Writers in the Storm

Angela Ackerman

Put your character up a tree and then throw rocks at him.

This iconic advice is something every writer hears at some point and keeping it at the forefront of our minds when writing is one of the wisest things we can do. Not only must we make good on our back-jacket blurb promise that the protagonist will find themselves in an impossible situation of some kind (thanks to the twisted events we set in motion as part of the plot), we also want to ensure tension is on every page, hooking the reader and keeping them in thrall.  

Tension is that beautiful feeling of anticipatory uncertainty that we seed in the reader’s mind:

I think there’s something more going on here…

What’s the significance of that, I wonder?

Uh-oh. This doesn’t sound good…

Wait…does that mean what I think it means?

Oh my gosh, what will happen now?

Big or small, tension creates a “need to know” within the reader: Who was that creepy guy standing in the middle of the moon-lit field, watching the farmhouse? When will the protagonist’s best friend admit her feelings? Why didn’t the killer strike when he could have?

Secrets, danger, desire, problems, complications, omissions, challenges, decisions, stakes…all of these are ingredients in a tension-rich story. But, to work, they all require one very important thing: emotional investment.

THE EMOTION—TENSION CONNECTION  

Emotion and tension often go hand in hand. If emotion is low, chances are that story tension is also waning. When emotion is high and it’s written effectively, tension will most likely be on the rise. Tension is important in a story because it increases reader interest. When the hero’s outlook is grim, readers worry over his success. This worry translates into empathy with the character and a desire to keep reading to find out what happens. They become emotionally invested.

For us to encourage this emotional investment, we need to help readers feel close to our characters, meaning that effectively showing what they feel, and why, is crucial. Sometimes to keep the emotional intensity, we need to juice things up a bit. This is where emotional amplifiers come in.

WHAT IS AN EMOTION AMPLIFIER?

Hunger. Stress. Attraction. Exhaustion. Pain. Each of these is an amplifier—a state that can impact a character’s physical and mental condition and make them emotionally unstable. Amplifiers up the ante in a scene because they throw your characters off their game and make life more difficult. And because they can cause the character’s emotions to become volatile, they are much more likely to misstep and make a mistake. When their situation grows worse, readers are pulled in deeper, frantically flipping pages to find out what will happen next.

Adding the right amplifier at the worst time is akin to walking up to the tree your character is in and setting it on fire.

SPEAKING OF HUNGER…

As an example, let’s consider The Hunger Games. Tension is high throughout the story because of what’s at stake. But Collins doesn’t let it stay at that level. Instead, she ramps it up by adding stressors to Katniss’s situation. At the start of the games, Collins removes fresh water from the arena, thereby threatening dehydration and adding another life-or-death scenario for the heroine to worry about. She introduces the tracker jackers and their hallucinatory stings, increasing tension and the reader’s fear over the hero’s well-being. Like a sadistic Head Gamemaker, Collins never lets the heroine off the hook. She continues to throw Katniss new and more alarming problems that make it more and more difficult to survive an already impossible situation.

And the torture pays off. With each new amplifier, two important things are accomplished.

First, Katniss herself experiences heightened stress. Each amplifier makes it more difficult for her to think clearly and make good decisions. Poor decisions lead to more problems, which lead to heightened stress…it’s a continuing cycle that keeps the reader riveted as tension inches upward across the pages.

Secondly, these amplifiers heighten the heroine’s emotions. With each new stressor, Katniss becomes more afraid, paranoid, angry, or depressed. As readers, we feel those emotions right along with her. We’re drawn into her story and begin to root for her success in a way that guarantees we’ll keep reading the book until the very end.

LIKE ANY TOOL, USE AMPLIFIERS WITH CARE

In the case of the Hunger Games, applying amplifier after amplifier works, because the aim of the Gamekeepers is to push the tributes to their limits and break them, one by one. But this won’t be the case in every story. Consider which amplifiers might work best for your scene and choose one that offer the biggest payload. For example, if you know your character’s emotional soft spots, try an amplifier that has personal significance. It will affect them the most.

If you need help showing how your character’s behavior changes when affected by an amplifier, Becca and I created an Emotion Amplifier e-booklet as a companion to The Emotion Thesaurus. You can also find Emotion Amplifiers at One Stop for Writers, along with a helpful tutorial and tip sheet.

Have you used Emotion Amplifiers to increase the tension and up the stakes? Let me know in the comments!

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Angela Ackerman is a writing coach, international speaker, and co-author of the bestselling book, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, as well as five others. Her books are available in six languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. Angela is also the co-founder of the popular site Writers Helping Writers, as well as One Stop for Writers, an innovative online library built to help writers elevate their storytelling. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, an

Over the last few years, I've been able to experience the joy of sharing the Harry Potter books with my daughter. We're on Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) and going strong, so J.K. Rowling is a bit of a celebrity in our house. 

She's a celebrity to me as a writer. She accepted that snippet of story from the universe, about a boy with a scar on his forehead who finds out he's a wizard, and cherished it through multiple books. She built an empire from her fingertips through hard work and there are wonderful lessons inherent in that.

