Novel Writing

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 20:29:43 -0400

Six Ways To Raise The Stakes in Novel Writing

By Jody E. Lebel

1) Give your protagonist terrible choices.

A writing instructor once told me to give the character two options: sucky or suckier. If she doesn't want children, get her pregnant. And then make it a hard pregnancy or have her get bad news from the doctor. Have her lose her job and her insurance. Your readers are gonna' be crying over this lady.

2) Add a deadline. Or put in a ticking clock.

The bomb will go off at midnight. She has only until tomorrow to get that job or else the bank is going to take her house. If he doesn't get married before his 25th birthday, in 30 days, he'll lose the inheritance. Raise everyone's blood pressure and see what happens.

3) End your chapters with a cliffhanger, a question or a hook.

Don't end each chapter neatly. Let the car be sliding toward the cliff on an icy road. Make it impossible for the reader to put down the book. In the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins the first chapter ended at the point where they drew the name of the female who will participate in the games, a brutal contest played to the death. The main character is a 16-year-old girl, Katniss Everdeen. It goes like this:

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Novel Writing