Why Your Story Feels Episodic — and the Two Words That Fix It

Most writers connect their scenes with “and then.” That’s how you get a plot summary, not a story.

Every scene should connect to the next with either “but” or “therefore.”

“But” means complication: the character tries something, and it fails, or something unexpected blocks the path.

“Therefore” means consequence: because this happened, that follows.

When you can replace your scene transitions with “and then,” your story is episodic. Events happen in sequence. They don’t cause each other. The reader keeps turning pages out of habit, not urgency.

I’ve seen it in hundreds of student manuscripts. Chapter one: protagonist discovers a mystery. Chapter two: she goes to the library. Chapter three: she meets a helpful stranger. Each thing happens. None of them are caused by the last.

Now try it with consequence. She discovers a mystery, therefore she goes to the library—but the records have been removed. She meets a helpful stranger, but he knows more than he should.

Same events. Completely different story.

Today’s fix: take your last 5 scene transitions and ask what connects them. “And then,” “but,” or “therefore”? Every “and then” is a revision target.

For each “and then” you found, rewrite the transition so the second scene is directly caused by the choice your protagonist made or the information she received in the first. If you can’t find the causal link, the scenes may need to be reordered—or one of them cut. When every scene is a consequence of the scene before it, readers can’t put the book down mid-chapter because the next page is already in motion.

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This topic is covered in depth in our Novel Writing.