The Payoff

I've been thinking a lot about what I call the "payoff" scenes.  Basically, it's when an author includes a seemingly insignificant scene or fact that later on has much more significance.  Since most people out there have read Harry Potter, I'll use that as an example.  We learn early on that Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts, but it isn't until the second book that we learn the entire story, and it all fits together in the intricate workings of a complex plotline.  Jasper Fforde and Douglas Adams are also great at this. (Is it a British thing?  I don't know.)

It's a quality that I admire in other authors and greatly enjoy as a reader, so I do try to emulate it in my own writing.  It's also just common sense for writers.

But the payoff doesn't have to be that extreme.  When I'm writing, I'm constantly asking myself the point of each scene. Every scene, especially early on, is an investment.  It has to serve a purpose so it can pay off later.  It can introduce a character or conflict, highlight a characteristic, or advance the plot, among other things.  But it can't just be there.

Right now, I'm dragging my feet in the transition of my story.  My main character and I have experienced the big climax and are working through the fallout. We know where we're supposed to get to, but we're having trouble figuring out which investment to make.  Which scene will have the best payoff later in the story?

Dueling plotlines have taken over my brain.  It seems that the only way to narrow them down is to write it all and let natural selection decide.  The fittest will survive.  However, that seems like an awful waste of time, so I guess I need to dig in and outline...for real...our final moves.  Hopefully, this will help me figure out which investments to make: which scenes to write, which characters and moments to focus on, and which ones to keep in the background.