19d • The Lab
The five facts I put above a scene
Before I draft a scene, I write five facts at the top of the page:
1. Where is each person physically standing?
2. What can each one see or hear?
3. What does each one want before anyone speaks?
4. What material fact cannot change (the key, injury, money, door, weather)?
5. What decision changes by the end?
A small example: a brother and sister argue outside a locked shop. She has the only key. He saw the owner leave with the cash box. Neither knows the back door is open. She wants him to wait; he needs the ledger tonight. If the draft lets him walk through the front door, the language can be gorgeous and the scene is still broken.
I give that card to the model with the scene brief. After it drafts, I read once just for those five facts. Then I read for voice. Trying to fix both at once makes me miss the door.
Try it on a scene you've been wrestling with. Post your five facts if you want another pair of eyes.
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The five facts I put above a scene
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