The Place For My Writers Notes

Original Posting July 6, 2016

This is sort of a wonderment, more than anything else. See, the Writing Excuses group did a whole podcast talking about stakes, and what we mean when we say "raise the stakes" and so forth. Right over here

http://www.writingexcuses.com/2016/06/12/11-24-stakes/

But nowhere in their pondering did anyone mention the thing I think of right away. Gambling! Admittedly, I don't do it, but I certainly have heard enough about table stakes, a high stakes game, and that sort of thing, to feel as if the writers' "raise the stakes" is probably connected with that meaning. I mean, a high stakes game and a high stakes thriller?

Let's see. The stakes in a poker game are what you have to bet, and there's a whole set of conventions about raising the stakes (putting more money into the pot) and calling (refusing to increase the pot, but simply meeting the bet) and so on. But the key here is that you have games where you can join with a very low amount of money (a low stakes game) and others where you need a serious amount of money just to sit down.

Yes, the stakes in most stories are not directly money, they are more likely to be life, honor, reputation, and other somewhat intangible things, but it's the same principle. What are you willing to bet? What will you lose if the other person has better cards? What will you win if you have the winning hand?

Am I missing something? Are the stakes in stories that hard to understand?

tink

Original posting 8 September 2008

Chapter 20: Climactic Scenes

It must be time for another thrilling chapter from Make a Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld. Are you ready?

"The climax is the high point of all the action and drama in your narrative -- where the events that began with the significant situation come to a roiling, intense head." The events in the climax are the hammer for character change, and set up the ending of the story. The climactic scene is the most intense, dramatic, powerful scene. Normally there is only one. And once the climax is over, there shouldn't be much left to tie up and finish. This is really where the whole story comes together.

Successful climactic scenes include:

• opposing forces collide. The protagonist and antagonist meet and clash.
• the climactic event directly related to the significant situation
• a central conflict. The protagonist confronts something or someone, and changes or is changed
• the stakes should be as high as possible -- life and death, relationships destroyed, kingdoms won or lost
• a swift pace, but some room for emotional content

The climax is a point of no return. There's no turning back, the characters and the plot are changed permanently by what happens in the climactic struggle.

Setting up the climax. A climactic scene usually doesn't surprise the reader. It's often a relief, because finally the growing tension and suspense, the emotional drama, all of the threads are going to feed into the collision. Consequences, stress, conflicts -- this is where they are all headed, and readers expect that a climactic scene will tie things up.

So the climactic scene needs to open showing the reader that action and drama are about to unfold. Normally the scene before ends with suspense, tension, and a foreshadowing of conflict about to break out.

The climactic event. Openings of climactic scenes as usually get quickly to the action. Climactic scenes build quickly and steadily, like action scenes. Don't get stuck in exposition -- make the climactic scene march right along, with specific actions, dialogue, setting details that build atmosphere, and emotional content.

"The goal of the `event is to bring significant situation and the resulting plot consequences to a head so that there's some kind of transformation in your protagonist's life or struggle. The climax is the moment where the protagonist is tested, tried, and permanently altered by whatever happens."

Post climactic event. When you finish the climactic scene, there's not much left to do. Don't add new plot information or create suspense. You may need to sort through what happened and show how the protagonist has changed, but you want to do this quickly.

Rosenfeld's checklist for climactic scenes:

1. Does your climactic scene use as many elements as possible to build a well-rounded, complex event: action, dialogue, setting details, emotional content, dramatic tension?
2. Is there one climactic scene for each protagonist? the fewer the better.
3. Is the climax event directly related to the significant situation?
4. Does the climax change your protagonist permanently in some way? Is it a point of no return?
5. Are the stakes high in the climax?
6. Is the climactic scene at the high point of the action and drama? Are the scenes that follow slower, more reflective, and less action?

That's what Rosenfeld has to say about the climactic scene. So this is the one scene in the plot that all the threads are aimed at, where the protagonist faces the real test, problem, conflict -- and either makes or breaks?

We're getting close to the end of the list of scenes. But in the meantime, consider taking a novel that you really enjoyed, and analyzing the climactic scene. How was it set up? Sometimes the foreshadowing for a climactic scene seems to thread all the way through the novel, with various bits and pieces pointing towards the inevitable meeting. But check the scene just before, and look at what was done to hint that here it comes! And then take the scene itself apart. How much lead in does it have, and what happens to the pace in the scene? Think of the old mysteries -- when the guy in the big chair starts laying out the pieces, he rattles and thumps and makes everyone jump, but it goes pretty darn fast. And there are twists and turns as he explains that while everyone thought the butler did it, in reality -- the maid did it, wearing the butler's shoes! And then look at where the climax sits in the whole story, and what comes afterwards.

