EXCERPT:

Alida: It’s always from the fry pan to the fire. So you just have to keep asking yourself, how is this going to get worse for my character? What can make this tougher?

Kathryn: The decisions they make can’t make them happier. These decisions have to make them suffer more, constantly more suffering. But it’s not always the physical suffering, just things going on around them are overwhelmed or frustration or anger. Things not turning out the way that they want them to turn out. It’s just that constant compounding of things.

Alida: Right. Okay. Yeah, I know. I was going to say that, too. I was going to say, I think I hear a theme here. Frustration, overwhelmed. Weren’t we just talking about that? well, but let’s break that down a little bit more, because we do want our characters to have moments of light and joy in the story. We don’t want the story to be a total drag for the readers, and we don’t want it to be hopeless for our characters. So let’s say that your hero gets to kiss the Princess. Then what? Well, the Princess gets kidnapped. So you give us that hope, you throw us the dog bone or whatever. But then you’ve got to come and escalate the trouble. And by doing that, by combining the hope with the trouble, you actually raise the stakes for the character and the reader because by giving the character what he wants, then we’ve got that sense of reward and satisfaction. And it’s harder to have it and lose it than to never have it at all than to just keep slogging along.

This episode previously aired as 019.

VIDEO

AUDIO

SHOW NOTES

What is trouble? How does it contribute to both character and plot arcs? How do you have to pay off trouble? And do you have to get it into every scene? We enjoy making a character struggle with a speeding ticket, and talk about how it can contribute to hooks both between chapters and books.

What we talked about:

What is trouble? (0:25)

How can you alleviate the trouble with moments of hope, and thus raise the stakes for the reader? (2:12)

How does character arc and trouble work hand in hand? (3:15)

How do you know how much trouble to put your character in? And how to escalate the trouble through the story? (6:35)

Does trouble always have to be relevant to the goal the character is pursuing? (8:04)

How do you provide pay off for the trouble you put your characters in? (11:40)

Revise with your trouble in mind, have you closed all the open loops? (17:08)

Should there ever be a scene without trouble? (18:02)

How can trouble contribute to hooks between chapters or books? (19:21)

What are the two different kinds of trouble we are talking about and how can you make both resonate through the book? (24:00)

LINKS

Get Alida’s Writing Tips here.

Things we mentioned:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Dharma and Greg
Sneaky Pete

Want more about these topics? Check out:

Flash Tip: Chapter Structure
Flash Tip: Frypan to Fire
60 Second Tip: Going Up? Stakes & Tension
60 Second Tip: Hooks & Endnotes

Have thoughts, questions, other examples? Join the conversation at the Story Works Writers Facebook group.