The Five Fold Passage

By Scot Noel

Have you been staring at the page for a while, aimlessly moving your mouse for amusement, waiting for inspiration to tell you what happens next? The story will not advance without some keyboarding, so how do you get back in the action?

Write a Five-Fold Passage . “What is such a thing?” you ask, and in response I’ll admit, honestly, that there is nothing special about the idea. I’ve just taken concepts with which we are all familiar as writers and organized them with a view to getting that next scene under way when you’re not sure what to type next.

To start, we’re talking about a scene, or perhaps only part of a scene, somewhere around 300 words in length, but length is not critical to the concept. What’s important is including 5 distinct elements that should help you conceive the moment and engage the reader’s interest while moving the narrative forward.

The Five Folds of the “Passage”

Over the next few or perhaps a dozen paragraphs of your story, you’re going to focus on five things. These are elements you should be able wrap your head around, and they’ll help engage your reader too.

These elements or ‘Folds’ are: Vision, Extra-Ocular Senses, Emotion, Perception, and Plot Step .

Let’s describe them one by one, and then use them in an example Passage using the Five Folds. There is nothing special about the order. In actual use, feel free to change it up as seems appropriate to your needs.

VISION

What does the viewpoint character in the scene see?  

This one isn’t too complicated. There must be something worthy of visual description in the immediate vicinity of your viewpoint character. No need to over think it; you can always come back to edit later. What do you see?

EXTRA-OCULAR SENSES

Using a sense other than sight, what does the viewpoint character sense or feel?

•    Sound
•    Touch
•    Smell
•    Taste
•    Pressure, Vibration, Sickness, Pain, etc.

The goal here is to bring in a sensation other than sight. Is something burning? Is the floor shaking? Is that the taste of blood in your character’s mouth? You don’t need to make it too dramatic. Maybe their shoes are just too tight.

The only qualification —if it all possible— is that it should make sense to the scene, as in perhaps a reflection of your character’s mental state. Remember, you can feel the invigorating warmth of the sun or sweat under its oppressive heat. Which is right for the scene?

EMOTION

How does the viewpoint character feel during the passage?

•    Excited
•    Threatened
•    Happy
•    Overwhelmed
•    Sad
•    Bored
•    Angry

Being physically oriented into the scene is one thing, but understanding your character’s emotional state is another. Regardless of external circumstances, your protagonist has some internal realities to deal with. The same birthday party can be ecstatic for the 9-year-old who just learned they’ll be going to Disney World and distractingly grim for the kid’s uncle who just received the call diagnosing his cancer.

How does it feel? Let’s include the emotion.

PERCEPTION

In storytelling, when you convey a protagonist's perception of a scene, you're essentially providing the reader with a filtered view of the world through the character's personal lens. This includes how the character organizes, identifies, and interprets sensory information, which shapes their understanding and reaction to their environment.

Simply put, what are they thinking about? What are they thinking about the scene in which they are engaged?

Since their perception might include a fragment of understanding about the world itself, a sentence or two cluing the reader into to the characters’ view of things can do double-duty in exposition— explaining the world to the reader through the character’s point of view.

For example, if developing a scene of humans facing alien invaders, your viewpoint character might “perceive” that all is lost because they face overwhelming numbers and are low on supplies. Or, they might be thinking that, regardless of the odds, their team is well prepared to stave off the assault. In either case, the reader has learned something about the aliens (their vast numbers) and about the humans (their level of supplies and state of their preparedness).

PLOT STEP

This element can be inside or outside of the viewpoint character’s perception.

I’ll define it as an occurrence, a character action, a thought, a desire, or some other bit of business that sets a connection to the following passage, drawing the reader on to the next scene.

The more I think about it, the more I might just be using a different word for what is generally known as a story “beat.”

A story beat refers to a significant event, decision, or discovery in the story that propels the plot forward.

Beats might involve a specific action that changes the situation. It could be the character’s reaction to an event that just happened. Or the character makes a decision leading to a change of plans. A beat might reveal new information. It could be hinged on a change in emotional state.

•     Action : The character opens the door to a room, and the person they are looking for is dead inside.
•     Reaction : Failing the police sergeant’s exam for the fifth time, Jeremy takes it out on his wife, ridiculing her all through dinner.
•     Decision : The character decides to press the red button. It must do something!
•     Revelation : The bartender’s cut didn’t bleed; she’s not really human.
•     Emotional Shift : Being chosen for the squad was the best day of their life, until the hazing began.

For my purposes, I simply want the Plot Step or “beat” to be the thing that you can hang the next scene on. You know where to start typing, because you just told your reader where you’re going next.

Let’s Try it Out

Here’s a Five-Fold Passage I wrote to test this process. I’ll flag the five points. See if you can relate them back to the descriptions above.

For Kai, exploring the ruins at dusk proved exhilarating, the most exciting time. [ Emotion ]

The newcomer to the roof grunted as he hefted a cloth covered object and brought it over to Kai. Together, smooth white hands and tattooed black ones pulled away the coverings to reveal the ship’s telescope and tripod.
Kai smiled. “Now, for taking this, we get sent back to the ship. Under guard.” [Plot Step. The next thing they have to do is use the telescope. ]

Use as Needed

As you try out The Five-Fold Passage , remember that writing is both an art and a science—crafted not just from sudden flashes of inspiration but through deliberate and thoughtful construction of narrative elements.

This is just one way to show how structure can coax creativity from the chaos of countless possibilities. Each element—vision, senses beyond sight, emotion, perception, and plot steps—is a thread in your story's fabric, and together they can help weave the whole together.

So, the next time you face the daunting blank space of the next paragraph, trust in your tools and your talent. Set your fingers to the keys and let these techniques guide you. And best of luck with your writing.