Jack M. Bickham, Scene & Structure, Chapter 9: Variations

Bickham’s advice is to plan your book in the “classic structure” of scenes alternating with sequels, with all the parts in order, and then introduce variations as needed.

For example, you can interrupt a conflict with a different scene (that is, different action in which there’s a different goal), in order to realign a character’s motivation so that they will make a decision they otherwise might not.

You can jump into the middle of the scene and supply the goal later, or imply the disaster. Do this sparingly, as a way of increasing the pace.

Your characters’ internalisations will naturally try to become mid-scene sequels if the stimulus is powerful enough to throw them into deep reflection. As a rule, resist this, but allow it if it’s needed to explain a major change of direction by the character, to get the reader in tune with the character, or to work in important backstory. Just watch for the “talking is a free action” or “comics dialog while falling” phenomenon, where the internalisation goes on for pages in supposedly a moment of time.

You can stretch or compress the sequel components, or even change the order a bit. Or you can interrupt the sequel with an unexpected scene if you don’t want the character working out the answer just yet.

Always remember to return to and complete the classic structure before moving on. Don’t leave the reader hanging.

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