Domino is a word that conjures up the image of a domino effect—one thing knocks over another, and so on. Physicist Loren Whitehead has demonstrated that the effect is much more powerful than you might think. A single domino can knock over things one-and-a-half times its own size. It’s this power that gives domino its name, and it also has a useful metaphor for writing fiction.
In a novel, each scene is a domino that impacts the next scene in a similar way to how dominoes are lined up in careful sequence and then toppled with just a little nudge. Each scene must build on the previous scene in a meaningful and satisfying way, or it will not be effective as a whole. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to the details of each scene, even if they seem insignificant on their own.
Domino’s Pizza founder Jim Monaghan built his business based on the idea that it was important to put a restaurant in a good location. He placed his first store in the middle of downtown Ypsilanti, Michigan, near Michigan State University. By focusing on the right location, Domino’s was able to capitalize on a captive audience. That focus paved the way for their rapid growth, with over 200 locations by 1978.
As a child, Hevesh loved to collect dominoes and set them up in intricate designs. This fascination turned into a career for Hevesh, who now creates amazing domino displays for films, TV shows, and events, including a Katy Perry album launch. Her largest setups consist of hundreds of thousands of dominoes, and it can take several nail-biting minutes for them to fall. It’s a testament to how each domino is insignificant on its own, but once they’re set up properly, the outcome is truly mesmerizing.
Hevesh is a true master when it comes to dominoes, and her skills can be applied to the art of storytelling. Using this concept of dominoes to illustrate a narrative is a great way to help writers understand how each scene should impact the next in a story.
Whether you’re a pantser who writes off the cuff or use a plotting tool like Scrivener, every scene must build on the previous scene in logical ways. If your heroine uncovers a clue in a murder mystery, for example, it needs to be followed up by an action-packed scene that builds tension and reveals the next big piece of the puzzle.
The mutant Domino is a member of the Six Pack mercenary team and an ally of time-traveling mutant Cable. She was once a part of Project Armageddon, where she learned that she had a younger brother named Lazarus. He later allied with Domino and the new X-Corporation Hong Kong branch to hinder John Sublime’s Third Species mutant organ harvesting movement. She’s also fought alongside the X-Men and worked for Storm’s security task force on Utopia. During this time, she was briefly impersonated by the mutant shapeshifter Copycat.