I'm blogging today at Romance Writer's Revenge, on the topic of high stakes:
Every story needs stakes, the higher the better.
It took me a while to understand this concept. A long time ago, when an agent called to talk with me about one of my manuscripts, she said my stakes were about a 4.7, and I needed to ratchet them up to an 11. I realized I was striving to give my characters a breezy, conflict-free life filled with rainbows and lollipops, which is understandable, except it makes for a less-than-compelling story.
When a story has high stakes, the characters have to make difficult choices. Each option has unbearable consequences, but with darn good reasons for being that way. Characters naturally want to go with the easy alternative, but they aren't allowed to, because there aren't any easy alternatives.
This provides built-in tension, and the reader stays around because he/she wants to know which impossible choice the character will ultimately make. If it's a choice the reader knows the character doesn't WANT to make, but HAS to, there is also built-in sympathy for the character.
To read more of the post, just click here.
Great post!
P.S. Long time no *see*! Hope you are doing well this summer, Donna!
Posted by: Liz Fichera | August 10, 2011 at 11:20 AM
Thanks, Liz. It's good to see you too. :) Work has been curtailing my online time, but I try to get to the must-see blogs, AND tweet, as much as possible.
Posted by: Donna Cummings | August 10, 2011 at 11:49 AM
I'm hooked! I'm heading over to Romance Writers...:)
Posted by: Kari Marie | August 10, 2011 at 08:33 PM