The Surprising Truth About MRUs: Where They Work—and Where They Don’t
Randy sez: First a quick note to explain what MRUs are, since not everybody knows. (And if you want a more detailed explanation, I’ll point you to my long article on this site, “Writing the Perfect Scene,” which covers MRUs in much more detail than I can cover in a single blog post.)
MRUs are Dwight Swain’s abbreviation for “Motivation-Reaction Units.” And what’s a Motivation-Reaction Unit? That’s the finest-grained level of storytelling that novelists use. You might guess that it’s a “motivation” followed by a “reaction” and you’d be right. But what are “motivations” and what are “reactions?”
