# Scene Analysis Framework

## The Scene Card

Every scene must justify its existence. The Scene Card is the diagnostic tool:

| Element | Question | Why It Matters |
|---------|----------|---------------|
| **External event** | What happens? State it in one sentence. | The visible plot action |
| **Internal meaning** | How does this force the protagonist's internal struggle forward? | THE critical test — if this is empty, the scene is dead weight |
| **Urgency hook** | What question does this raise that pulls the reader into the next scene? | Creates forward momentum via dopamine |
| **Cause** | What prior event made this scene necessary? | Ensures causal chain integrity |
| **Effect** | What must happen next because of this scene? | Ensures forward momentum |

## Scene Entry and Exit

### Enter Late
The scene should begin as close to its core event as possible. Not the approach to the restaurant — the conversation at the table. Not waking up and getting dressed — the moment the day goes wrong.

### Exit Early
The scene should end the moment its work is done. Not the drive home — the decision made. Not the aftermath — the turning point. Leave the reader with unresolved tension that pulls them into the next scene.

## Internal Pattern Within the Scene

Every scene should contain the four-beat internal pattern:

1. **Action** — Something happens (external event)
2. **Reaction** — The protagonist responds emotionally (internal response)
3. **Decision** — The protagonist decides what to do next (choice)
4. **New Action** — The protagonist acts on the decision (external consequence)

This pattern may repeat multiple times within a single scene, at different scales. The reader tracks this rhythm unconsciously. When it breaks — when a character acts without reacting, or reacts without deciding — the reader disconnects.

## Conflict Within the Scene

### The Scene-Level "Versus"
Every scene needs its own source of tension — a specific rock and hard place for the protagonist in this moment. This may be:
- A direct confrontation with the antagonist
- An internal dilemma (desire vs. misbelief)
- A practical obstacle that tests the protagonist's resources
- Social pressure that threatens to expose the protagonist's secret or flaw

### Conflict Must Come From Character
The best scene-level conflict arises from who the protagonist is — their misbelief creates the trap they're in. External obstacles imposed without connection to the protagonist's inner world feel arbitrary.

### Escalation Within the Scene
Even within a single scene, the stakes should shift — ideally upward. Each exchange, each beat, each revelation should raise the pressure. A scene that stays at the same level of tension throughout feels flat.

## Emotional Presence

### The Protagonist Must Be Emotionally Present
Every event must register in the protagonist. If they witness something and have no response, the reader's mirror neurons have nothing to latch onto. Meaning collapses.

### Show, Don't Label
Not "she was afraid" but the specific physical, cognitive, and behavioural response that shows fear in this character in this moment. Different people express the same emotion differently — the response must be specific to this protagonist.

### Body Language as Subtext
Physical responses communicate what the character might never say. A character who says "I'm fine" while gripping the armrest hard enough to whiten their knuckles is telling two stories. The reader trusts the body over the words.

## Prose Craft in the Scene

### Rhythm Should Match Register
Fast, staccato sentences for action and shock. Slower, flowing sentences for reflection and grief. The scene's emotional content should be embodied in its prose rhythm.

### Sensory Detail Must Earn Its Place
Every sensory detail should do at least one of:
- Reveal character (what the protagonist notices tells us who they are)
- Advance story (the detail has consequences later)
- Illuminate theme (the detail carries symbolic weight)

Details that are only atmospheric — that create setting without meaning — are clutter.

### POV Consistency
Check for one-sentence slips into another character's thoughts. In limited third person, the protagonist cannot know what another character is thinking or feeling — only what they observe.

## Scene-Level Diagnostic

### Does This Scene Earn Its Place?
- [ ] Can you fill in all five Scene Card elements?
- [ ] If you removed this scene, would the causal chain break?
- [ ] Does this scene change something — advance the protagonist's internal struggle?

### Is the Scene Engaging?
- [ ] Does it enter late and exit early?
- [ ] Is the internal pattern (action → reaction → decision → action) running?
- [ ] Is there scene-level conflict specific to this moment?
- [ ] Do stakes shift within the scene?
- [ ] Does the scene end with an unresolved question?

### Is the Prose Serving the Scene?
- [ ] Does rhythm match emotional register?
- [ ] Is the protagonist emotionally present throughout?
- [ ] Are sensory details earning their place?
- [ ] Is POV consistent — no accidental slips?
- [ ] Is exposition integrated, not dumped?
