A great suspense has a sacrifice that touches our heart. It does’t have to be a physical death – it can be a death of pride, or hope, or a dream. But a sacrificial moment reveals how your character has changed during the journey, and completes their transformation into a hero. What is that Sacrifice? A sacrifice is thing your character can’t surrender/do at the beginning he can do at the end. The Sacrificial Act is found by asking: What would your character do, or never surrender? And then follow up with the question: What would make him do/surrender it? You must put this scene into your plot. You know your character well enough by now to understand what he’d never do. The scene that must be included in your […]
Read the RestArchive | 3. Publish your Story RSS feed for this section
“I couldn’t put it down!” Using Stakes and Motivations to build riveting suspense!
I saw two suspense movies this weekend: I am Number Four and Unstoppable. Both were enjoyable – both captured my attention and moved me into the story. But neither of were epic. Neither of them made me care, rooted me to my seat in fear, or made me jump from it yelling. Why? Because they both lacked the key elements of Stake and Motivation. The key to a great story is the combination of both, and this is the third element needed in a great suspense. In a riveting suspense, there is always a rising interplay of balance between the motivation and stakes of the story. As things get worse, and their fears grow, so also do their motivations to defeat the fears. Let’s start […]
Read the RestMan up! (Creating a Suspense Hero Day 2!)
Yesterday we talked about creating that sympathetic opening for our hero that helps the reader connect with him and forgive him (just in case he starts doing things like break the law…or people). What other elements does a Suspense Hero need? Competence. Our hero has to be GOOD at something. Maybe it’s not anything we see right away, but some skill that he uses to save the day. See, everyone has something they are good at, even if they don’t know it and a great suspense brings this out. It challenges the hero’s abilities at each turn, and yet in the end, it’s this hidden competence, or rekindled competence that saves the day. In Eagle Eye, we see that our hero can talk fast to get himself […]
Read the RestThe My Book Therapy Frasier Contest is OPEN!
My Book Therapy is thrilled to announce the Second Annual My Book Therapy writing contest for the members of Club Book Therapy Voices! The Frasier! We at My Book Therapy believe in the power of feedback to help a writer grow! And one of the best ways to get unbiased feedback is to enter a contest. However, it’s not enough, sometimes, just to get a contest entry back…how do you take the feedback and go to the next level? Our vision is to help authors become PUBLISHED authors….. Which is why we’ve designed the “Frasier” writing contest for unpublished member of the My Book Therapy Voices…with a grand prize that is more than a plaque…it’s a TICKET. Or rather, a SCHOLARSHIP to […]
Read the Rest
