Making changes

 I'm looking through an old notebook to decide if there's anything worth keeping before I bin it, and there are one or two snatches of notes it wouldn't do me any harm to read again from time to time. (I didn't make a note of where I found these nuggets of information, but I went through a stage of buying Maass, Morgan, Snyder and Lyon so it is probably a synthesis of all they've said but in shorthand form a la Jen. The last post concerned scenes, and this post builds on that:

The beginning introduces characters, establishes their motivation and goals and introduces conflict. The middle develops the relationships and builds and intensifies the conflict. The ending brings all the separate pieces together through a climax and satisfying resolution.

Scenes equal action. The reader lives through it with the character. It is a bridge or transition with three elements – an emotional response to something in the previous scene, dilemma (either ongoing or something new) and a decision - how the character intends to go forward.

A sequel has only one character, usually not the person who was POV character in the previous scene – the reader should already have been given his thoughts.

Flashbacks come in the sequel, not in the scene. Two sequels might be needed back to back. They provide logic and plausibility to the story by letting readers know why a character does what he does. He may do the opposite when faced with conflict but then that too can be explained in the sequel.

So now, with all these thoughts at the forefront of my mind, I'm going through the nine chapters of the wip. Already significant details such as names and ages have changed, so I need to get things straight in my head before going on.