Zero to One Column by Chuck Heintzelman

In July’s column I reviewed several story structure methods including Scenes and Sequels. This month I’m digging deeper into the second half of this structure: the Sequel, also known as the “Reactive Scene” or as I call it “The Magic Joystick.” Sequels provide control over not just the story’s pace, but the empathy, believability, jeopardy, tension, and logic of a story.

Writing is like flying a plane. Your cockpit is filled with gauges and switches and buttons and knobs. Each control has its own label: word choices, verisimilitude, point of view, characterization, conflict, tension, foreshadowing, and so forth. Smack dab in front of you is a yoke labeled “Magic Joystick.” Underneath, in smaller print, it says “(Sequels)”. Okay, I’ve beat this metaphor to death, but you get my point. This is important stuff.

A Review of Scenes/Sequels

(Skip to next section for the good stuff.)

Dwight Swain in Techniques of the Selling Writer, defines two scene modes: a Scene and a Sequel.

A Scene has three parts:

1. Goal – Character must have a goal.
2. Conflict – There is opposition reaching his goal.
3. Disaster – The character fails to achieve his goal. Or achieving it, is worse off than he was before.

A Scene is followed by a Sequel:

1. Reaction – The character reacts to the disaster.
2. Dilemma – The character is forced to choose between unsatisfying alternatives.
3. Decision – The character makes her choice, which becomes the next Scene’s goal.

So it goes, Scene followed by Sequel followed by Scene throughout your book.

Randy Ingermanson, in Writing Fiction for Dummies, renames these to Proactive Scene and Reactive Scene, but the structure is the same:

• Proactive Scene: Goal, Conflict, Setback
• Reactive Scene: Reaction, Dilemma, Decision

Ingermanson’s terms are better. Less confusion.

Jim Butcher, on his blog, structures the Proactive Scenes the same as Ingermanson and Swain, but Reactive Scenes (Sequels) are a bit different:

Sequels:

1. Emotional Reaction – Here the character reacts to the setback. He curses and pounds his fists, reacting with instinct and emotion.
2. Review, Logic, & Reason – The brain kicks in. The character examines her options.
3. Anticipation – The character imagines what’s next.
4. Choice – The decision is reached. The character now has a new goal for the next Proactive scene.

I’ve adopted Butcher’s model for my own use. So now we have:

• Proactive Scene – Goal/Conflict/Setback
• Reactive Scene – Emotion/Reason/Anticipation/Choice

Where’s the magic of Reactive Scenes? We’re getting to it.

Genre Bias in Reactive Scenes

(Attribution notice: The idea of different ratios for different genres comes from Jim Butcher’s blog.)

Different genres place different emphasis on each section of the Reactive Scene. These breakdowns are generalities. A particular book will have its own, unique flavor based on the attention paid to each part of the Reactive Scene.

• Mysteries – Reason is king. The reader must clearly see the character’s logic.
• Romance – No brainer here. Heavy on Emotion. Crank up Anticipation a bit. Romances are dripping with Reactive Scenes.
• Action – Zip through everything to get to the Choice, which gets you to the next Proactive scene.
• Science Fiction – Like mysteries, Reason is important.
• Thrillers – Depends on the flavor. Emotion and Anticipation can be important, but many Thrillers are like Action stories and skip Reactive Scenes to maintain a breakneck pace.
• Horror – Heavy on Anticipation. Don’t forget to turn up Emotion after horrific Proactive Scenes.
• Fantasy – This genre runs the gamut. Clear reasoning is important, but any other aspect may be weighted heavier depending on the story.

Although these are generalities, they can be used to analyze stories. When someone says “I don’t usually like Science Fiction, but this character really has a lot of heart,” what they’re saying is the author developed the character’s Emotion in their Reactive Scenes. Interesting, huh?

Tweaking The Magic Joystick

What happens when you fiddle around with Emotion in a Reactive Scene? It’s a direct throttle on the character’s emotion. You can have a Joe Friday (“Just the facts, Ma’am”) character with little to no emotion. You can create a needy, flighty character by having him fall apart during Emotion. An angst filled character will have her anxiety and insecurity explored.

There’s so much you can do with this. If a beta reader says your character is too cold, then seek out or add Emotion in the character’s Reactive scenes. If your beta reader tells you it’s hard to follow a character’s motivation, then look at the Reactive Scene’s Reason sections and make sure the character’s reasoning is logical.

Order is important. You can’t have a character anticipate the future without first thinking out the possibilities. You can’t have him work through different possible actions and then get emotional about what just happened (well, you can but then he must circle back to Emotion and hit Reason again). Any of the Emotion, Reason, Anticipation, Choice steps can be downplayed or skipped, but get them in the wrong order and your story will be muddled and confusing.

In the Reactive Scene you have four knobs you can crank from 0 to 10. The combination of these four settings creates something unique.

Anticipation is a fun setting. It’s another way to show a character thinking, but it also gets the reader thinking about the future. What’s going to happen next? From the sweet possibility of being in a new lover’s arms to the gruesome realization a great white shark may attack, Anticipation can make your reader eager to get to the next action (Proactive Scene).

Choice is another setting you can manipulate. Indecisive characters have trouble in this area and spend far too long making the Choice. You can also keep the choice hidden, making the reader wonder what the character’s going to do next.

The single unifying element in a Proactive Scene is time. The reader lives the Goal, Conflict, and Setback through time with the character. Topic is the glue in Reactive Scenes. The topic is the Setback from the previous Proactive Scene. You can compress time in Reactive Scenes, such as having a widow mourn her loss for a entire month in a single paragraph.

Reactive Scenes do slow things down. Whether it’s wallowing in Emotion or becoming lost in Reason’s cerebral jungle, they stop the action. It’s not a bad thing–it’s just the nature of Reactive Scenes. Proactive Scenes are the accelerator and Reactive Scenes are the brakes. You need both to drive. If you’re racing across the country in a mad dash to get to the other side, you’re going to hit brake far less than the accelerator. The ride can be fun and exciting, but it’ll have the emotional impact of a rollercoaster ride. If you take your time driving, see the sights, you’ll brake more often and your story and characters will have “heart.” Just don’t stay on the brake too much or your story will be as exciting as a lump of tofu.

Until next month. Keep writing.