I’ve heard screenwriters discuss the benefits of “but/therefore” storytelling versus “and then” storytelling. Bad movie scripts tack random event onto random event (“and then, and then, and then”). This amounts to an unfulfilling story that doesn’t quite track. By contrast, compelling scripts plant narrative seeds, then create conflicts and resolutions that sprout accordingly (“therefore,” “therefore,” “but,” “therefore”). We crave this structure in ourselves as much as we do in fiction.
