Scene cards

I finished reading J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon’s Three Story Method recently and though the book felt lighter on useful tips than others I’ve read, however, I did walk away with several tactics which I intend to use regularly.¹

One of these tactics is the Scene Card - a lightweight exercise to do before writing a scene. My understanding is you’re actually supposed to do this before you write any scenes, but even if you’re doing this on demand (as I did), they can be quite useful.

What’s involved? At the highest level, a Scene Card is a brief for what’s about to happen. The cool part is that it’s not just a summary of what happens. It’s more than the “plot” and that’s where the magic is.

In addition to the short one to three sentence summary of the scene, you’re also answering questions about conflict, choice and consequence as well as desires, needs, and expected shifts (for characters as well as your audience).

Writing a single scene card can take as little as a few minutes and will only be ~100 words in total. This 100 words, however, can be turned into 1,000 to 2,000 words quickly and easily because of the planning done with the scene card. Or that was my experience at least where I spent the first 10 minutes of my writing session thinking through the card and then 30 minutes writing the next 1,000 words (and, in true Hemingway fashion, I stopped knowing where I’ll need to start again).

I’m using a Hemingwrite to write my first draft and Scrivener to manage the whole story. To make this work then, I’m putting these Scene Cards into the synopsis section.

I also remember listening Larry Correia on his podcast with Steve Diamond (Writer’s Dojo) talk about how he never numbers his scenes because he’ll move them around afterwards. That makes a lot of sense to me and fits with my goal of writing my sh*tty first draft as fast as I can so that I can make it better. I mention this because while I include Scene and Chapter number below, I’m excluding those in my use.

I’ve included two templates of Scene Cards below (I’m mostly using the Micro version right now), but I’m interested in hearing about your experience: Have you used a Scene Card? What’s your experience been? What would you change? Why do you like it? What don’t you like about them?

Scene Card – Template

Scene ID

- Scene #:
- Chapter #:
- POV Character:
- Date/Time:
- Location:

 1. Short Summary (1–3 sentences)What happens in this scene?
2. ConflictWhat is the central problem, disruption, or source of tension?
3. ChoiceWhat meaningful decision does the POV character make in response to the conflict?
4. ConsequenceWhat happens because of that choice? How does the situation change / what does it set up next?
5. Characters Present
6. External Want (Scene Goal)What does the POV character want to do/get in this scene?Do they get it? Yes / No / Partially
7. Internal Need (Deeper Emotional / Psychological Need)What deeper need is in play here?Do they get what they need? Yes / No / Partially
8. Reader Emotion TargetHow do you want the reader to feel by the end of this scene?
9. Value / Polarity ShiftHow does the emotional or story value change from the beginning to the end of the scene?
- Start value: (+ / – / ±) and a few words (e.g., "secure", "hopeful", "isolated")
- End value: (+ / – / ±) and a few words (e.g., "threatened", "crushed", "connected")
10. Staging / NotesContinuity, props, reveals, or things to remember (Chekhov guns, callbacks, etc.).

Scene Card - Micro Template

- Scene # / POV / Setting:
- Summary (1-3 Sentences):
- Conflict:
- Choice:
- Consequence:
- Value Shift: X → Y
- Reader Emotion: