Anatomy of an Action Scene

From ars ludi:

1. Premise — the situation before the PCs arrive
2. Enter the Heroes — how and why the PCs become involved
3. Revelations — pivotal things the PCs find out during the scene
4. Action — what happens during the scene
5. Action Shticks — optional sub-challenges that may come up
6. Finale — what concludes the scene – there may or may not be a climactic moment, depending on the scenario
7. Aftermath — any post-action wrap-up or consequences

Three-Stage Fights

I recently saw an article on making fight scenes more interesting.

Part of it was simply making the environment more interesting.Is the fight in a warehouse? Don't just have an empty concrete floor; add a forklight, tall racks with heavy stuff, fire extinguishers, oil drums, a vat of cleaning fluid, and so forth. Stuff which can move, conceal, channel or slow movement, explode; or stuff which needs to be protected.

Part of it was the "Three Phase Fight"--phase two and three can switch:

• fighting against mooks
• reinforcements for the mooks--either more mooks, or better mooks, or a boss
• the twist--the curtains catch on fire, the balcony collapses, lava starts pouring out, the ship starts pulling away from the dock, something happens to change things.

Basic Questions

It's easy to say "I have a cool idea for a story" when what you mean is "I have a cool idea for a setting" or "a character" or "a situation".  Just the "imagine if you saw an elf hitchhiking" or "imagine if the elves are the same as vampires" or "what would happen if the Byzantines discovered the New World" is not a story idea, it's merely the germ for a story idea. You need:

• whose story are you going to tell? Pick the most interesting character, otherwise you'll get the "Johnny Depp isn't the leading man" syndrome where no one remembers the leading man. Or, if you need to do a lot of exposition, pick someone young, or new to the area, so we can learn as he does. 
• what does he desperately want? This will be something like "true love" or "father's respect" or some other strategic goal. Ideally he should have two goals, because then you should make them come into conflict. "I want to make a lot of money and have my family be happy" leads to "do you spend more time at the office or at home?" dilemmas.
• what does he have to do to get it? He often does not know this at the beginning of the story.
• What are the obstacles, costs and consequences of doing what he has to do?

Antagonist

The Devil doesn't prevent you from getting what you want; instead, he corrupts your goal so it turns out uglier than you wanted, or he puts a price on it.

For example: Want to overthrow the oppressive government?
Price: You can assassinate the dictator, but it's a suicide mission, and your best friend, or your wife, is the one who'll have to do it. And you'll have to give the order.
Corrupted: You overthrow the Tsar but the Communists take over the Revolution and now you have an even more oppressive dictatorship, which you are responsible for.

Plot Layers

There's more than one plot going on at a time.

• Objective: what's happening as seen from the outside 
• Main character: what's happening from his point of view 
• Subjective: the main character's growth and self-discovery 

For example, in Star Wars:

• Objective plot: the Rebel Alliance retrieves the Death Star specs, loses Alderaan but blows up the Death Star 
• Main character: Luke starts as a farm boy and becomes a Rebel fighter pilot and hero 
• Subjective: Luke learns about the Force and embraces his heritage as a Jedi. 

The climax of Star Wars works in all three plots: “blow up Death Star” AND “become Rebel hero” AND “Turn off the targeting computer; use the Force, Luke”

What is Interesting About It?

When you have a cool story idea, you should stop and figure out "what makes it cool?"

Let's say your story is "Byzantines land in the New World"--what makes that cool? Partly it's the sense of wonder from discovering a new world--the new cultures, the new landscapes, the mysterious ruins, the dinosaurs. But why the Byzantines? Because you want to emphasize, not brute force, but cleverness, subtlety, making allies of the natives (which the Spanish did, but most people don't know that).

Let's say the story is about a modern man who can see the Hidden World. In that case, make sure there's plenty of Hidden World stuff to see.

A spy in the Napoleonic era? Pump up the James Bond-ness and the history.

Shaman

The shamans wore elaborate costumes of paint and feathers and shells, but this was just an old man. His skin was leather. His right eye was dark and piercing, his left eye was empty, and from the ruined socket a wisp of smoke trailed upward.  He wore nothing but a cord around his waist and rings of blue mud and white mud daubed on his left arm. He carried a flint-headed spear.

Plotting Tools

Snippets from Million Dollar Outlines:

• Timebomb: a time limit that seems realistic, puts extreme stress on the character, and has devastating consequences for failure.
• Dilemma: the character must choose between two (or more) unpleasant options, and deal with the consequences of his choice.  The choice usually happens early in the story to allow time for the consequences. 
• Crucible: a setting, condition, or relationship which forces characters to stay together despite rising tension between them. The setting might be that they're snowbound in a wilderness cabin, or on a small vessel between ports; a relationship might be with family members, co-religionists, or fellow soldiers; a condition might be that they both have the same disease, or are being hunted by the same mafia or detective. It may not be impossible to leave, but the cost will be high.
• Reversal: one character is winning, when suddenly his opponent snatches victory from defeat. Early in the story, a reversal usually goes against the protagonist, making it harder for him to win next time.  However, it could go against the villain, who had the hero on the ropes, only to be thwarted by a lucky shot; he withdraws, vowing to come back and crush the hero next time. At the end of the story, the hero often accomplishes a reversal to finally overthrow the bad guy.
• Revelations: an explanation for why a character feels and behaves the way he does.. The character may make the explanation himself, or another character may tell it, or it may be something deduced. 

How to Tell if a Character is Important

Taken from Million Dollar Outline:

• Viewpoint for the narrative
• Named
• Powerful enough to change the outcome of the story
• Shown as suffering extreme pain, especially emotional pain
• Extremely likable
• Shown as struggling to do the right thing

Essence vs Identity

Million Dollar Outlines quotes Michael Hauge as saying "he has never seen a movie or read a book that worked where "the question of the protagonist's identity" doesn't com up. In short, questions like 'Who am I?', 'What am I?', and 'Why am I this way?' are at the core of every great work."
From another source, I heard this note from a Hauge seminar: In the beginning of most successful films, you see the protagonist in his everyday Identity, just fitting in, going about their regular life. Wesley (Princess Bride) is a farm boy; Korben Dallas (Fifth Element is a cab driver; Thomas Anderson (Matrix) is a programmer; James Edwards (Men in Black) is a cop. And then something happens--they meet someone, or learn something, which speaks to his Essence. At that point, the protagonist has to make a decision: is he going to hide within his Identity, or show his Essence? The Identity is safe, but unfulfilled; the Essence is unsafe, but fulfilled.
What conflicts arise because the protagonist, or other characters, doubt him, and what must he do to prove he is worthy to hold the role he must take?