Comments on: Raise the stakes!

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 03:16:23 +0000

Liz, when I gave the example of your book, I was thinking of how it gets even worse for your h/h in the following scenes. That’s the way it should be.

I hope I can do that with my books. Funny that you do it without thinking of it. I guess that means you’re instinctively a sadist.

By: Liz Kreger

Liz Kreger — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:59:17 +0000

I never go into a WIP with the thought of making life totally miserable for my characters. That just happens. Great blog and I’m with Michelle … love the leopard.

I think we’ve all read novels where the build up is so good, the h/h are in such deep doo-doo that you cannot imagine how they can possibly escape and then … simple resolution. I always feel cheated when that happens. Don’t take a great build up and then make it a simple fix.

Other than the examples you just gave, I’m drawing a blank with naming a novel that torments the characters to a great extent, although anything by Sherrilyn Kenyon comes to mind.

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:28:13 +0000

Theresa, glad I could help you. I’ve been trying to think of a way to raise the stakes in my next scene. I want to torture my characters.

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:26:46 +0000

Karin, your characters are always in trouble, lol. That’s the way to do it!

By: Theresa

Theresa — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:08:36 +0000

Edie,

What a great reminder for me as I head into revisions on TCM. This book is so much lighter than what I normally write, that i tend to forget about craft techniques like raising the stakes, or ending each scene with a hook, or–well, you get the picture.

But you are so right. Just because a book is light doesn’t mean you can forget the elements that will make it stand out.

I’m going to print off a RAISE THE STAKES reminder and tape it next to my computer in my office.

By: Karin

Karin — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:13:41 +0000

Edie, in REDEMPTION the stakes start off as high as they can be and then go up from there. My poor characters.

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:39:08 +0000

Oops, Beth in Little Women “dies”, she isn’t “killed”. But I’m sure you all knew that. LOL

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:38:14 +0000

OMG Kath, I felt the same way about Beth. Did you ever see the “Friends” episode where Joey is reading Little Women and Jennifer Aniston’s character lets drop that Beth will be killed? That’s my favorite “Friends” episode.

You definitely did raise the stakes in your book! I think most of us do it instinctively. The thing I want to do is learn to raise them even more, in every area of the book possible.

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:33:55 +0000

Jill, I LOVE that she shape-shifts into a man! How original and sneaky.

Allison goes high stakes right from the beginning, and they just get worse. She’s a very smart woman. I like what you say that “no one is safe.” Now you have me wondering how to incorporate that into my story. Even though I don’t write RS, there’s has to be a way I can write so “no one is safe”, even if it’s emotional safety.

By: Kathy Calarco

Kathy Calarco — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:17:51 +0000

Thought provoking blog, Edie, and thanks for suggesting another book for me to purchase. At this point, I should have stock in Borders.

I can think of two books where a favorite character unexpectedly dies – Meek, beloved Beth in Little Women – that killed me! And in My Sisters Keeper, Jodi Picoult comes up with the totally unexpected in the second to last chapter. (That killed me, too, and I won’t reveal it in case someone here is in the middle of reading it.)

Edie’s privy to one of my mss where I’ve come up with the unexpected to an endearing character. I didn’t realize I was raising the stakes, but I think it caught Edie’s eye.