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Putting Up Road Blocks — Story Road Blocks That Is!

By Rachel Hauck on April 24, 2014 in Book Therapist, Rachel Hauck

Monday Susie blogged on 7 Twists and Turns to add to your novel!

I thought I’d piggy back on her post and add some detail to one of her fantastic tips.

Let’s look at her 7th twist: Chose the Worst Case Scenario.

Susie writes: After every scene, Ask: What is the worst thing that could happen to my character right now? Then, follow up with – can I make that happen (or something similar to it?) When you sit down to consider all your options – and then choose one that is reasonable yet unexpected, you add in the element of unpredictability in your novel. And readers love it when they say, “Oh, I did NOT see that coming!”

Maybe I’m alone in this but whenever I think of raising the stakes or putting up obstacles (road blocks) or choosing the worst case scenario, I think of things like buildings blowing up, terrorist attacks, life threatening diseases, death, mayhem, destruction! (All State anyone?)

Well, I know I’m not alone. I can tell by some of the stories I read or contest entries. Random, bizarre, something-not-even-related-to-the-story happens.

Here’s the deal, if you’ve worked on your character journey/story arc and you know the probable epiphany of your hero, then all of the road blocks must fit within that story line.

Just shutting the door in someone’s face can be a sufficient and effective story block. Or as Susie calls it “worst case scenario.”

I’m working on rewrites for How To Catch A Prince.

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And So She Climbed A Rock

By Rachel Hauck on March 13, 2014 in Book Therapist, Editing Basics, Rachel Hauck

Here at MBT we talk about the protagonist’s happiest and saddest moments.

These to elements are used to shape the deeper layers of emotion between the characters. Expressly the hero and the heroine.

Often use of symbolism or metaphor can deepen the emotional layer of sharing a raw, tender moment between the stars of your story.

But wow, it’s really easy to miss these moments. To kind of skip over them and wrap it all up in prose summation.

Okay, what do I mean?

Let’s create a scenario.

Your hero is wealthy, grew up in a good family. His whole life he had nice things, a nice car, great vacations. He’s a star athlete and student.

Your heroine grew up poor, without, never had anything nice. The old beater car she purchased for $200 had to be pushed all over town by her friends because the starter didn’t work right. She never went anywhere for vacation but a night at the country fair. She’s pretty, a good student but never ever did anything out of the ordinary.

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