The Anatomy of Story (56 page)

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xercise 8

■ Scene List
List every scene in your story. Try to describe the scene in one sentence.

■ Twenty-two-Step Tags
Tag any scene that includes one of the

twenty-two structure steps. If your story has more than one plotline or subsection, label each scene with the appropriate plotline.
■ Ordering Scenes
Study the order of scenes. Make sure the scene sequence builds by structure, not chronology.

1. See if you can cut scenes.

2. Look for opportunities to combine two scenes into one.

3. Add a scene wherever there are gaps in the story's development.

Because scene weave can best be understood by practicing it, I'd like to change our usual pattern of ending the chapter with a single example and look at the scene weaves of a number of stories. Of course, each scene weave is unique to that story and its requirements. But as you look at each example, notice how the different genres present various scene weave challenges that the writers must solve.

DETECTIVE OR CRIME SCENE WEAVE
L.A. Confidential

(novel by James Ellroy, screenplay by Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson, 1997)

L.A. Confidential
has one of the best and most advanced scene weaves in recent years. It is shaped like a huge funnel, starting with three cop heroes in the corrupt world of the Los Angeles Police Department. Over the course of the story, the writers weave these three distinct lines into one. They keep the narrative drive moving forward by making the heroes opponents to each other as they all seek the killer at the end of the funnel.

This setup lets the writers compare, through crosscutting, the three-heroes and their different approaches to crime solving and justice. It also allows them to create a dense set of reveals as the funnel tightens down to a single point.

In the following scene weave, Bud White is Hero I, Jack Vincennes is Hero 2, Ed Exley is Hero 3, and Captain Smith is the main opponent, though he appears to be an ally.