Scene Health

What It Does

Scores each scene against the five essential elements that Robert McKee and Shawn Coyne identify as required for a functional scene:

1. Inciting Incident — something upsets the status quo
2. Progressive Complications — obstacles escalate
3. Crisis — the character faces a dilemma
4. Climax — the character makes a choice
5. Resolution — the consequences of that choice

Scenes scoring 3 or fewer commandments (out of 5) are flagged.

Why It Matters

A scene without an inciting incident has no reason to exist. A scene without complications feels flat. A scene without a crisis decision lacks dramatic tension. The Five Commandments are a diagnostic checklist: if a scene is "not working" and you can't articulate why, checking these five boxes usually reveals the gap.

What Gets Flagged

Low-Scoring Scenes

Severity: Warning (score ≤ 2) / Information (score = 3)

Example (flagged):

Scene health: this scene scores 2/5 on the Five Commandments — missing Crisis, Climax, Resolution

Why: A scene without a crisis decision is likely a "setup scene" that could be folded into an adjacent scene.

Missing Crisis (Specifically Highlighted)

Severity: Warning

The Crisis is flagged individually because it's the most critical element — without a dilemma, the scene has no turning point.

Example (flagged):

Scene health: no Crisis element detected — the scene may lack a turning point or decision

What Each Commandment Looks For

Commandment	Signals detected
Inciting Incident	Change verbs, surprise, discovery, arrival, news
Complications	"But", "however", "unfortunately", escalation words
Crisis	Choice language, "either...or", "must decide", dilemma
Climax	Action/decision verbs at high-tension moments
Resolution	Aftermath, consequence, "and so", settling language

Configuration

No configuration options.

Technical Details

• Source: prose-craft
• Scope: Scene-level
• Method: Keyword-based detection for each commandment; scoring per scene; threshold-based flagging