Escalation

August 28, 2011 by meredithmansfield

It’s not a secret. Things should get worse and worse for your characters until the climax, when, hopefully, the conflict is resolved, the protagonist having won, learned something, and grown or changed. In most, if not all, of my stories, that’s also going to put the protagonist in a position to finally get what he wants–which may or may not be what he thought he wanted at the beginning of the story.

I’m ashamed to say that in one of my current projects, I got that wrong. Not for the story as a whole. Just for the first try/fail cycle. Still, that’s bad enough.

How did that happen? Well, I was making revisions and I added some events to help make the central conflict clearer right from the beginning. So far so good. It’s just that I added them in the wrong order.

This is where a great critique group is the biggest help. It’s more than possible to be so close into the details yourself that you can’t see a screw up like this. But a critiquer will tell you that something is off.

So now I just have to go back and put things in the right order.

Insignificant event that shows the problem, but doesn’t make it seem very bad.
Public event that is largely benign, but upsets people.
Overheard reaction of those people.
Major event that scares the protagonist into taking more action.

Yeah, that’ll work much better than the other way around.

Edited to add:

Well, I thought that plan was going to work, but after playing with it all day, I’ve decided against it. Plan B is to just add some more tension and danger to the last incident. I need to see if I can make it as scary–or even scarier–than the first.

Posted in writing | Tagged characters, conflict, fantasy, Middle Grade, revisions, writing, Young Adult | 11 Comments

11 Responses

on August 28, 2011 at 1:26 pm | Reply C. Lee McKenzie

Every time I dump more on my poor characters, I feel rotten, but the story becomes stronger . . . so do the characters.

I’m on the Campaign and love meeting new writers here.

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on August 28, 2011 at 2:10 pm | Reply meredithmansfield

I know. If I work it right, the realization of the size of his problem should be much stronger–and justify the action he takes next.

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on August 28, 2011 at 8:43 pm | Reply Louis

A horse of a different color problem there. Or from what I have read of your blog you don’t do that very often. And a problem that may not have an easy solution after all. But then again it could be that the simple answer is the better one.

But you said you had it backwards, does that mean you did the major event that scares the protagonist first?

And a side issue. Did you change your blog again? Or is there parts I never noticed?

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on August 28, 2011 at 9:52 pm | Reply meredithmansfield

@Louis: No, I’ve never done this before. Other mistakes, yes, but never this one.

Actually, I think Plan B may end up being easier as well as more satisfying. I just have to take the incident that was a little funny and change it. Allow it to start out funny and then pop in a reversal, which will make the scary result even scarier.

Trying to move things around just wasn’t working. The flow was off.

No. I haven’t made any changes in my blog unless you’re talking about the badge for the Platform-Building Campaign. That’s new. (And apparently doesn’t quite fit in the sidebar. Oh, well.)

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on August 30, 2011 at 7:55 am | Reply rddenton

Meredith!

A fellow writer over from the Campaign! Totally interested in this post of yours, because you touch on something I think is intensely important — growth, struggle, and change.

It’s gotta happen! 🙂 One of my favorite tactics is to force a character to make a *bad* choice to resolve the issue in the novel. I like watching them lie, cheat, and steal, and even kill to get done what they need, especially if they’d never do it in the beginning. As long as the transition from the beginning to end is believable, it’s fascinating to watch characters descend to darker depths just so survive or help others do the same.

I’m so excited to read more of your blog! As a fellow fantasy writer, I’m always looking for inspiring writerly musings like yours to keep me going.

– Rance

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on August 30, 2011 at 9:52 am | Reply Alan Marling (@AEMarling)

As a soldier in the writing campaign, I salute you.

Certainly, there are try-fail cycles, but there is a place for some happiness and moments of grace in the third act of a four-act story. This is where the heroes begin to work together and make progress, before the antagonists rally and all seems lost in the fourth act.

Best wishes on your writing.

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on August 30, 2011 at 10:11 am | Reply meredithmansfield

Thanks. I think I finally solved this one last night, but I’ll have to wait a little to be sure.

And he does make (well, always did make) a questionable decision that turns out, eventually, to get him where he wants to go. The problem wasn’t so much with the decision as in getting him there. I think I’ve got it much better, now.

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on August 30, 2011 at 10:23 am | Reply meredithmansfield

True. But this was in Chapters 2 and 3. Really need to be building, there.

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on September 1, 2011 at 4:07 pm | Reply Jeanne Bannon

Hi Meredith, just stopping by to say ‘hi’ and have a look around 🙂

Jeanne

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on September 2, 2011 at 6:21 pm | Reply JesiMarie

You can do it! I believe in you! Even if I don’t know you!

Hehe. Hey! I’m Jesi, I’m in your MG/YA group in the Campaign

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on September 2, 2011 at 7:43 pm | Reply meredithmansfield

Thanks, Jesi. I hope I’ve fixed it or at least improved it, but a couple of readers will let me know the answer to that.

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