Obligatory Scenes and Their Place in Storytelling

If I gave you a book and told you it’s a romance story, what types of scenes do you think will be in it? Before you start reading, you’re probably already thinking that there’s a meet-cute moment, the first kiss, and maybe even a wedding.

These are the scenes that you would expect or even demand to find in the story. And when they don’t occur, you often end up with mixed feelings or downright disappointment. This is why they’re called obligatory scenes.

What Are Obligatory Scenes?

Obligatory scenes are the key events and decisions that move the protagonist forward. These often happen around the climax, giving readers the answers they’ve been begging for from the start. Essentially, they are scenes that are either promised by the story’s genre or the character’s journey.

A genre promises a scene that readers intuitively expect to appear in that genre. For example, in crime fiction, people will probably predict these things to happen: the discovery of the body, the search for clues, the chase for the murderer, and the gunfight.

A character’s journey promises a scene simply because it’s where the story is heading. For example, you introduce a villain that kills the hero’s loved ones. Naturally, the readers will assume a showdown is inevitable—the final battle where the villain gets his comeuppance. Revenge becomes the hero’s motivation, reinforcing the audience’s belief that the showdown must happen.

When obligatory scenes don’t occur, the story fails to deliver the satisfaction that readers are waiting for. It turns them away from the story, disrupting their enjoyment.

Obligatory Scenes by Genre

To give you a better idea of what obligatory scenes are, here is a list of the most common examples arranged by genre.

Romance

• The Meet-Cute: Two strangers are brought together by an unusual, or even life changing event. If they knew each other in the past, this becomes The Reunion.
• The First Kiss: The moment where would-be couple first express attraction to each other.
• The First Fight: The first disagreement that shows their differences.
• The Commitment: Both profess their love for one another and commit in some way.
• The Break-up: A problem arises that severely strains the relationship, ultimately leading to separation.
• Back Together Again: They overcome whatever problem they face, forging their relationship anew, but this time stronger.
• Happily Ever After: The couple remain in love and withstand the test of time. Often conveyed in a quick montage showing their marriage, pregnancy, and old age.

Fantasy

• An Evil is Awakened: Something sinister is loose in the world, promising death and destruction.
• Searching for The One: One person is prophesied to end the evil. Everyone desperately scours the land searching for them before it’s too late.
• Rules of the Universe: The world is slowly introduced to the reader, from relevant cultures and societies to magical aspects and how they work.
• Steel and Sorcery: The protagonist begins learning how to fight through mundane and arcane ways. With the guidance of a mentor, they progress quickly into the hero that they should be.
• The Last Battle: This is the final showdown between Light and Darkness.
• Peace At Last: The evil is vanquished, the dead are honored, and the world begins to rebuild. The hero is showered with rewards and either becomes king or returns home.

Mystery and Thrillers

• The Crime: Almost every mystery and thriller starts this way. A crime is discovered, leading to an investigation that brings in…
• The Detective: Brilliant and determined, the investigator quickly establishes their reputation by pointing out things that the other characters missed and deducing additional information from what they see.
• A Conspiracy: The case quickly spirals out of control as dangerous information is unearthed by the detective.
• It’s Personal Now: The hero or someone they’re close to is targeted by the villain. Now the hero is not only motivated by justice, but also revenge.
• A Fitting End: Depending on what type of mystery or thriller you’re reading, the ending can be different. There is justice (the villain is caught), injustice (the villain gets away), or irony (the villain is caught but the detective loses something important, or the villain gets away but it results in the greater good).

Horror

• The Monster Attacks: This is the first attack of the monster, the one that jumpstarts the story.
• The Warning Signs: The protagonist notices that there’s something wrong, but has no real evidence to prove it. In some cases they ignore the signs, in which case, it becomes an Idiot Plot.
• The First Encounter: The hero finally confirms that something horrific is lurking in the shadows.
• The True Nature of the Monster is Revealed: The hero learns what the monster really is, what its goal is, and what’s at stake.
• Reactive to Proactive: Knowing what’s at stake pushes them into finally going into offense. They make plans on how to find, defeat, or drive away the monster.
• Deaths: The monster is too powerful. The hero and their allies are at its mercy. Sacrifices from loved ones are made in order to give the hero a chance to finally defeat the monster.

Genre Conventions and Obligatory Scenes

In some ways, genre conventions—roles, settings, events, and themes specific to a genre—are similar to obligatory scenes. Sometimes they may even overlap.

Genre conventions may concern the characters (romance’s childhood best friend, horror’s evil scientist), the setting (fantasy’s medieval ages, cyberpunk’s techno-noir city), and plot techniques (mystery’s red herring, thriller’s MacGuffins).

What these conventions do is raise the expectations for what’s coming next in the story—hence, the obligatory scenes. They work as the set-up to the obligatory scene’s pay off.

A common example can be seen in some romance stories. The girl protagonist is the archetypal outcast who is bullied by the popular girls. Being the protagonist, the reader will anticipate the transformation, where she becomes society’s perfect girl—beautiful, fashionable, and popular.

The Trouble with Obligatory Scenes

Obligatory scenes can be hard to balance, as it’s easy for them to devolve into cliches. While they are expected, failing to use them well can create a story that’s already been read a thousand times over. Considering that they are often the climax, they can be what makes or breaks a story.

You can see why many writers might hate the idea of them. They can be cheesy, uninspired, and unsurprising. Originality is definitely important in writing, but obligatory scenes shouldn’t be discounted so quickly.

Obligatory scenes must happen, but they don’t need to happen in the way that the readers expect. This is where you insert originality and surprise.

Think about this: to surprise a reader, they must first have expectations—which is exactly what obligatory scenes are. Readers think they know where the story is going, but when you twist or invert their assumptions, they pay closer attention. They begin to understand that they’ve taken the story for granted; that it holds something mysterious for them to discover.

So yes, while obligatory scenes can be tough nuts to crack, using them well leads to fresh stories that are innovative and surprising. Writers shouldn’t be afraid of using them to their advantage as ultimately, they’re there to keep the story moving forward.

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