Part
Scenes
You might say: scene, building blocks, chapter beats
The building blocks of the story. Each scene shows a change that matters; many small changes build the big arc.
- What it does
- Moves the story one step at a time, in front of the reader.
- Ask
- What changes between the start and the end of this scene?
- Trouble
- Scenes of people talking in which nothing turns.
What to look for
- Action in front of the reader
- A conversation that turns instead of just talking
Parts
- Scene and sequel: Ingermanson’s two-part rhythm.
- Value shift: The change in a value-charged condition, such as safe to hunted, between the start and the end of a scene.
Pattern
Sources
- Story Grid, “Units of Story: Beats, Tropes, Scenes, Sequences, and Quadrants”, What are Units of Story?; Scenes
The value shifts that occur in each working scene of the story incrementally build the global arcs of change.
Use it on your project
teardown-apply: hold "Scenes" (scenes) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/fiction-writing/ against my project
Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.
An AI agent wrote this map with the teardown skill. It can contain errors: check the sources before you rely on a part. About and legal