Krissie and Lani and I have been talking about the scene plan, and I’ve done this tentative one because I’m spending the weekend trying to finish Shar’s Act One scenes.

So how does this work?

We plot the book in scenes clusters, telling each other about what our characters are going to be doing, what’s going to happen to them, brainstorming everything. Then we block in the general scenes (you’ve seen parts of our chats; we also do a lot in e-mail). We name the scene clusters so there’s some unity among the scenes–the first scenes are all first meets in the temple (Going To The Temple), the second scenes are all the aftermath of the Kool-aid, the Three doing things they wouldn’t normally: Abby wants to eat, Daisy takes a chance on chaos/Jamie, Shar chooses pleasure over duty (After the Kool-aid), the next cluster is the what happens when they wake up and the world has changed, all kitchen scenes in some way (The Heat in the Kitchen), the cluster after that is going out in public and finding out they’ve really changed (Brand New Us), and the final cluster is them storming the temple to find out what the hell is going on (Hello, it’s Us). All of those titles are subject to change without notice, so don’t get attached to them. (We’ll title the acts the same way when we get to NYC so that we can keep all the plot threads the same, hitting the same thematic elements and making sure all of Our Girls are moving in the same direction while living their own stories. We’re doing a lot in NYC. I can’t wait.)

Once we have the rough scene plan, we go off and do our rough drafts (which is what you’re seeing go up here). And then we rewrite them, which we decided to do in front of you on this blog, which is oddly freeing. You know you’re getting rough drafts, so it’s not like we’re saying, “Hey, here’s our best work.” It’s work in progress.

And the progress I’m making right now is looking at basic scene structure of the five scene drafts I have, making sure they have the basic elements of a tight scene:

1. Who’s the protagonist in this scene (not the book, the scene) and who’s the antagonist in this scene? (Shar vs. Kami, Shar vs. Wolfie, Shar vs. Sam, etc.) If I don’t have that, I don’t have a scene.

2. What’s the character arc in the scene for the protag? Where does she start and where does she go in her character change? If her character doesn’t change, the scene can be cut, or more likely rewritten so that it does change.

3. What are the beats of the conflict ? (Which is what I’m working on this weekend, so they’re not listed below).

So here’s where I am. Lani and Krissie are also making progress but Lani’s on a proposal deadline and Krissie’s computer turned on her and snarled so she’s dealing with tech support. And snarling back.

DOGS & GODDESSES FIRST ACT SCENE PLAN
(SO TENTATIVE YOU KNOW IT’S GONNA CHANGE

GOIN’ TO THE TEMPLE
[D&G 1 Abby vs. Kami, D&G 2 Daisy vs. Jamie]
Shar 1 (D&G 3):
Shar vs. Kami
From repressed anger to first feelings of pleasure (rebellion against repression)

AFTER THE KOOL-AID
[D&G 4 Kami vs. Mina, D&G 5 Abby vs. Christopher (delivers treats), D&G 6 Daisy vs. Jamie (piggy-back)]
Shar 2 (D&G 7):
Shar vs. Wolfie
From first feelings of pleasure to danger (this is what I get for enjoying myself; not sticking to my old life)

THE HEAT IN THE KITCHEN
[D&G 8 Abby vs Christopher next AM in the bar? D&G 9 Daisy vs? at work]
Shar 3 (D&G 10):
Shar vs. Sam
From danger (physical: intruder in house) to greater danger (emotional: intruder in life; evicts Sam to return to old life).

BRAND NEW GIRLS
[D&G 11 Abby?,  D&G 12 Kami vs. Mina on roof reading tabloids]
Shar 4 (D&G 13):
Shar vs. Sam
From rationalizing her changes (Christy/Dog/Ray) to admitting changes (letting Sam in temporarily) finding out what’s going on.

HELLO, IT’S US
Shar 5 (D&G 14):
Shar vs. Daisy/Abby
From determination to find out what’s going on to Ohmigod.
[D&G 15: Kami vs. the Three, makes her move.]