In my previous article post, I spoke a little about the different layers we build text into, and what each layer represents (at least, to my understanding). I wanted to include a section on scenes and sequels as well, but the post was already running a little long, and technically these fall under a different category - they're blocks of story, rather than blocks of text. So I'm writing another one.
Let's get on with it.
Scenes or Scenes.
Like most people, I always used to define a scene more or less the same way it's defined in film and (I think) theatre. Everything that happens up until the location changes, and then it's a new scene. Think "the kitchen scene" or "the car chase scene".
Then, while researching the methods of one of my favourite authors, I came across the first half of a talk Jim Butcher gave to fans, aptly titled "Blowing things up." He offered a different perspective. In the context of scenes and sequels, a scene is the part where a character takes action toward their goal. Something is actively happening in the scene to drive the story forwards.
He talks about it some more on his livejournal, but Deborah Chester, the woman who taught him in the first place, goes even deeper in her book Fantasy Fiction Formula.
Ok, so a scene is where something happens. How is that any different than the common definition I mentioned above? Mostly because it's independent of location, or time. "The car chase scene" I mentioned above could be made up of several scenes of this format. A debate back and forth between two characters could potentially include two or three scenes within it.
The scene starts when a character has a goal clearly defined and they're taking action toward it, which puts them into conflict with someone else (directly or indirectly, doesn't really matter). The immediate goal needs to be clear to the reader at the start, though that doesn't mean there isn't room for mystery here. Knowing that Martha is trying to get inside the library is enough of a goal for a scene where she argues with security at the doors - it can be revealed later that she's there to kill a monster inside that's eating people. The reader just needs to know what the protagonist is trying to accomplish at that moment to give them momentum.
The scene ends when that conflict is resolved one way or another, usually in partial or complete failure for the protagonist, and the protagonist needs to either define a new goal or redefine a new way of achieving the old one. If Martha's goal is to get into the library, but the security guard refuses and threatens to call the cops, so she backs down, the scene is now over. If she then decides to break in through a back window, that's a new scene. Between those scenes should be a sequel, which I'll talk about below.
Scenes make up the action of the story, so within a scene it's best to avoid narration or telling, and focus on dramatising the events in full. Put the reader into the moment, line by line. Keep the action moving.
Then comes the Sequel
The scene is the action of the story, and the sequel is it's emotion.
We'll need to redefine the word sequel here as well. Usually, we only hear "sequel" to mean a follow up movie, though the word itself just means something that comes after, "the next in sequence." In this context, Sequels are what comes after a scene, to balance them out.
I first heard about this in the second half of Jim Butchers talk, "And making people care about it", with more information coming from Fantasy Fiction Formula.
In simple terms, the scene is where things happen externally, and the sequel is where they happen internally. Martha has failed to get into the library, because the security guard wouldn't let her past. She's pissed, but her anger shifts toward panic, knowing the monster is in there, and that the guard is either to stupid to help or under it's thrall.
I read once that tragedy isn't in the events, but in the reactions. A strangers funeral doesn't upset us, but seeing the lost souls children staring numbly at the grave, oblivious to the icy rain soaking through their clothes - that hits a chord. Sequels are this.
The sequel begins where the scene ends, with the character just being handed a defeat, or perhaps a victory, or more likely a mix of the two. They aren't robots built on pure logic. So they react. They feel something. If they just got injured it might be pure pain. It might be a sense of dread that victory came too easy, too soon. Whichever way, they respond emotionally, then start thinking.
A sequel is a good place to give a little more information, as the next step is for logic to take over and for the characters reflect on what's happened, before they assess what they're options are. If the protagonist is too passive, just reacting to everything, they get boring to read (and often, boring to write - I've given up on so many storylines because the protagonist I was writing didn't have the drive to get them anywhere). Active, driven people generally respond to situations by planning, so the characters should as well. Let them dwell in their emotions as long as needed, drag out their pain, make the readers feel it viscerally - then let the characters rally themselves, or be rallied by a friend, and start planning their next move.
So in our example, Martha reminds herself to take a deep breath and steady her breathing to get the panic under control, then looks at the situation with a logical mind. She considers calling the cops herself, but they won't believe her, so she discards that option. She considers trying the guard again, but she knows it's pointless. Then she remembers there's a back window, large enough to climb though and probably unprotected - who'd break into a library?
The sequel ends once the protagonist has made a decision. That choice becomes their next immediate goal, so it should be a choice that offers some course of action. By making that choice, and sharing it with the reader, the next goal is clear, and the character is ready to act, setting them up for the next scene.
There is no direct conflict within the sequel. The protagonist might have some internal struggle with their own emotions, or they might struggle with making a difficult choice for their next action. They might speak with another character, bouncing idea's back and forth with each other with the appearance of an argument, but they aren't clashing over mutually exclusive goals.
At most, an overwhelmed character might lash out violently during a sequel - Anakin slaughtering the sand people after his mothers death comes to mind - but in those moments, the opposition will be themselves, their own inability to handle the raw strength of what they feel, and the damage their causing, rather than true conflict with another character. That being said, nothing stops characters lashing out at each other from escalating, until the protagonist decides that winning that fight is the next immediate goal, at which point it turns into the next scene, with it's own sequel to follow.
Building a Sequence
Scenes and sequels work well, I believe, because they both give clear direction and momentum to the story while feeding into one another and setting up the next bit of story. I've attempted writing a story by just following the pattern of scene and sequel without any real plan ahead of time, and it ended up being extremely well received (at least until I wrote myself into a corner around the same time a family illness made writing impossible for a while). The system works. There's a few important things to remember though.
Every scene needs an appropriate sequel, but it doesn't always have to be immediate. In a high paced sequence, you can have several scenes back to back then one long sequel to fit them all. That's fine. But if you write several scenes without ever coming to a sequel for them it makes the characters seem like they just don't care, and they lose sympathy from the reader.
They shouldn't all be the same length. Variety is the spice of writing. Just like you don't want every sentence or paragraph to be the same length, mixing up the length of these segments helps the story stay fresh and not feel repetitive to the reader. They're just a pattern for the order of events to play out in a way the reader can intuitively connect to and follow. Stretch or squash them to fit what you need at that moment.
Finally, build a sequence of scenes and sequels as long as needed for a given story event. Particularly with major events like the climax, breaking it down into several smaller goals (i.e. more shorter scenes) keeps things interesting, focused, and helps up the pacing. Making a sequel long and drawn out can emphasis a character not coping with a certain event, or that they're struggling to find the right choice.
Cheers,
Chris
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