Plan Your Scenes Like Dominoes
The domino effect describes a series of events that cascade from one to the next. It can be literally applied to a falling row of dominoes or, more commonly, to a chain reaction in which one event causes many other events that influence it. This concept of the domino effect has a place in writing, especially fiction. When you’re planning out your scenes, think of them as the dominoes—whatever action you need to set in motion to get your story to its climax. In a novel, scene dominoes might be anything from a specific action to a character’s motivation.
Dominoes are small rectangular blocks, either plain or textured, that can be stacked on top of each other. Each tile has a value, indicated by the number of dots on its exposed ends (called pips). The value may be as low as one or as high as six. The total value of a domino, including the two matching ends, is called its rank. The first player places a domino on the table, usually by drawing lots or choosing the highest-valued hand. Once a domino is in play, the other players must place their tiles around it so that it’s surrounded by matched ranks.
The more dominoes are piled up, the greater the force of gravity pulling them down. Hevesh works within these limits when she creates her amazing installations, whose largest setups can take several nail-biting minutes to fall. She follows a version of the engineering-design process to plan out her installations, and she test-runs each part before moving onto the larger arrangement.
She explains that she begins with the theme of the installation, and brainstorms images or words that might connect to it. Then she makes a diagram of the entire project, including any 3-D structures, and adds in the directional arrows to show how each domino will fall. She also adds notes about the size and shape of each domino, noting its weight.
Hevesh says that there’s no “right” way to make a domino layout, but she pays special attention to how the pieces fit together. The most important thing, she says, is that each domino be a good match for the next. She tries to make sure that each domino has enough force to knock over the next, and that the angles of the two connecting ends match up well.
A domino set is traditionally made from a hard material such as bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, or ebony, with contrasting black or white pips inlaid or painted on. Some sets are also made from other materials such as marble, granite, or soapstone; metals like brass or pewter; and ceramic clay.
If you’re a writer who plans out your novels in advance, using outlines and software like Scrivener to help you with the process, then the domino image is an excellent metaphor. However, even if you’re a “pantser,” a writer who writes without an outline, the domino image can still help you avoid creating scenes that aren’t necessary or don’t have a logical connection to the preceding ones.
The domino effect describes a series of events that cascade from one to the next. It can be literally applied to a falling row of dominoes or, more commonly, to a chain reaction in which one event causes many other events that influence it. This concept of the domino effect has a place in writing, especially fiction. When you’re planning out your scenes, think of them as the dominoes—whatever action you need to set in motion to get your story to its climax. In a novel, scene dominoes might be anything from a specific action to a character’s motivation. Dominoes are small rectangular blocks, either plain or textured, that can be stacked on top of each other. Each tile has a value, indicated by the number of dots on its exposed ends (called pips). The value may be as low as one or as high as six. The total value of a domino, including the two matching ends, is called its rank. The first player places a domino on the table, usually by drawing lots or choosing the highest-valued hand. Once a domino is in play, the other players must place their tiles around it so that it’s surrounded by matched ranks. The more dominoes are piled up, the greater the force of gravity pulling them down. Hevesh works within these limits when she creates her amazing installations, whose largest setups can take several nail-biting minutes to fall. She follows a version of the engineering-design process to plan out her installations, and she test-runs each part before moving onto the larger arrangement. She explains that she begins with the theme of the installation, and brainstorms images or words that might connect to it. Then she makes a diagram of the entire project, including any 3-D structures, and adds in the directional arrows to show how each domino will fall. She also adds notes about the size and shape of each domino, noting its weight. Hevesh says that there’s no “right” way to make a domino layout, but she pays special attention to how the pieces fit together. The most important thing, she says, is that each domino be a good match for the next. She tries to make sure that each domino has enough force to knock over the next, and that the angles of the two connecting ends match up well. A domino set is traditionally made from a hard material such as bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, or ebony, with contrasting black or white pips inlaid or painted on. Some sets are also made from other materials such as marble, granite, or soapstone; metals like brass or pewter; and ceramic clay. If you’re a writer who plans out your novels in advance, using outlines and software like Scrivener to help you with the process, then the domino image is an excellent metaphor. However, even if you’re a “pantser,” a writer who writes without an outline, the domino image can still help you avoid creating scenes that aren’t necessary or don’t have a logical connection to the preceding ones.