Scene Sequel and MRU's..Helpful?

[Aosto]

So, I've read a couple of articles on the Scene Sequel pattern and Motivation-Response units.
Being as I've decided I'm going to plan, plan, and plan some more for my novel, I believe I may take this approach. My question is, have any of you used these writing methods? I've tried to just vomit my story onto the page, but it doesn't seem to be working for me. I've found I get a better feel for it as I start to list out scenes.

 

[Penpilot]

I use it as part of my process. I find the concept very helpful. BUT the idea of simply following the pattern of scene-sequel scene sequel is simplistic. It can work but when you examine works you'll see that the pattern gets interrupted. A scene-1 will get interrupted by another scene-2 and scene-1 and its sequel will continue on later and maybe the sequel to scene-2 will come after that. It can get pretty complex.

The way I look at it is I used scene-sequel to plan out my plot threads. So if you imagine threads running parallel to each other, each using the scene-sequel format, each section/chapter of the story can be exploring multiple threads, each progressing scene-sequels from different threads.

If you want to read more about the more complex ways to construct plot using scene-sequel, you can check out this book. IMHO it's really awesome. Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure: Jack Bickham: 9780898799064: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Philip Overby]

The basis of scene-sequel is that something happens and then characters react to it. It sounds formulaic in some ways, but I think it's an excellent way to plot a novel for those of us that can't fly by the seat of our pants. I do a lot of my short stories by pantsing, but for novels I always get frustrated or lost somewhere if I don't have a rough outline planned. Using the scene-sequel format will increase your chances of everything making sense in your novel. When you're finished, you can always go back and spice things up or shift some scenes around to make them seem not so predictable. Opponents of using the scene-sequel method seem to think it only produces predictable writing. If the writer doesn't edit, or edits poorly, then that may be the case.

Everyone has a method which works best for them and mixing a scene-sequel method with perhaps a looser style may help those who want the best of both worlds: a tightly plotted novel that still has great sub-plots, crazy twists, and interesting developments.

The SFWA has a post about this here: http://www.sfwa.org/members/bell/writingtips/summer11.html