The Expanded Ultimate Story Checklist: Do characters use verbal tricks and traps to get what they want, not just direct confrontation?

Until the nineteenth century, most armies would just march right at each other, but Napoleon perfected the “flanking maneuver,” in which one army would sweep around and attack the other from the side. This became many nineteenth-century generals' preferred method of attack, even though it quickly turned comical. In the American Civil War, both sides were obsessed with Napoleon and determined to outflank each other most of time, so the result was thousands of armed men endlessly circling each other in the woods, only fighting when one army accidentally backed into the other. 

Here’s what this has to do with scene construction: Once you know what your characters want and what obstacles are in their way, it’s time to figure out what strategy they’ll use to get it. In every scene, one or more of the scene partners are pursuing an objective and encountering an obstacle. If that obstacle is another character, then the solution will probably involve seduction, friendship, or belligerence (and sometimes all three). Each of these three methods requires strategy.

Of course, your characters can walk right up to one another, state their case plainly, reasonably discuss every possible objection, come to a resolution, and then move on. But they won’t seem like human beings. We won’t even admit what we want to ourselves, much less to each other. As a result, we hide our true objectives in every possible way. Real-life conversations, even with people we love—especially with people we love—are full of little verbal tricks and traps.

In any negotiation, the one who lays out his position first usually loses because it allows his opponent to reposition accordingly and outflank him. This is true whether you want a kiss, a confession, or a treaty. Clever people play their cards close to the vest and lead their verbal sparring partners on until they can trap them with their own words.

Don’t assume that only unsympathetic or devious characters do this. All people who are clever and persuasive know they must pepper their conversation with tricks and traps.

Take, for example, the famous knife scene from 12 Angry Men. As a lone holdout juror in a murder trial, Henry Fonda pretty much plays the ultimate embodiment of human decency. He’s one of the most humble and noble heroes in the history of storytelling. But he does it all with tricks and traps!

Fonda's character, Juror 8, sits there throughout the first half of the story hiding a big secret that’s burning a hole in his pocket: He has gone out the night before and found a knife identical to the one that was supposedly used in the murder. But he doesn’t walk into the jury room and present his exculpatory evidence right away. No, he waits and lays traps for his eleven opponents.

He insists they speak first, laying out their cases for conviction, knowing that ultimately they will have no choice but to brag about the supposed uniqueness of the murder weapon. He’s hoping they’ll literally throw the knife in his face so he can dramatically produce his identical knife and do the same. Ultimately, his patience pays off.

Juror 8 is not some righteous blunderer who stumbles upon the truth. He’s a steely but wily crusader who verbally traps and defeats his opponents one by one. That’s what makes him heroic. All compelling characters, whether heroes or villains, best serve their own cause by laying verbal traps and outflanking their opponents at every turn. Those who get fed up with maneuvering and simply plow straight ahead (as if they were at Pickett’s Charge) lose their battles and our sympathy.

For this Scenework series, we’re examining these scenes:

The 40 Year Old Virgin	Andy goes home with a drunk woman from a Bachelorette party.
Alien	After the deaths of Kane, Brett and Dallas, Ripley becomes captain, so she has a meeting with the other survivors, Ash, Parker, and Lambert, to decide what to do next.
An Education	Jenny is amazed as David gets permission from her parents to take her on a weekend trip to Oxford by claiming to know C.S. Lewis.
The Babadook	Amelia chases her son Sam down to the basement, where he knocks her out, ties her up, and drives the Babadook out of her, temporarily.
Blazing Saddles	Bart arrives in town, then takes himself hostage to save himself from hostile townspeople
Blue Velvet	Jeffrey spies on Dorothy and Frank, then Dorothy catches Jeffrey in her apartment and has sex with him at knifepoint.
The Bourne Identity	Jason and Marie are attacked at her family’s farm by the assassin known as The Professor. Jason blows up a propane tank to distract him and kills him, but as the Professor dies he convinces Jason to come back.
Bridesmaids	Annie is driving angry after feuding with Helen when she gets pulled over by a cute cop, who gives her his number under the pretense of recommending a place to get her tail light fixed.
Casablanca	Sketchy crook Ugarte asks cool club owner Rick to hold onto the letters of transit for him.
Chinatown	Jake confronts Noah Cross with the glasses
Donnie Brasco	Lefty seeks to go behind Sonny Black’s back to set up his own meeting in Florida with Trifficante. He has Donnie borrow a boat for this purpose, but Sonny Black knows everything, and he crashes the party.  Lefty bitterly assumes that Donnie has betrayed him, and shuns him.  Sonny takes Donnie aside and elevates him above Lefty.
Do the Right Thing	Buggin’ Out notices that there are no brothers on the wall of Sal’s Pizzeria and decides to organize a boycott.
The Farewell	Billi finds out about Nai Nai’s diagnosis from her parents.
The Fighter	Micky and Charlene confront Micky’s family about his career.
Frozen	Anna confront Elsa in her ice palace
The Fugitive	Gerard confronts Kimble atop a dam, but Kimble leaps off.
Get Out	Chris sneaks out for a smoke in the night, has creepy encounters with Georgina and Walter, then finds Missy drinking tea.  She implores him to sit down, he repeats that he doesn’t want to be hypnotized, but she does it anyway with her teacup.  She gets him to admit the facts of his mother’s death, then sends him to a “sunken place” in his mind.
Groundhog Day	Phil takes Rita to a cafe and tries to convince her that he’s living the same day over and over. He convinces her by predicting what Larry will say.
How to Train Your Dragon	Hiccup and his students are in an arena competing to defeat a dragon, but Hiccup is quizzing their instructor to find out how to better commune with his own dragon, Toothless. Along the way, he uses what he learned from Toothless to peacefully subdue the dragon they’re fighting, infuriating the others.
In a Lonely Place	Laurel has made secret plans to leave town, but Dix makes her go to his favorite restaurant to celebrate their engagement with his agent, his alcoholic friend, and others.
Iron Man	Tony has built a better chest-device to keep shrapnel out of his heart, so he calls Pepper in to reach into his chest and replace the old one with a new one.
Lady Bird	Lady Bird flirts with Kyle in the parking lot.
Raising Arizona	During Hi and Ed’s first night with Junior, brothers Gale and Evelle show up having just escaped from jail, and begin to suspect the truth.
Rushmore	Max introduces himself to Ms. Cross on the bleachers.
Selma	King meets with Johnson in the Oval Office to try to get him to commit to a new Voting Rights Act
The Shining	Jack finally takes a drink from the ghosts in the ballroom. A waiter spills a drink on him, and takes him to the bathroom to clean it off.  While he does so, Jack realizes that the waiter is actually Grady, the former caretaker that killed his family.  Grady encourages him to do the same, but Jack is uncertain.
Sideways	Miles has struck out with Maya, but Jack comes back to the motel after a wild night with Steph, intending to go back out. Miles tries to get Jack to stay by forcing him to call his fiancé, but she doesn’t answer and Jack takes off with Steph after getting Miles to return his unused condom from the night before.
The Silence of the Lambs	Clarice first meets Lecter in his cell, under the pretense of getting him to fill out a questionnaire, but he quickly figures out that it’s really about Buffalo Bill, and that Clarice is hiding other things as well.
Star Wars	The gang takes over the Death Star command office.
Sunset Boulevard	Joe discovers Norma, who assumes that he’s there to plan her monkey’s funeral, but when he explains that he’s a screenwriter, she hires him to rewrite her screenplay for Salome instead.

