Use Emotional Value Changes for Powerful Scenes

Hi Reader,

The key to building a great story is emotion; the emotion your characters feel and the emotion your audience feels about what your characters are going through.

Imagine your story as a rollercoaster, with emotions soaring to exhilarating highs and plunging to heartrending lows. According to Hollywood screenwriting legend Robert McKee, the secret engine to captivating stories lies in these emotional value changes.

What Are Emotional Value Changes?

In McKee's theory, stories revolve around core values—universal human experiences that can flip from positive to negative or vice versa. Think of these as the yin and yang of storytelling:

Love/Hate 💖💔
Success/Failure 🏆💥
Hope/Despair 🌈🌧️

These value pairs are the lifeblood of your project. As your story unfolds, the shifts between these values create the tension and release that keep readers glued to the page.

No scene that doesn’t turn. - Robert McKee

The Anatomy of a Scene: Crafting the Perfect Turn

Every scene in your story should be a mini-adventure, a journey from one emotional state to another. McKee calls this the value shift. Here's how to craft scenes that sparkle with dynamic change:

Set the Stage: Begin with a clear emotion. Is your character basking in love, brimming with hope, or wallowing in despair?
Introduce Conflict: Throw a wrench into the mix! Conflict drives change. It can be an external obstacle or an internal dilemma.
Execute the Turn: By the end of the scene, the initial value should flip. Love turns to hate, hope to despair, success to failure. This shift propels the story forward and keeps readers emotionally invested.

Picture a scene where a hero starts with unwavering hope, embarks on a quest, faces unforeseen challenges, and ends in utter despair. This dramatic turn not only deepens character development but also heightens the reader’s engagement.

The shift is an integral part of pacing, keeping the story moving forward. As your story progresses, these value changes should escalate, leading to a climax where the stakes are sky high. Each scene's turn should be more impactful than the last, creating a crescendo of tension that culminates in a satisfying resolution.

Emotional Value Changes Bring:

Audience Investment: Dynamic value shifts keep readers on the edge of their seats, eager to see what happens next.
Deepened Character Arcs: Characters become more relatable and compelling as they navigate these emotional highs and lows.
Suspenseful Pacing: The rhythm of the scenes keeps the story moving.

By weaving emotional value changes into your narrative, you create a symphony of highs and lows that resonates with readers. Let your characters ride the waves of change, and watch as your stories transform into unforgettable adventures!