In some ways, the tc2c model is like those shows that are combine an episodic plot with an arcing plot to deliver both story satisfaction and cliffhanging anticipation. Only taken to the micro level within the show.

It gives viewers/readers the best of both worlds: a feeling of completion and a desire for more.

And I DO love the c2c technique. I’m more interested in prose writing than screen writing*, but I’ve noticed that in books that I feel are particularly strong the chapters do the same thing. In books that I think are extremely strong I’ve noticed what I think is an improvement upon the simple c2c technique. I’ll call it “threaded cliffhanger to cliffhanger” or “tc2c” for short.

I’ll describe tc2c and then provide an example of it in action. I haven’t talked about this a lot, so I hope it’s not confusing.

Now, as I understand it, simple c2c does two things structurally.

1) Resolves the prior scene’s cliffhanger.
2) Creates a new cliffhanger for the next scene.

In tc2c a scene, pretty much in order, does four things structurally.

1) Resolves the prior scenes cliffhanger.
2) Raises a question/problem to catch the reader’s/viewer’s attention.
3) Solves the question/problem raised in #2.
4) Creates a new cliffhanger for the next chapter.

Here’s an example from a book I love where practically every chapter is an example of the tc2c technique.**

At end the last scene a protagonist, a carpenter (if I remember correctly) got a piece of secret government information from a contact, the very possession of which could mean death and the secret police are after it. He lives in a near police state, so danger is everywhere. The question/cliffhanger is, of course, what can he do with the info? Ignore it? Burn it? Turn it over to the police?

At the beginning of the next scene the character is disguised as a woman and on a train.

This resolves the cliffhanger. Now we know the character is making a run with the info someplace.

Also, a new question is raised, where is he taking the info? Why is he disguised?

The meat of the chapter/scene resolves this question. He’s been using this disguise for years to cover his visits to a butcher shop that provides the cover for an underground, illegal, newspaper. The carpenter has been the newspaper’s editor for years. This resolves the question of while he’s disguised, where he’s going, and why he’s going there.

Of course, the scene ends with another cliffhanger. Everyone at the newspaper’s secret hideout has been killed or captured, the secret police knew about it all along. Now the protagonist is back on the run.

I think the tc2c technique improves upon the c2c because there’s a complete narrative arc is every scene so the viewer is left satisfied that they learned something (about the character or world) with what they saw, while also giving them a hook to drag them into the next scene with.

*And yet I’m reading this blog, cause I think storytelling is storytelling.

**Perdido Street Station.

The other thing that enhanced those sequence payoffs was the music. Whoever is doing it really understands the value and contribution music makes to a show.