Tag: stakes

Everyone Loves a Prophet…in Hindsight

Everyone loves a prophet…in hindsight. So why do we ignore the people who see it coming? Why is this such a universal human trope? To mock, criticize, abuse, or even annihilate the one person who sees the truth? Today, I am using the term “prophet” because I want a little more latitude in my examples. …

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Why Choice—Not Talent—Drives Great Stories

I’d venture to say that 99% of life is choosing the least crappy decision out of a list of horrible options while gambling the fallout is something we can handle.

Ideally later.

Stakes: How to Hook an Audience All the Way to THE END

Stakes, bizarrely enough, are a key ingredient missing in many stories. If the characters don’t have skin in the game, why would the audience?

Hooking the Reader and Never Letting Go

  What is the one ingredient we MUST include to have great fiction? CONFLICT. No conflict, no story. One of the biggest stumbling blocks I see in new writers is that they fail to understand the difference between authentic conflict versus a bad situation. Bad situations do not make good fiction. Bad situations are boring …

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