Ever hit the wall and have no idea what to write next? Maybe you’ve just reached that point where nothing exciting is happening and you’re losing interest. And of course, if you’re losing interest, forget about your readers.
You might call it writers block. You might call it all kinds of blue-coloured words. You might simply take a break in the hope that inspiration strikes.
Worst scenario: you might give up.
Don’t! If you give up, you could be losing a fantastic story.
Instead, try this exercise:
“What’s the worst thing that could happen at this point in the story?”
Write it. Now. I’ll wait.
Very possibly, I’ve led you astray a little. The worst thing that could happen is all your characters catch a rare form of the flu and die, or an asteroid strikes the planet and they all die, or the sun explodes and they all die… you get the drift.
Okay then, lets peg it back a bit.
Your character tells a white lie – he’s had a fight with his wife, so she’s left him alone to deal with the business of running their ice-skating rink (or maybe something as simple as organising a dinner with friends). He’s too embarrassed to admit it, so he tells everyone she’s sick – caught a chill, and is resting up in bed.
What’s the worst thing that can happen? Someone’s got some medical qualifications and insists on helping.
Of course he could admit to the lie, but…
He tries to cover his lie and convinces someone to ‘play sick’ (maybe an employee, perhaps a neighbour), which not only deepens the lie, but draws someone else into it – and now you can see the snowball effect. “Oh no, it’s VERY contagious…”
And the worst thing that could happen at that point is…?
Okay, lets get back on track. We’re not actually building a story.
However, that sort of thing works particularly well with comedy, but also translates quite well into most genres.
Genre, you say.
Yes
Imagine you’re writing an action story – two tough cops go into a den of drug lords to rescue a kidnapping victim.
It’s time sensitive, and they make the call to go in early. What’s the worst thing that can happen – maybe one gets wounded and has to be dragged out – and the mission fails.
And of course, there are consequences.
Because they went in early and without backup, the kidnapping victim gets killed – and they get the blame. Suddenly they’re off the force, leaving them with the only option available – prove they did the right thing. Yet one of them is in hospital recovering…
You see where I’m going?
More than likely you’ll want to discard the first option (or four) that comes to you, but if you ever get stuck, if things slow down, or you simply can’t figure a way out of the mess you’ve created, ask yourself: “What’s the worst thing that can happen next?”