Up: scene

Scenes are mini-stories:¹¹1 Randall Ingermanson and Peter Economy, Writing Fiction For Dummies (Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2010). 

Each scene is a mini-story, with a beginning, middle, and end of its own. At the end of each scene, at least one of the characters must have gone through some sort of change.

Ingermanson defines two types of scenes: goal-oriented and reaction-oriented. A goal-oriented scene has the following consecutive elements:

1. goal (clear and specific)
2. conflict (obstacles)
3. setback/disaster

On the other hand, a reaction scene has the following consecutive elements:

1. reaction (emotional response to disaster)
2. dilemma (no good options, reason through them)
3. decision

Ingermanson also states that goals (in goal-oriented scenes) and decisions (in reaction scenes) should be simple, objective, worthwhile, achievable, and difficult.

Weiland²²2 K. M. Weiland, Structuring your novel: essential keys for writing an outstanding story (Scottsbluff, Neb: PenForASword Publishing, 2013).  calls goal-oriented scenes just “Scenes” (with uppercase S) and reaction scenes “Sequels” (also with uppercase S),³³3 This likely comes from Dwight Swain’s book.  but uses the same three consecutive elements as Ingermanson.