Each week, I’ll offer a tip you can take and apply to your WIP to help improve it. They’ll be easy to do and shouldn’t take long, so they’ll be tips you can do without taking up your Sunday. Though I do reserve the right to offer a good tip now and then that will take longer—but only because it would apply to the entire manuscript.
This week, check your major plot turning points and make sure the stakes go up each time.
A lack of escalating stakes can make a novel feel static or even boring. As things in your plot get worse, you want the stakes to rise as well, matching the ever-worsening problems in the story. Rising stakes help with pacing, with making readers care, and with giving the story a sense of urgency.
For more on raising the stakes in your novel, try these articles:
- Raising the Stakes: Revising to Keep Readers Reading
- Raise Your Novel's Stakes by Narrowing the Focus
- What's at Stake? How to Make Readers Care About Your Story
- Revising to Raise the Stakes
- The One-Two Punch: Creating Conflict and Raising the Stakes
- Why Quieter Stakes Are Easier to Plot With
- What “Burnt” Can Teach Us About Conflict and Stakes
- Three Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Stakes in Your Story
- Making the Most of the Worst That Can Happen: Plotting for the Thrill
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