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Ratchet Up the Tension

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Ratchet Up the Tension

So you have a list of characters, a setting, a list of things that will happen to the protagonist, even a timeline, but things still seem a little dull. There seems to be something missing. Sure my two princes will be crowned king, but what’s so exciting about that.  One more ingredient is needed to make this story sparkle, jump out and pull the reader in and then never let go. It needs some tension, a little conflict thrown in. What brought my protagonist to this spot and where will he go once it is over?

To come up with these, I suggest doing a what if list: what if someone interrupts the ceremony, what if there is a kidnapping, what if the prince doesn’t make it and why didn’t he make it? As we answer these what ifs a whole new set of ideas arise along with ratcheting up the tension. Don’t give the reader an easy situation, take the answer to your what ifs and incorporate them into the story. This will add all new dimensions to your story and help your word count get from 0 to say 50,000, 100,000 and beyond. Your characters will become three dimensional as you see how they react to the dilemma in front of them.

Never let your protagonist take the easy way out, don’t let the situation pass without a little conflict to spice things up. I have a friend, Ang Bouma, whose theory is when you get blocked throw in a bar fight. I want to add to that and suggest if things are getting to dull, too easy, throw in a bar fight. Don’t give the characters a chance to become complacent. Complacent is boring Give the reader a reason to root for your protagonist, to be fearful that he won’t reach his goal, that this time he may just be the one to lose. And make sure that once in a while he does lose, because winning all the time is boring and predictable. Always keep your readers wondering, but don’t take away their hope. Strike an equal balance between success and failure. This is what will keep your reader turning the pages, reading till the end and wanting more, like the next book in the series.

Check out Ang Bouma’s blog for more writing stuff at http://angbouma.wordpress.com.

God Bless and Happy Writing

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Plotting: Planning 2

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Plotting 2

You have a list of things that need to happen in your story. Now what does it take to glue all of these into a cohesive plot?

I mentioned a few things in my last post and now is the time to think about them and how they fit into your story. You have your genre, setting, time frame and characters with apparent relationships (these relationships can be subject to change in the story) in place. Now comes the fun part.

What is/are the characters goals and how will they achieve it? What obstacles will stand in the way of him and his goals? And what color is the bow that will wrap up the story? (Tip: Decide if this is part of series, because that will help decide the color of the bow.) Another thing to remember is the ending is not always happy for the protagonist.

Take these things and consider the obstacles, big or little, when do they serve their optimal purpose in the protagonists journey. An extreme example in my story: I can’t have the infant son kidnapped before he is even born. It will definitely have more of an impact after we see the king’s love for his son and how the infant fits into the overall story. Maybe when the king trusts the kidnapper or when the kidnapper is angered by something the king has done.

This is the point where the timeline tool comes into play. You need to figure out the sequence of events so everyone is where they need to be when they need to be there.
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In my current w.i.p I had a wizard in two places at once. My critique group (they are very good usually) didn’t catch it, but thank goodness I did. There was a simple solution; I just had the wizard leave one place to go to the other. If I hadn’t some reader would have caught it and my credibility as a storyteller would have been in question. Timelines can be tricky things, but well worth the effort to have a vague idea ahead of time, so you don’t have wizards in two places at once.

In my next post I’ll talk about ratcheting up the tension and fighting through to the end.

Until next time happy writing and God Bless,

Chris

http://www.literarygumbo.com