Scene: Goal, Conflict, Disaster
Dwight Swain's scene-sequel model is the most rigorously practical unit-of-fiction framework in craft literature. Every scene has three components. The goal is the viewpoint character's immediate, specific, concrete objective entering the scene — not 'she wants to be happy' (too abstract) but 'she needs to convince her landlord not to evict her by Thursday.' Goals must be specific enough that the reader can evaluate success or failure. The conflict is the obstacle preventing the goal's achievement — confronted in real time within the scene, not summarized. The conflict should escalate within the scene: the landlord is initially dismissive, then reveals the real problem, then presents a condition she cannot accept. The disaster is the scene's ending: the goal fails to be achieved, or is achieved in a way that creates a worse problem, or is partially achieved but with a devastating complication attached. A scene that ends with the character successfully achieving their goal without cost creates no narrative momentum — there is nothing forcing the next scene. The disaster creates the engine for what follows: a problem that must be responded to. Three types of disaster: Yes But (achieves goal but a new problem is attached), No (flat refusal/failure), and No And Furthermore (failure plus an escalating complication that makes everything worse). 'No And Furthermore' is the most powerful disaster for maintaining tension.