute, the protagonist lands off target, failing to link with a collaborator. Use this type earlier in the story.

2. "Yes...However." Protagonist achieves the scene goal, but with strings attached. She hits the drop point, but she must help an injured child whose parents have been killed by the enemy. Her sense of right dictates she can't abandon the child.

3. "No, and Furthermore..." Not only does the protagonist miss the drop point, she is captured by enemy counter-intelligence forces. Use this type later in the story, when stakes are higher and you approach the denouement.

Variations of these types will occur to you. Use them, while weaving in one common thread: the event must complicate--or even block--the protagonist's path to the story quest. To achieve the scene goal robs your reader of the most important reason to turn pages: tension. We must worry the reader. Furthermore, scene disasters crank up pressure on the hero. Readers, as voyeurs, peek in on people coping with disaster. Increasing the pressure strips masks, revealing true character. We crave characters worthy of our respect, admiration and love.
Avoid Common Mistakes in Scene Endings

1. Don't fail to answer the scene question. "Well, we don't know if she hit the drop point, but she struggled with her equipment, brought anti-aircraft fire on the plane and worried the CO who planned the mission." Answer the scene question formed in the reader's mind.

2. Don't write a scene disaster which doesn't develop logically from the scene goal and resulting conflict. "She jumped from the plane and then got injured by the earthquake."

3. Don't fail to make the protagonist struggle. "She missed the drop point. Good thing the villagers were there to hide her!"

As Jack M. Bickham taught in his book, Scene and Structure: Write a true disaster--an unanticipated but logical development that answers the scene question, relates to the conflict presented and sets the character back from the story quest.
Thus, effective scene endings force the protagonist to struggle all the way to the story's climax.
Next month: an overview of the protagonist's reaction to a scene disaster--the sequel.
Copyright 2001 by Robert Ferrier.