Concept

Disaster

You might say: setback

She fails to reach the goal, or wins and makes things worse. Security is in on it.

What it does

Keeps tension high. Ingermanson warns that simply granting the goal ends the tension.

Ask

How does this scene end worse than it began?

Trouble

Scenes end with the problem solved and nothing to pull the reader on.

What to look for

1. A win that makes things worse
2. A scene ending with a problem still pulling forward

Sources

1. Randy Ingermanson, “Writing The Perfect Scene”, Large-Scale Structure of a Scene; Motivation-Reaction UnitsA Scene has the following three-part pattern: Goal Conflict Disaster

Use it on your project

teardown-apply: hold "Disaster" (scene-disaster) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/fiction-writing/ against my project

Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.

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