I’m sure you’ve heard or read that the way to keep your reader interested is to escalate the conflict. If you don’t do that, there’s a good chance he or she will lose interest somewhere around the middle of your book or script. How do you do that?
Let’s assume you have established something your protagonist wants, and someone or something stopping him or her from getting it. Here are the useful questions to ask if you find the conflict is running out of steam:
- Who or what can be added as a source of conflict? For instance, in many thrillers the innocent person being pursued by the baddies does something that also puts the police on his or her trail (come up with something more original, though!).
- What hidden flaw might there be in a move or tactic that originally helped your protagonist, and now makes things go the other way? For example, the person who agreed to hide her from the bad guys turns out to be in collusion with them or fears them too much to keep the secret.
- What new information could come out that could help the antagonist? Does your protagonist have a secret from the past that might be damaging?
- What additional handicap can you lumber your protagonist with to make his or her task even harder? Perhaps the character on the run gets injured along the way, which will slow him or her down.
- What natural force might complicate things for both the protagonist and the person or people trying to stop him? This could be a huge storm, an electrical blackout, etc. It can be enjoyable to see both of them struggle against the same thing.
These questions should lead you to plenty of conflict that will keep the reader turning the pages of your script or book.
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