So how do those scenes answer this question?

The 40 Year Old Virgin	YES. He just tries to grab the wheel, but she tries to trap him into complimenting her.
Alien	YES. They’re mostly in direct confrontation mode, but Ripley is still trying to get the truth out of Ash indirectly.
An Education	YES. Very much so. David traps the parents using their own insecurities, traps Jenny into lying to them.
The Babadook	YES. He uses literal physical traps.  She feigns stillness to draw him near.  He appeals to her emotions, uses reverse psychology.
Blazing Saddles	YES. Very much so, on Bart’s part.
Blue Velvet	YES. they each trick information out of the other.
The Bourne Identity	YES.  Jason uses a spectacular non-verbal decoy to avoid direct confrontation
Bridesmaids	YES. He uses the tail-lights as an excuse to give her his number. She at first tries charm, then pity to get out of the ticket.
Casablanca	YES. Ugarte tries to trick Rick into talking about his past.  Rick gets Ugarte to almost admit to killing the German couriers.
Chinatown	YES. He asks Cross to read the obituary column in low light, forcing him to take out his (back-up pair of?) reading glasses, thus proving that they’re the same as the ones he has.
Donnie Brasco	YES.  Sonny hits Donny with the fact that he knows about the club at just the moment to throw him off balance and get him to agree to stay in Florida.
Do the Right Thing	YES. When Buggin’ asks “How much?”, he’s implying that this isn’t worth $1.50.
The Farewell	YES. Her mom references her dad’s joke, which Billi laughed at before, to mock Billi’s position, which Billi has no response to.
The Fighter	YES. Alice and Dicky offer a new bout to pre-empt the conversation.  Dicky claims he can get money.
Frozen	NO. it’s just direct confrontation.
The Fugitive	NO. Only in the sense that Gerard allows Kimble to think that he doesn’t have a back-up gun.
Get Out	YES. She gets him to laugh at his stereotypes about hypnotism, but ensnares him as she’s doing it.
Groundhog Day	YES. He traps her into saying things that will be disproved by his predictions. He predicts explainable things to lull her, so that it will be more shocking when he predicts unexplainable things. She tries to get him with logic traps.
How to Train Your Dragon	YES. Hiccup openly asks about Night Furies, Snortlout tries to pick up Astrid covertly, everybody tries to outsmart the dragons (look for blind spots, etc.)
In a Lonely Place	YES. Dix traps his agent, demands to hear the phone call, Dix’s ex tries to ruin the marriage.
Iron Man	YES. He suddenly gives her much-needed compliments to get her to do it, playing on her suppressed feelings.
Lady Bird	YES. He pretends that he’s getting her number so that his band can play his café.
Raising Arizona	YES. Gale traps them into lying about where the baby came from, traps Hi into letting them stay by ribbing him.
Rushmore	YES. Did he steal her lighter? It’s possible.  He pretends to read a book he thinks will impress her.  He feigns lack of knowledge about her.
Selma	YES. Johnson offers King a job in his administration, by which he would actually silence him.
The Shining	YES. At first (“you a married man, are ya?”), but they fail and then confront each other directly.
Sideways	YES. Tells him to check his messages.
The Silence of the Lambs	YES. She tries to use his own words to trap him into filling out form, he tricks and traps her many times.
Star Wars	YES. Luke tempts Han into it by playing on his greed.
Sunset Boulevard	YES. he subtly mentions that he’s a writer, knowing that she’ll take the bait.