ABSTRACT This paper investigates how plot-advancement routines, i.e. ‘what-if’, ‘if-do’, and forking-path story alternatives, are generated in narrative composition and dramatic writing by exploring cognitive representations such as schemata and problem-solving mechanisms. The complexity of narrative synthesis and problem-solving involves the integration, organisation and recall of data relations in a systemic way through identification of logical inconsistencies. Cognitively, the advancement of plot is not based solely on the consolidation of narrative information. Authors have to base their strategic decisions also on architectural and structural, goal-oriented routines and sub-routines, all of which are investigated in this paper through a comparative analysis of topics from behavioural and cognitive psychology, cognitive narratology and narrative theory, artificial intelligence and narrative causality, aiming to elucidate a multifaceted process during dramatic writing and narrative composition.