Basics of Scene Writing
A scene is not an expression. It’s a purposely designed unit of narrative
If Your Scenes Don’t Work, Nothing Works
A novel isn’t a stack of chapters. It’s a sequence of tensions—each one designed. If your scenes don’t work, your story doesn’t either.
And yet, most writing advice treats scenes like decorative little mood vignettes. Or worse—emotional temperature checks. But if your scene doesn’t have a POV character actively wanting something, running into something that resists, and ending in a way that escalates tension, you don’t have a scene. You have filler. Or what workshop culture likes to call “atmosphere.”
This essay is about the opposite of that. It’s about how scenes actually work—structurally, emotionally, narratively. Design, not vibes. Function, not feeling.
What a Scene Actually Is
A scene is not a time block. It’s not a location. It’s not two characters talking about their feelings. It’s a unit of narrative tension—a stretch of story where:
A specific character wants something
Something meaningful resists
The outcome changes the balance of the story
Everything else is description, backstory, or summary.
The Four Design Elements of a Scene
Every valid scene must have these four components. If even one is missing, the structure collapses.
1. POV Character: Who’s Most Exposed?
The scene must be anchored in the point of view of the character with the highest emotional stakes. Not the one who happens to be standing there. Not the one you feel like “exploring.”
The correct POV character is the one who will suffer the most if the scene goes badly.
If you choose someone who’s just watching or withholding emotion for five pages, you’re not creating tension—you’re obscuring it.
2. POV Goal: What Do They Want, Right Now?
A scene doesn’t start until the character wants something active, specific, and significant. That goal must be immediately visible to the reader—not just to you.
Bad goals sound like this:
“She wanted clarity.”
“He hoped things would work out.”
“They were thinking about their childhood.”
None of that is a goal. Those are vibes. Real scene goals are actionable:
“She wanted her sister to admit the affair.”
“He wanted to steal the hard drive before the cops arrived.”
“They needed the hospital to hand over the body.”
If your character isn’t trying to do something, you’re not in a scene. You’re in a stall.
3. Obstacle: What’s In the Way?
If nothing resists the goal, you don’t have conflict. You have a diary entry.
Obstacles can come in different forms:
Character vs. Character – Someone actively blocks them
Character vs. Self – They sabotage their own pursuit
Character vs. Environment – The world resists through time, institutions, or physical limits
The obstacle must matter. It must genuinely resist. If the POV character could just shrug and try again later, the obstacle is fake.
If the tension doesn’t live on both sides of the interaction, you’re faking drama with clever sentences.
4. Escalation: How Does It Get Worse?
This is where most scenes break—and where your reader checks out. Every scene must change the narrative tension. That doesn’t mean something explodes. It means something shifts irreversibly.
There are six escalation types. These aren’t formulas. They’re outcomes you can design into a scene. If your scene ends and everything’s exactly where it started, you haven’t escalated—you’ve stalled.
The Six Escalation Types
YES!
The POV character succeeds. Use this rarely—and only if the success destabilizes something else.
YES! is a false plateau. It’s not a win. It’s a setup.
NO!
Total failure. The goal is shut down. No workaround. No ambiguity.
NO! is a wall. It ends a line of pursuit.
YES! BUT!
Success—immediately complicated. They get what they want, but something breaks, shifts, or turns.
YES! BUT! creates drag. The story moves, but the cost is friction.
NO! BUT!
They fail, but something unexpected opens—a new angle, a broader question, a shift in perspective.
NO! BUT! reframes. It expands what the story is now about.
NO! AND FURTHERMORE!
They fail—and the failure makes everything worse. The character ends the scene with less than they started.
NO! AND FURTHERMORE! is where rupture begins.
YES! BUT! AND FURTHERMORE!
Success, complication, backlash. These scenes do the most narrative work. One beat is loud. One is quiet. One waits to spring the next obstacle.
YES! BUT! AND FURTHERMORE! tests identity. It gives them what they want—and makes them face what it cost.
Scene Diagnostic: What’s Breaking?
When your scene isn’t working, don’t rewrite the prose. Diagnose the structure.
POV Problem – You’re in the wrong head. Stakes are too low.
Goal Problem – The character isn’t doing anything. No pursuit means no tension.
Obstacle Problem – The conflict is ornamental. There’s no genuine resistance.
Escalation Problem – Nothing shifts. You’re summarizing instead of storytelling.
Most broken scenes fail quietly. The character wants something soft. The conflict is symbolic. The outcome changes nothing. You don’t need a new metaphor. You need a new goal.
If the character doesn’t want something, they can’t lose anything. If they can’t lose anything, there’s no tension. And without tension, there’s no story—just typing.
Case Study: Raiders of the Lost Ark – YES! BUT!
POV – Indiana Jones
Goal – Retrieve the golden idol
Obstacle – Booby traps, collapsing architecture, hostile terrain
Escalation – YES! BUT!. Yes, Indiana Jones gets the idol, but triggers the collapse of the temple. The entire structure becomes unstable, and he’s chased out by a boulder.
This is success with immediate consequence. The story moves forward, but the tension deepens.
Case Study: The Godfather – NO! AND FURTHERMORE!
POV – Michael Corleone
Goal – Stay out of the family crime business
Obstacle – Sollozzo and McCluskey, who threaten his father
Escalation – NO! AND FURTHERMORE!. No, Michael doesn’t stay out of the family crime business and furthermore he kills two men and has to flee as a criminal fugative to Sicily. His identity shifts permanently.
This is rupture. A man who wanted out is now in forever.
Case Study: Breaking Bad – YES! BUT! AND FURTHERMORE!
Scene – Season 1, “Crazy Handful of Nothin’”
POV – Walter White
Goal – Establish dominance over Tuco to secure drug distribution
Obstacle – Tuco is violent, unpredictable, and doesn’t take Walt seriously
Escalation – YES! BUT! AND FURTHERMORE! Yes, Walt succeeds. He blows up Tuco’s office with fulminated mercury and secures the deal. But it doesn’t just solve a problem. It rewires who he is. This is the first time we see his alter-ego Heisenberg fully formed. The success gets him what he wanted—and permanently alters the stakes of who he’s becoming.
This isn’t a beat. It’s a transformation inside an escalation. One beat is loud. One is quiet. One waits to spring the next obstacle.
Summary
A scene is not an expression. It’s a purposely designed unit of narrative tension.
A POV character with emotional exposure
A goal they are actively pursuing
An obstacle that resists them
An escalation that destabilizes the situation
Design these. Tune them. If you can’t name what your scene is doing at each level, it probably isn’t doing anything. And if you don’t design the tension, the reader won’t feel it.
Scene design is not a technique. It’s the work.
Want to sharpen your scenes even further?
Download the Scene Development Guide for a clear breakdown of escalation types, POV selection, structural diagnostics, and real examples—so you can stop guessing and start designing scenes that actually work.
