Here is my process. Note, often I just jump into writing the scene without doing the below, but then come back to these steps if/when I have any trouble with the scene.
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Figure out the scene (what it’s about, setting, protagonist, goal, conflict, disaster/twist).
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Figure out / guess at the Situation, Attitude, Activity, and Manner of Thinking (KTAD). Often these are imperfect guesses, with a lot of question marks. Things clarify as the scene gets written.
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If I really think I need to, or am just procrastinating, try to assign PRCO to the above.
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Sometimes I feel like knowing the Element quad* might help. I can’t always figure one out, and usually don’t try. But, sometimes it can be really fun to guess at. I’ve learned that if I try to guess at it before I start writing, I’m almost always wrong. So, I generally do this step after I’m partway into a scene.
When I get this to work it’s because one element really sticks out in the scene, and its dynamic pair seems to be in there too. So then I look at all the 4 quads with that element, and see if the other dynamic pair is present or fits. Sometimes one quad fits REALLY well, other times I kind of pencil in a couple guessed quads and leave it.
(This step can be really fun after you’re scene’s already written – and may work best for revision anyway!)
* I think a scene is usually based on an Element quad but once in a while it might be another level, like a Variation quad.
Maybe if I get a chance later I could post my notes from a recent scene. Pretty stream-of-consciousness stuff but it might help to have an example.