Here are Rowling's Top 10 Tips for Success (for writers and non-writers)

 

 

1. Failure helps you discover yourself.

Winston Churchill said, "if you're going through hell, keep going."

There are people I'd deem a success who have gone down in flames at various points in their career. J.K. Rowling. Michael Jordan. Steve Jobs. Thomas Edison. They all failed and failed and failed. They gained strength through their failure, and learned what didn't work. Then, they  picked themselves up to try again, because they believed in their passion.

Rowling's words about the lowest point in her life: “Failure meant a stripping away of the essential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and I began to direct all my energies to finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one area where I truly belonged."

2. Take action on your ideas.

What if single mother, Joanne Rowling, depressed and poor, had given up on her story? What if the rock bottom she experienced while writing her first book had made her stop writing and take up work as a barista? Even if you only write one page each day, in between all your other responsibilities, at the end of the year, you will have a book.

Side note: Ever wondered how much others write? Here are the daily word counts for 39 famous authors.

3. You will be criticized.

I don't know if I'm alone in this, but I feel warm toward people who like my writing. It's human nature to want people to like the creative efforts we put out into the world. But many people won't like your work, and some will be very happy to tell you so in a negative book review. (How rude is that? What about the whole "if you don't have anything nice to say" deal? Geesh.)

Cheer up tip: When criticism gets you down, I recommend watching funny cat videos or this Honey Badger vid on sea otters. Or, as Jayne Ann Krentz says, "throw it away!" (In modern times, that means "close the screen and stop looking at it.")

4. Remember where you started.

In the video above, Rowling goes back to the apartment she lived in while she wrote the first Harry Potter book and she starts crying. The memories of being tired and depressed are clearly etched on her soul. And even though she's a multi-millionaire by the time that video was filmed, she never forgot what those beginnings felt like. Ray Bradbury never forgot that he rented a typewriter in the basement at UCLA for ten cents an hour to pound out Fahrenheit 451.

Remembering our beginnings keeps us humble.

5. Believe.

Jack London received more than six hundred rejections before he sold his first story. Louisa May Alcott's family encouraged her to find work as a servant. At some point, you just have to dare to believe in your own talent. And if you can't do that for yourself, find someone else who will believe in you while you work up to the idea.

6. There is always fear and trepidation.

Of course you're scared. You are exposing the tender underside of your heart in the pages of your story and then inviting people to explore it. Use that fear to do your best.

No one gives a better pep talk on this than Linda Howard. I was lucky to hear her live in San Diego and this is what she said:

"The sad fact is that no matter how hard you try, the music and the magic of your dreams will never be equaled by the words you put on a page.

Do it anyway.”

7. Life is not a checklist of achievements.

If you want to hear the very sweet way Rowling says this, it's at 6:09 in the video above. "If I had a time-turner, I'd go back to my twenty-one year old self..."

8. Persevere.

Emily Dickinson only sold seven poems during her lifetime. Van Gogh sold one painting during his life (to the sister of a friend). We don't know where this journey is going to take us. We can only do what we were born to do and hang on for the ride.

Rowling's words on perseverance: "I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive... and so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” 

9. Dreams can happen.

If you despair of ever making a living at this writing thing, remember J.K. Rowling who took five long years, several of them on public assistance, to finish her first Harry Potter novel. It took two more years and a dozen rejections before she sold it. It only takes a single "yes" to launch a career.

Inspiration: If you need to see some amazing monetary success stories, here is a list of the top grossing authors of last year.

10. We have the power to imagine better.

"We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: We have the power to imagine better." ~ J.K. Rowling.

 

If you had a time-turner, what bit of writing advice would you give to your younger self? Which of these ten bits of wisdom do you struggle with the most?

About Jenny Hansen

By day, Jenny provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction and short stories. After 18+ years as a corporate software trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, or here at Writers In The Storm.

Piper Bayard
of Bayard & Holmes

Everyone loves a good fight, and a good fight scene is arguably the heart of every thriller. But as NYT Bestseller James Rollins says, in fiction, never use the same killing method twice in the same book. As a result, fiction writers are always looking for a new twist on a fight scene.

 

 

Since my writing partner, Jay Holmes, is a forty-year veteran of the military and intelligence communities, we are often asked what weapons we prefer for fights. As Holmes says, “My favorite weapon is my radio. I use it to call in air strikes.” However, in lieu of having the US Air Force in our backpacks, we writers can “punch up” our fight scenes by using common objects as weapons.

I could give you a list of common objects that can be used as weapons, but that would actually limit you, and I don’t want to do that. That’s because with the right attitude, virtually anything can be used as a weapon. Which brings me to attitude—the first ingredient to surviving a fight.

My husband (not Holmes) literally has to teach karate black belts self-defense because skill with punches, kicks, and weapons are irrelevant if a person doesn’t understand the kill-or-die mindset that is so often necessary to survive a battle outside of a refereed ring. In other words, the most important weapons a character brings to a fight are their heart and their mind. They must be determined to do whatever it takes to keep themselves safe and disable or kill their opponent. Once they see the world in those terms, potential weapons are everywhere.