Then consider the climax for your story. Is it really a peak for the story? How can you make sure that the reader knows it is coming, how do you push them into it and drag them remorselessly through it, and how do you avoid spending too much time afterwards tying up all those odds and ends?

'saright? Write!

"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand." Lewis Thomas

original posting 15 May 2008

Chapter 3: Powerful Scene Middles

From Make a Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld

So we've taken a look at launching the scene, using characters, action, narratives, or settings. One way or another, the reader has been invited into the scene. What happens next? That's the focus of this chapter.

Jordan starts by defining the middle of the scene. "The best explanation is to think of each scene's middle as a realm of possibility between the scene opening and its ending, where the major drama and conflict of the scene unfolds." However, the middle also can tempt the writer into wandering down narrative side roads and burying the reader in words. You want to hook the reader and keep them going. So how do you keep a reader interested?

Up the ante, heavy on the complications. Most of us like to solve problems and make the world a better place. But the writer needs to complicate the lives of their characters. Make it harder on them. When your characters stake everything they have, it builds anticipation, significance, and suspense that drags readers along.

Jordan suggests using a four column chart to organize your steps. He labels the first column protagonist, although I think it might be character. The second column is the scene intention -- what is this character trying to achieve at this point in the scene? The third column is a complication, what can happen that gets in the way of achieving this? The fourth column is the result -- what happens or what does the character do in the face of this complication. Jordan shows how a scene may have a linked set of these, moving from the original scene intention down the page as the character dances and reacts to the continuing complications of the scene.

Take people and possessions away from the character, withhold desires, add stumbling blocks and intermediate problems, spice with danger, there are lots of complications! This is part of the fun, making lists of what might get in the way and picking the ones that are hardest for your characters to handle, that reveal just what they really are made of. Keep that dramatic tension high.

Jordan reminds us that "While complications build anticipation and drama, you should not make things difficult on characters just because; complications have to reveal character and push your plot forward."

One of the specific tactics or techniques that you can use to raise the ante is to withhold something. Characters have goals, desires, and ambitions. Dangling an object of desire just out of reach -- you've seen children looking in the candy store window, wishing that they could have just a little? That's your reader! So what kind of withholding can you do? First is emotional withholding, where another character isn't giving emotional approval, love, or something else that the character wants. Second is withholding information. All of the clues, secrets, and even simple information can be teasers for your characters -- and your readers. Third is withholding objects. Maybe your character wants something, and other characters keep passing it around, just out of reach. Or maybe they have to find the one true crystal?

Another technique is to introduce danger to the protagonist or someone he or she cares for. Physical or emotional danger can force the character to reveal themselves.

Finally, a third technique is the unexpected revelation. Let the character learn that secret about their life that forces them to reevaluate everything. No matter how the revelation comes -- letters, babbling friends, strangers, television reports, Google snippets -- these are pieces of plot information that transform the self-image of the characters and drive the narrative forward. Think about how you're going to introduce the revelation, and how the character is going to react to it. Sometimes they can be positive, too. Winning the lottery, finding out that father really is still alive, and other positive changes can also make characters jump. What happens when the world changes in an instant?

That's what Jordan has to say about scene middles in this chapter. It's not much about the peanut butter in the sandwich, but it gives us a something to stick to the roof of our mouths? Hum, maybe we should skip lightly past that metaphor.

Okay. Your assignment? Take a scene from a book or story, or even one you are working on. Try making up a chart like the one Jordan described. Simple, right? Here's the headings:

Character
Scene Intention
Complication
Result

Something like:

Character	Scene Intention	Complication	Result

You might try doing my trick -- set yourself a quota! -- especially if you are working on the scene. Don't just come up with a single complication, come up with five possible obstacles or complications that could get in the character's way when they are trying to achieve that scene intention or goal. Then pick the one that you think works best, and come up with five possible outcomes or results. Pick the best of those, and then go on.

Or how about taking a few scenes, and thinking about the complications and obstacles involved? That beloved little scene with the short guy trying desperately to figure out how to climb the mountain -- why is he so driven? Which of the various techniques that Jordan mentions really make you cheer for the protagonist, leave you sweating and turning the pages to find out what happens next? Now can you put some of that same high tension in your writing?

Launch your scene, fill the middle with rising ante, and . . . next week, on to the endings!

(or if you are at a conference, you can fill your middle with too much food! I guess that might raise the stakes in some ways?)