SET READERS SALIVATING WITH A RED-HOT PLOT Alice Orr
SET READERS SALIVATING WITH A RED-HOT PLOT Alice Orr
The Secret of the Page-Turner Novel is Story Impact on the Reader . There must be a great deal at stake in your story . Terrible consequences will occur if your hero fails . Lots of conflict must ensue before that final outcome is revealed . Conflict for your hero . Trouble . Struggle .
The Conflict / Trouble / Struggle for Your Hero Starts Hot . Introduce a threat to your hero on page one . A threat to physical life or emotional life or both . Put perilous pressure on your protagonist . Target your main character with tension that never tires . Fear that never flags .
The Conflict / Trouble / Struggle for Your Hero Gets Hotter . Make your protagonist ’ s predicament dire and dreadful . Create potential catastrophes for your character that will grow worse
and worse . Catastrophes that pull your reader into your plot and will not let go .
Think Dramatics – Conjure Cinematics . Your story must happen in strong scenes – intense scenes – powerful scenes . Like a movie from your favorite director . Watch one of those movies to psych yourself . Brainstorm a list of scenes that director might use to tell your story .
Plot Your Story to be Pace Perfect . One strong scene . Another strong scene . Another strong scene . Very brief transitions between scenes . Called jump cuts in moviemaking . Intensity happens . Jump . More intensity happens . Jump . Even more intensity happens . Jump . This pace pulls your reader from scene to scene . Relentlessly . Pages turn at the same rapid pace .
Center Your Scene on Intensity .
Conflict . Trouble . Struggle . The resonant and reverberating stuff of story excitement . Vibrating at the center of each and every scene you write . In what is said there . In what is done there . Each and every scene grabs your reader – will not let go .
Conceive Your Scene for Intensity . Before writing each and every scene – ask yourself this crucial question . How can I make this situation more exciting ? What can I make happen that will create more conflict for my hero ? More trouble ? More struggle ? What further obstacles can I force my hero to overcome ?
Rethink Your Scene for Intensity . After writing the scene – ask yourself the same question again . How can I make this situation more exciting ? I have plunged my hero into troubled water . How can I turn up the temperature ? How can I make my hero ’ s struggle more difficult ? More dangerous ? Meanwhile – how do I make certain this struggle and danger are believable ?
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