Before I continue, the recovering attorney in me demands that I make it clear that this post is not meant to be formal instruction in self-defense.

In truth, Holmes and I both advocate firearms training for the best self-defense, but shooting too many people in books tends to make for boring books. So we’re going to explore a bit more about common objects as weapons—strictly for the purposes of writing fictional fight scenes.

If we can stab with it, it’s a weapon. If we can jab with it, it’s a weapon.  If we can use it to hit someone, it’s a weapon. If we can throw it, it’s a weapon.

When we think that way, and almost everything in our environment is a weapon. Holmes and I have literally killed off people in our books with cactus, knitting needles, and sheep. To be fair, the sheep was an active participant, but you get the idea.

Let’s do an exercise right now.  I’ll do it with you. Let’s look around our immediate environment and ask ourselves these questions:

1. Can I stab with it?

The pens and pencils here on my desk can stab out an eye or puncture a jugular vein.

2. Can I jab with it?

These handy thought facilitators, a.k.a. desk toys, could jab an eye, throat, or a groin to give me a fighting advantage. This newspaper can be rolled up tight and jabbed into a groin, a kidney, or an eye.

 

 

3. Can I hit with it?

The pottery lamp could double as a bat, or my computer could be the extra weight and reach I need to land a blow. . . . I know what you’re thinking. Yes. My computer really is old enough to be a heavy weapon. I’m going to use it as a brick in a custom design in my house someday.

4. Can I throw it?

Books! And look . . . My first manuscript. No one has survived that one. This glass elephant or the heavy glass pencil cup should be good for a concussion, or at least a distraction so that I can grab the lamp. . . . And there’s a cup of hot tea!

We’re going to pause a moment to consider hot beverages. Hot beverages are the versatile paydirt of social interactions, including a good fight. Since one “picture” is worth a thousand words . . .

One of my acquaintances—a seriously badass retired French Foreign Legion guy who we’ll call “T”—owns a bar in Texas. One night, a couple of men were causing trouble with the clientele, so he booted them out. When he closed down the bar, he armed himself in case the two undesirables were hanging out for another round of unpleasantries. He poured two cups of coffee.

Wait! Coffee? . . . Wouldn’t this badass grab something more impressive like nunchakus, a knife, or a gun?

Nope. Just coffee. Sure enough, the idiots tried to jump T between the building and his car. T threw the steaming coffee in their eyes and took out their knees with a couple of kicks while they screamed. . . . The lesson? Never underestimate the power of a hot beverage.

The hot beverage container can also be an effective weapon. My husband carries his metal mug with him everywhere he goes. It can be used to block a knife or strike an opponent . . . Coffee. Never get in a fight without it.

 

 

Extra Credit Challenge: As you go through your day, look around each space you enter, study your environment, and repeat the above questions to yourself. You’ll be amazed to be surrounded by so many weapons.

Now that we have a weapon, where do we strike?

Anywhere we can. It’s all well and good to imagine a nice Hollywood fight where we grab a kitchen knife and slide it perfectly between the ribs and into the heart of a bad guy who is holding still for the stab. In real life, attackers aren’t usually so accommodating. It’s much more effective to keep in mind some sensitive body parts and go for whatever openings present themselves in that split second.

Eyes are at the top of the list of sensitive parts. Some bleach, salt, coffee, sand, or anything else that can be painful and blinding in the eyes is always a good move.

We might ask why the groin is not at the top of the list. The groin is a great target. However, people, particularly men, are quite adept at protecting their tender bits, so the groin shot might not be the easiest blow to land.

Other key body parts that can distract or disable if impacted are the ankles, the shins, the knees, kidneys, solar plexus, and the throat. And of course, there’s a good old-fashioned blow to the temple, which can be lethal. Keep in mind that any blow that is hard enough to cause the head to turn is more likely to produce a concussion or even death than a blow that does not spin the head.

Now that we’re actually in the struggle, I’ll reiterate that the most important weapons are the heart and mind.

Don’t be set on any one move. Instead, go with the fight and take the shots that present themselves. Be aware that one jab won’t be enough. Follow through, and don’t stop just because they fall—they won’t necessarily stay down. Our characters must be willing to stay on the opponent until they are clearly dead or disabled, and recovery isn’t an option.

Bottom Line: A fight for survival can be the most creative part of a book. Just remember to stab, jab, whack, or throw, and don’t stop until the opponent is clearly dead or at least down for the count.

What common objects did you find that could be used as weapons? Do your characters have any particular "weapons" they prefer?

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Piper Bayard is an author and a recovering attorney. Jay Holmes is a forty-year veteran of the military and intelligence communities. Together, Bayard & Holmes write espionage fiction and nonfiction. Their upcoming nonfiction release, SPYCRAFT: Essentials for Writers, covers everything from what the main intelligence agencies do and where they operate to honey pots, sleeper agents, enhanced interrogations, and more. Now on pre-sale at Amazon.