Scene & Sequel, but not that Scene & Sequel

Sometimes, certain words carry multiple meanings and those multiple meanings can be at complete odds with one another. And when those words are literary terms, writers everywhere are bound to get confused.

The words scene and sequel are two such words.

The common meaning of a scene is as we might see it in a film or on stage. A setting has been pieced together and the characters walk into view to do some action or talk about random things. As writers, we talk about scene transitions with great importance and many of us will break down our manuscripts into scenes. But this is not the scene I'm talking about today.

Nope… Today, we're talking about a scene as the portion of the story that propels the action forward, where characters attempt to achieve goals, and things happen. Scenes are moments of conflict rooted in a constant stream of time. (Note: flashback scenes are rooted in the past.)

The word sequel is just as confusing. Normally, when we talk about sequels, we're talking about the next story in a series. But nope, not today.

Today, sequel refers to those passages where characters reflect over what just happened and form the plan to move forward.

After every scene, you need a sequel.

Are you confused yet? Let's see if we can do something about that.

It's a term that stems from 1965.

In 1965, Dwight V. Swain, in Techniques of the Selling Writer, defined a scene as a unit of conflict, detailing characters efforts to achieve a goal. The function of the scene was to propel the action forward. Swain suggested that there was a distinct pattern to the scene: 1) goal, 2) conflict, 3) disaster. The idea was that at every stage of your story, you needed to give your characters little goals to work towards, generating conflict within your story. [1]

In 1983, John Gardner expanded on this idea to define a scene as an unbroken flow of action without a lapse in time or a leap from one setting to another. [2]

In the 1965 book, Swain described sequels as those units of transition between two scenes, providing the reflective moment needed to turn the disaster from one scene into the goal for the next. The sequel had the pattern of: 1) reaction, 2) dilemma, 3) decision. [1]

A writer controls the pacing of a story through the scenes and sequels. A fast-paced story might have short sequels between each scene, even as short as one paragraph or one sentence—not giving the reader much of a breather. But slower stories might place more emphasis on the sequels and spend more time on character reflection. This approach to crafting a story can be thought of action and character reaction.

If one was to look at writing with this action/reaction view, then a chapter could easily comprise of over 20 different scene-and-sequel sequences, but it could all be contained within a single stage scene (defined as we more commonly use the term). The story transitions in time or setting are during the sequels and all the action is contained in the scenes.

Relevance to modern storytelling

When I first heard the concept of scene and sequel, I questioned why anyone would bother confusing me with these terms. But thinking of stories in this manner encourages the writer to remember that pacing is a roller coaster between the action and the reflective moments.

Scene and sequel is 100% about pacing.

If a story was all action and never lets up, it's exhausting to read! Even if those moments of reflection are fleeting, they still need to be there. We, the readers, need to breathe occasionally and process what just happened. Those lull moments, often defined by longer sequels, give us the much needed time to do that.

The reverse is just as problematic.

If a story is near on 100% reflective with very little action, it's boring! And the reader falls asleep. We need the action of the scenes to keep the reader's imagination moving forward in the pursuit of the goal.

If you understand exactly how the action/reaction sequence works, you'll be most of the way there to controlling the pacing within any passage within your story.

Do the terms themselves still have a place?

Most of the time, when people talk about a scene or a sequel, they are referring to the scene in a movie/play or the next book in a series, respectively. And if they are talking about the action/reaction concept, they will talk about scene and sequel together, not in isolation.

You won't get me talking about this idea with these specific terms on a regular basis (notice that I was using action/reaction by the end of the post). But if you ever encounter the conversation yourselves in the future, hopefully you won't be totally confused.

If you encounter any literary terms that confuse you to no end, send them my way. Perhaps I can shed a little light onto the conversation, so we all can understand what we're talking about.

References:

[1] Swain, Dwight V (1965). Techniques of a Selling Writer. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806111919

[2] Gardner, John (1983). The Art of Fiction. New York, NY: Vintage Books/Random House. ISBN 0679734031