"You don't need to directly tell the reader what the character's goal is, because often the context can make it clear enough" - this. This just opened my eyes. I have been stuck at the beginning of a new chapter for days, and I believe this one line is about to help me get un-stuck. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!!! Also, the examples you have been giving help tremendously. I feel like you're using the "show don't tell" approach - the examples in books are showing how this or that is used, instead of just telling how it's used. I cannot state enough how much that helps me and my writing grow. I think it will help so many others, as well. Thank you so much again!

I'VE BEEN BINGE WATCHING ALL YOUR VIDEOS

I like how in this boot camp series you are using lots of book examples :)

Unlike Story Structure, I had always found Scene Structure more intuitive and obvious. Learning about it feels more enlightening than I expected. It give me words for what I already understood.

Found you a few days ago, immediately subscribed, now binge watching all your videos. Thank you so so much for helping us!

Hey Ellen, I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your videos and they're incredibly helpful. I'm not even a book author, but a lot of your tips have universal story telling appeal. I, for example, use quite a few of your tips for the tabletop RPGs that I run. They're very helpful for thinking about the beats I want to invoke in a scene, how to play out and describe NPCs, and the overall potential storyarcs the players will stumble towards. I just wanted to thank you for the help you give out freely.

I love your videos so much!!! This was awesome and all those examples are perfect, thank you!

The morning brightens when your snapshot appears, EB :^) Thank you once again for the helpful information!

thank you so much, your videos have really help a lot with something that I am working on...

Ellen, Every video i've watched from you has been helpfull, and some have lead me to a near Epiphany .the complex layers about the storywritting-telling is a sublime piece of psychological artwork. and you make it all seem to go so naturally. so , almost easy. . the thoughtproscesses you delve into are so filled with much subliemer information... DAMN! from now on i'm watching your videos on 0.75 speed. my brain needs time to cope with the speed of your train of thought (don't get me wrong , you speak with a perfectly clear intonation , and that intonation really captivates what your saying in my perspective, however my mind requires time to truly connect all the dots of all the truthfull 'crazy shit ' you're saying) You have my gratitude, my respect and ma love. I wish to you a life where you are free to work on your passions of life!!

Because of you I have to read The Thing About Jellyfish. I can’t wait, you make it sound so good.

Great advice as always keep up the good work.

Proactive characters has always been a strength for me. Looking forward to reactive tho.

i just found thiss video, i really enjoyed it.

Thank you very much, your channel help me a lot! 😊

I'm so glad you're back!

This video is mostly about demonstrating how proactive scenes play out in published novels. For more specific information about proactive scene structure, check out my video series on scenes: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/irOJmbqhz6u9m2Q.html

Great video. I wonder if you can just enjoy reading a novel or you get distracted by errors you see as an editor. Anyway, I'm finding a new fascinating way to read books. Thanks for the content

Loved this video. Came about just in time I got stuck.

Watching more of these

Helpful. Thanks. You are some smart.

Sadness is when you realize that by the end of August, Ellen will disappear again...

Omg ily u r awesome

Have you read all the books behind you? What's the total number of books in your library?

Cool!

Can you make a video about techniques to raise stakes & a video about how scene goal and scene purpose connect? 🙏💪

L❤️ve her!

creating a sense of conflict greatly differs from creating a proactive scene. In most of the scenes you mentioned, the protagonist is faced with some sort of problem and whatever he/she does next is merely a reaction to that problem, hence the proactivity aspect is absent.

Can you please make a video on how to write a betrayal that hits the reader in the feels? Please? I really need help. Awesome video as always!

Thank u so much miss allen?

I felt like how when Harry Potter changed goals, that was him being reactive not proactive. Maybe I just fail to see how they differ in that situation.

Can you make video about Japanese light novel and how to start it?

No dislikes. Because, how could you?

I'm at a loss over this. I've been reading this stuff about proactive vs reactive scenes, and I look at my own stuff, and the stuff written by others, and I don't see it. For example, in the beginning of my own book, the protagonist and her mother is baking bread, and the protagonist notices that the sun is already coming up, which means she has to hurry to her friend. Her mother asks her to take out the bread from the oven, but she doesn't have time to, as she needs to go right now. This very, very short bit could be seen as a "goal" (to leave the house in order to go to her friend) and a complication (her mother wants her to take out the bread from the oven). So why is or isn't this a scene on its own? It's literally only one page long, and about her stepping out of the house. She then goes on to try to sneak through the village, trying not to get caught by the patrolling guards. Since she isn't caught by the first few guards, she achieved the goal of those tiny scenes, against that complication of the guards? Then she is caught, and she has to bribe the guards. And I can look at this as a series of small scenes, or I can look at this whole event as one scene. Or, I can look at the entire story of the entire book as one scene, where there is a distinct goal that the protagonist is working towards, and a bunch of conflicts, similar to those guards. So just where are the actual scenes? If scenes are the smallest building block, then each guard she managed to sneak past is one successful proactive scene. That'd be absurd, wouldn't it? We can stretch this as far as saying "the protagonist wanted to go through the door, but the door was closed - and she successfully managed to open the door using the handle". Goal, complication, result. One scene?

Hey Ellen (HMU)....I love your enthusiasm...maybe we could work together 🤷🏾‍♂️

The three-headed dog is from Greek mythology

The Thing About Jellyfish is awfully ambitious to write in second person. I've never seen that in a novel with the rare exception of the narrator making asides to the reader.

What was her point to use the word "Dog" twice in less than 5 words?

JK Rowling huh? I've heard of her before. I should give that one a try. That whole thing with the poltergeist and kids duelling at night sounds pretty hardcore.

Beats me how you can quote that plagiarising Potter woman. She's lowered the bar. Now we are overrun with The Femme; the work, insipid, diluted; the Film Industry, a shining example. I'm sick of women "artists" thrusting their saggy vaginas in my face. It's time Art reclaimed its balls. Love and kisses. Alice. xx