Lore & LilacFix structure before sentences: cutting, moving and merging scenes
Settle which scenes exist and where they sit before you spend your best hours polishing the prose inside them.
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Related glossary terms
- RevisionThe process of re-seeing and reworking a draft, from structure, scene order and character arcs down to the sentences themselves.
- Reverse outlineAn outline made after drafting that records what each scene actually contains, so you can see the book's real structure.
- Cut fileA separate document where you keep passages removed during revision, so cutting never means losing them.
- Kill your darlingsAdvice to cut passages you love when they don't serve the story, however well written they are.
- Inciting incidentThe event that disturbs the protagonist's ordinary life and sets the main story in motion, forcing a response they can't easily ignore.
- Scene and sequelA pacing pattern that alternates action units (goal, conflict, setback) with reaction units (response, dilemma, decision).
- Setup and payoffThe pairing of an earlier detail, promise or skill planted in the story with a later moment where it matters.
- SubplotA secondary storyline running alongside the main plot, usually with its own characters or goal, that complicates or reflects the central story.