Connections/ How to Make them in a Story

The connections between characters and plot situation and setting and their relationship to internal and external conflict is what drives a novel forward. I struggle with this all the time. I think this simple way (Use THEREFORE, BUT and not AND THEN) of looking at the relationship between what happens in a story is helpful.
Check out this very short video (about two minutes) by the creators of South Park—their # 1 Rule.
They say that what you’re doing is trying to link what happens in a story by either a “THERFORE” or a “BUT”; what you should avoid is the “AND THEN” because this will just lead to a sequence of unrelated events etc. I think this is a simple way to remember one of those larger guiding principles of propelling your story forward.THIS HAPPENS Therefore THIS HAPPENSBut THIS HAPPENS so (therefore) THIS HAPPENS
For example
Boy steals a car/Boy gets caught by police/Boy calls parents to come and get him out/ BUT parents won’t because they decide it will teach him a lesson/therefore-when he’s in jail he gets beat up so badly he gets put in the hospital/ therefore…. And on it and on.
http://www.theafw.com/blog/south-park-writers-share-their-writing-rule-1/#.
Also giving away another ARC of Utopia, Iowa, at Goodreads—I’m down to one.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22747808-utopia-iowa