In a guest post on Writers Helping Writers, Jami Gold explains the differences between scenes and their sequels.
According to Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer, scenes are discrete story subsets that include your character’s goal, the obstacles to that goal, and the outcome (usually something that prevents the character from reaching their goal.) The sequel scene features the character’s reaction to their defeat, the next choice they must make, and their decision. In other words, scenes are more proactive, and their sequels are reactive.
Putting these concepts together can help you create the cause and effect chain that drives your story forward. “Using both also ensures a mix of proactive action and reactive emotion to keep readers engaged,” Gold says. And those emotional scenes are important to the reader, Gold writes. “Our stories are about emotions, and how our characters react to events shapes how readers emotionally react to our story,” she explains. “If we don’t show our character reacting to setbacks, readers won’t care about those setbacks either.” Sequel scenes give your stories the depth readers expect and show them why they should care about your characters and their goals, as well as the outcome of the story.
Gold also says you don’t need an exact balance of scenes and sequels. A scene might run for several pages or an entire chapter, while the sequel amounts to a few paragraphs, or even just a sentence or two. Rather than word count, focus on creating that cause and effect chain and maintaining a good pace for your story.
