Using the Domino Principle to Plot Your Novel

Dominoes are a favorite childhood game and they’re also a great metaphor for learning. One small movement of a domino can affect the entire line. Building a domino line requires planning and focus. When students compensate for a weakness, it can impact their ability to develop that skill. This can be a domino effect and eventually lead to academic difficulties. Using a domino model in the classroom can help teachers plan strategies for improving student performance.

The word domino comes from a Latin phrase meaning “favorable outcome.” It has come to be associated with luck, especially when used as a card game. During the 1700s and 1800s, dominoes were often played with dice to add more excitement to the game. The game continues to be popular today and is used in a variety of ways. The word has also been adapted as a name, imparting a sense of authority and expertise. Many business, organizations, and products use the name to convey a positive image.

Whether you write off the cuff or create a detailed outline, plotting a novel ultimately comes down to one question: What happens next? Considering how the domino principle works can help you answer this question in a way that makes your story compelling.

The first step in creating a domino effect is to choose your target audience. You should consider who will be most likely to respond to your work, and what their motivations will be to engage with it. You may also want to look at your target audience’s cultural context, including social norms and expectations. The more you understand your audience, the easier it will be to determine what kind of tone and voice to use in your writing.

While there are many different versions of the domino game, all of them begin with a double-six set of 28 tiles shuffled and placed face down to form the stock or boneyard. Players then draw seven tiles from the stock and place them on-edge in front of them, so that they can see their own but not the value of their opponents’. Each player then moves their pieces in turn, placing them on-edge, and putting down additional tiles to build their domino line.

When you’re ready to start writing your own novel, incorporating the domino principle into your plotting will help you make sure that the action and reaction of your characters are clear and easy to follow. The process of creating a plot involves a chain reaction, so the more carefully planned your dominos are, the smoother the overall experience will be for your reader.

The mutant Domino was born as the result of a top secret government breeding program designed to develop the perfect weapon. Her genetically enhanced “luck” power made her a failure, and she was broken out of the project by her biological mother and left with the Church of the Sacred Heart priest who cared for her as a child. After becoming a career mercenary, she joined Xavier’s X-Corporation in Hong Kong and later fought alongside the X-Men. While investigating the new Project Armageddon, Domino found that her younger brother, Lazarus, was a product of the program and possessed similar luck powers. She then infiltrated the base and stopped John Sublime’s Third Species movement, a campaign of mutant organ harvesting.