Three Strategies for Creating Progressively Escalating Complications

Unputdownable stories keep readers off balance, as one scene tips into another, and another, and the next. Each scene’s challenge demands a response, and each response spirals into fresh complications.

But compelling stories don’t pile on problems in random fashion. Complications flow organically from one scene to the next in a chain of action and reaction. The upshot for your novel? This chain of progressively escalating complications transforms a mere assemblage of scenes into an unstoppable narrative.

Why Complications Matter

Your protagonist acts, the world reacts. The world acts, your protagonist reacts.

Action, reaction. Stimulus, response. Scene, complication, next scene . . . This is the heartbeat of compelling storytelling. Each cycle creates new complications that demand fresh choices, building momentum that pulls readers deeper into the story.

A compelling story makes the character happen to the plot, not the plot happen to the character. A protagonist must have agency to drive the story forward—the power to choose, and the power to act.

Strong, clear action-reaction dynamics create stories where:

• Protagonists have agency: Characters actively respond and make decisions that drive the story forward, rather than simply enduring whatever happens to them.
• Character choice matters: Each complication requires the protagonist to make meaningful decisions that shape what happens next.
• Readers stay engaged: Readers connect with characters who act and react, not just victims of circumstances.
• Momentum builds naturally: Action-reaction creates that “can’t put it down” quality, because readers are invested in how the character will respond to each new challenge.

A strong, connected chain of events empowers your protagonist as an active agent in their own story. Here are three techniques you can use to forge a chain that holds weight.

Technique 1: The Fortunately/Unfortunately Method

The simplest plotting technique for creating progressive complications is the fortunately/unfortunately strategy. It goes like this: A good thing happens, but then something bad happens as a result. This outcome creates a new complication that demands a new response.

Fortunately/unfortunately generates a constant stream of opportunities for your characters to make decisions and take actions that move the story along. They’re never stuck waiting for the next thing to happen. Every scene hands them a new snag to deal with.

Here’s how fortunately/unfortunately might work in a story about a musician:

Fortunately, Maya’s band gets offered a record deal after their breakthrough performance.

Unfortunately, the contract requires them to fire their longtime drummer, who happens to be Maya’s best friend.

Fortunately, Maya convinces the label to give her friend one more chance.

Unfortunately, during the crucial audition, he chokes under pressure and plays the worst set of his life.

Fortunately, Maya discovers the drummer has been struggling with severe anxiety and finds him a therapist.

Unfortunately, the therapy sessions conflict with their recording schedule, and the label threatens to drop them entirely.

Each fortunately creates hope and forward momentum for Maya. Each unfortunately yanks that hope away and forces her into a new, even stickier situation. She can never rest—she’s constantly reacting to new challenges that arise from her previous choices.

Technique 2: Choosing Consequences Over Continuations

Technique #2 builds story momentum by choosing consequences over continuations—consequences like therefore and but rather than continuations like and then. This approach, popularized by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, ensures that every scene builds on what came before.

Your mission in every scene is to generate some twist—the outcome of the scene, its fallout, its consequences—that forces the character to deal with it in the next. You’ll know you’ve succeeded when you can express the cause and effect using words like therefore or but.

THEREFORE creates a consequence: The performance goes incredibly well; therefore, a talent scout approaches Maya with an offer.

BUT creates a complication: The performance goes well, but Maya discovers the talent scout is actually her ex-boyfriend’s new partner, setting up a personal conflict.

Therefore and but create genuine story momentum because they force every scene to build on what came before. In this way, nothing in the story happens in isolation. Every action ripples forward into new complications that make readers wonder what will happen next.

Technique 3: The “Yes/But” and “No/So” Dynamic

The third technique for building complications is the “yes, but” / “no, so” dynamic. Yes, the character succeeds, but there’s a complication—or no, they don’t succeed, so here’s what happens as a result.

Yes, Maya’s band gets the recording contract, but they have to relocate across the country, leaving behind everything familiar.

No, Maya’s band doesn’t get the contract, so their lead singer quits to join the band that beat them out.

Each scenario creates a new situation that demands action from your protagonist. The “yes, but” gives them success—but with strings attached. The “no, so” compounds their failure with additional complications.

Either way, the characters can’t sit still. They must react, and that reaction creates the next link in your narrative chain.

The Chain of Complications

These three complication- and connectivity-building techniques work because they mirror real life. Success at anything rarely comes without complications, and failure often brings unexpected consequences. Real life feels like a cascade of consequences, where every choice creates new challenges that demand fresh decisions.

A singular, strong narrative throughline is the primary byproduct of an unbroken chain of action-reaction dynamics. You’ll know you’ve succeeded if plucking out a single scene and moving it to a new location would break the story’s continuity, requiring considerable revision. Your domino effect would be missing a chunk of dominos, and you’d need to reconstruct new connections from Point A to Point B.

These three techniques all serve one purpose: Make your character happen to the story by giving them the agency to respond, choose, and act in some minute way in every scene. This dynamic will transform a collection of scenes into a narrative with relentless momentum.

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