Today’s post is by international best-selling author DiAnn Mills.
Creating high stakes is much like a snowball gaining strength as it rolls downhill. The story gains momentum, building throughout every scene.
Each scene has three critical elements: a goal, conflict, and high stakes. Without those components, the scene loses purpose and falls flat. Each proceeding scene must build on the previous scene’s urgency increasing the point of view character’s struggle. Scene two can’t happen before scene one, and scene sixty can’t happen without scenes one through fifty-nine. I’m not a math whiz, but I see the logic of this snowball effect of adding high stakes to a scene.
The high stakes must be worth the POV character’s effort and communicated to the reader.
“If it matters to the character, then the character must earn it.” —Roz Morris Continue Reading…
