October Novel Prep Challenge

Ooh, I kinda disagree with the first one, and with most prescriptive scene-writing advice. The scene-sequel format is real and can be quite helpful, but each individual scene does not always need to have a corresponding sequel within the same scene, and during climactic moments, instead of the format being scene-sequel, scene-sequel, sometimes you might have something like scene, scene, scene, sequel—where only after all the intensity of multiple back-to-back "scenes" does the character (and thus the reader) get to take time to react and make a decision.

This is perhaps more of a diagnostic tool than a prescriptive one (it's better put to use after you have written a scene, if you're a discovery writer!) but I'm personally a fan of this:



*edited to add: "Action" as in movement/agency displayed by a character, not "action" as in explosions.

Back when I drafted my first novel, that list was a game-changer for me. I haven't really looked at it since (eventually, this will become more or less ingrained!) but I found it a really powerful way to think about scenes. There are the occasional exceptions, but the important thing to take away, I think, is that all scenes need to be doing not one job, but multiple jobs.