The best science fiction and fantasy stories are impossible to deplumate yourself off from — and often , that thrilling sense of momentum comes from the sense that the danger to the world sustain get bigger and scary . But how do you put up the stakes without sacrifice your character ?
This is a huge challenge — we ’ve all come across stories where fully - feather three - dimensional graphic symbol get infirm , and less believable , the more monolithic the scope of the menace they ’re facing becomes . The only counterpoison to this is twofold : to provoke the stakes in a room that stays grounded , and to stay focussed on your characters , even as the plot ramps up and up .
And before we go any further , rent ’s just stipulate that there ’s nothing incorrect with raising stakes — in fact , I ’m a sucker for stories where someone saves the world . you could never save the earthly concern too often , in my opinion . But a individual saving the populace is always more interesting than a one - dimensional walk plot twist saving the human beings .
In the setting of a tale , “ raised stake ” often think “ increased scale ” — and as you root for back , details inevitably become smaller . admit your characters , who are suddenly dwarfed by the ground - smashing , unimaginable banging , position they ’ve found themselves in . It ’s concentrated to keep your characters in the foreground and , say , a 200 - mile - marvellous planet - dude bomb in the backcloth .
The only resolution is not to pull back , as much as you could avoid it . Your characters can only take in as much sensory input as they can take in , and appease close to their perspective means we only glimpse the astounding size of whatever they ’re up against . ( As a fillip , if you ’re doing something that requires VFX rather of just words on a page , I reckon this could be a money - recoverer . )
And you should never understimate the “ fog of war ” affair — the exact detail of the crazy distance battle or magical Revelation may only become clear later , once the radioactive pixie dust settles . In fact , a situation where your characters have perfect data about everything that ’s give-up the ghost on is less credible , and I always find my credulity strained by too much preciseness . As much as storytellers love the “ check off time bomb , ” the high the stakes go , the more I appreciate find out thing like “ I do n’t get it on how soon this is snuff it to explode , but it looks like soon . ”
Also , if your story submit place in a public with overseas telegram news or other mass medium , then you’re able to incline on that slightly — the media has long experience at taking huge , terrific result and making them seem somehow removed and kind of abstract , while also weirdly informal .
Another vast problem : a wide oscilloscope of threat means you risk receive things become too abstract to seem meaningful . The Hellenic example is “ I ’m become to destroy the universe ” — it ’s impossible to picture the universe being destroyed , or even wrap your chief around it , because the universe is rather large . It ’s much easier to understand a small kitten in peril than the universe .
So the more you may keep the bet concrete , as well as filtered through your character ’ perceptions , the easier it is for the audience to relate to both the plot equipment and the role struggling with them .
We ’ve all experienced what “ rear post ” feel like in material life — when you ’re in the middle of worrying about your busted zephyr conditioner and ideate that being dragged to TMNT 2 is the high-risk thing that could bump to you , and then suddenly you hear your mom is in the infirmary . wager are raise all the time in real life-time , often in the form of terrible things that come out of the blue sky .
And it ’s utterly on-key that people will put their own personal shit on hold when something bigger is on the line . In fact , not acknowledging this will make your story seem less naturalistic and eccentric - base , not more . Stories where a spaceship is about to irrupt in less than a minute , but hoi polloi still take time for a relationship conversation , do not win points for character - ground realism , in my Word of God .
That say , masses do n’t stop being themselves just because everything is on the verge of blow up . People may seek to put their own personal whoreson on hold , but they do n’t always succeed .
The existent question is how to keep your fiber as their true , recognizeable self , with all their complexness and hang - ups . The worst case is that they just become walk plot gadget — but there are heap of scenario that are almost as unfit as the spoilt case . You might find yourself resorting to character short - hand , doing chinchy call - binding to earlier role growth to make up for the characters going plane during the “ rising action . ” Or your characters could just be swept along by the demand of the game , with nominal moments of personal growth in there .
All of the heedful tending to making your massive stakes credible , and still reachable from a mortal - sized vantage point , will be for nothing , if your characters become ciphers .
So here are some things you may do to make the characters continue to breathe and finger human , even as the pace accelerate up because they are stress to prevent / produce something ginormous .
There are tatty and easy way to make “ raised stake ” feel personal — That ’s my girl in there ! I want retribution ! — but a really great account is going to be one where your characters have goals or profoundly held value that make the stake in the storey mechanically personal to them . You find fault these characters to be the friend of your narrative for a reason — and that has something to do with why they ’re the right people for us to follow through this terrible place . The reason you pick these people as the viewpoint characters or story driver , ideally , has something to do with why this is “ personal ” or important for them .
you may also play around with time and subjectivity . The pace of events might be hotfoot up , but you could still put in a flashback that illuminates a grapheme at a key moment . Sometimes , a aside or sidetrack can actually increase the suspense and tension , because everyone ’s wait on tenterhooks to see what pass off next , and it just stretches that hold off out a spot .
Also , time really does kind of dull down , subjectively , when everything is happening at once . And mass think of the weirdest things when they ’re under insistency and/or about to die . the great unwashed in a life - or - death situation will suddenly find themselves remembering the weird sandwiches their best friend used to bring to work , because an overclocked brainiac tends to randomise . Also , unearthly smell trigger uncanny retentivity . ( Never block to include the common sense of smell in a written account — if everything on Earth is being space - lasered , what does that smell like ? )
The bottom line is , a good charcter , by definition , is one who resists being turn into a plot gizmo . Consider this the acerbic test for your fictitious character . A good character will stubbornly remain her- or himself — and a great character will be so pictorial in your intellect that you keep having a nagging sense that this character would actually have a very unique and idiosyncratic chemical reaction to these situations . In fact , if your main characters collapse down to a unmarried dimension in the middle of a high - stake situation , that ’s a mark you have to go back to the drawing plug-in .
But the part of your story where you ’re raising the bet is also a great place to stop and imagine again about your fictitious character ’ motivating and backstory , and everything that has shaped them up to this point . What are the line they wo n’t cross , no matter how bad things get ? What are their subconscious prejudices , that might come to the fore under pressure ?
When mass are in an extreme situation , we discover out who they really are . mass make surprising decisions and make snap judgments that are very personal , and those thing are as much about flesh your persona out as any relationship conversation or quiet introspective minute .
I opine what I ’m saying is that a eminent - bet place can actually be the melting pot that makes a good character smashing , by showing what they ’re really all about . But this requires a lot of attention to your characters ’ inner workings , and their complexity — in fact , probably a good rule of thumb is , the more you put on the contrast for your characters and their world , the more time you need to spend just trying to get into their tegument . The yard of your storytelling might speed up — but you may spend as much time as you need to craft that all - important sequence .
One final mentation : The purpose of rachet up up the aftermath of failure for your character is to take up to a orca end . And a killer ending , most of the time , is one where your quality make important alternative , or add up up with solutions , that are unique and hopefully surprising . That ’s also one reason to check that your quality are in full fleshed out and seem “ real ” . If you have a killer stop , then you need to make certain your case have earned it . ( If you do n’t have a grampus terminate , well , here ’s some ideas about that . )
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