I've read what? About a dozen or so (maybe two dozen) books on the craft of writing? This is the first time I've run into this theory. Lifted from Victoria Lynn Schmidt's Book in a Month, part of her second day of writing and outlining.
When I worked as a film analyst, I noticed that A-level movies had approximately ten to twenty scenes total, and B-level movies had thirty-five to sixty scenes total. This happened in every single case. Some A-level movies are now three hours long, but even so, the better movies just don't have as many scenes as the lesser ones do. The writers of the B movies were trying to do too much, switching scenes to try and make it seem as thought there were a lot of action or drama taking place. They didn't use the scenes they had to full effect. They didn't use the opportunities for action and drama that were right in front of them.
So she has the writer sketch out the ten key scenes that will be a part of the book in a month. Sure there might be some minor scenes stitching it all together, but there should be ten key scenes that take the reader through the story arc to the end. It's an interesting exercise and as I said, that's the first time I've heard that.
I wonder how true it is. It almost makes me want to sit down with a counter the next time I watch a good movie just to see if I can see more than ten or twenty scenes in an A-level movie. Anyone else ever heard this?
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