My thoughts...

Thoughts on Plotting

Specific problem:

I have a plot in the works, with everything that my protagonist stands against coming at her. She cares about people, resists them being harmed in every way. Meanwhile, a madman is engineering the destruction of humanity by teaching people shortcuts to magical power. Worse yet, there's a special connection between the madman and our heroine.

Why does the story stall out, if its the wrong situation for the right heroine? I've told her that the world is ending, and she's bummed out between moving her entire town into hiding, and trying to figure out how to feed them after the neighbors vaporized everything. So why does this not lead to the kind of drama- I would settle for melodrama- that the plot seems rife with?

Show V. Tell.

I know that the story concept is good, but all I've got is a concept. I need to dramatize it, not for the reader. Once I've done my job, Carolie will sell it to the audience. But right now, I haven't got anything for her to do. Don't have your character worry about his finances, whether his children'll make it through kindergarten. It's better to roll a penny in front of him, and have him fight off the urge to dash into traffic. That's real, that's dramatic.

If your characters believe it, the readers will. And the best way to convince them both is to give them a chance to do something about it. If it's risky, reckless and ill considered, and more, if they know full well they're not acting very bright, then we'll know that something worthwhile is at stake.

So that's it: at what point does your character take a risk- one they don't like to take?