Fear in Writing: Balance Due

Today in Literary History

Today in Literary History...December 14, 1907: Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel prize for literature, the first English-language writer to do so.ud

Monday, May 17, 2010

Balance Due

Many people around the world are getting this call right now: balance due, payment time, credit revoked.  It's that kind of an economy.  Even though we're on a slight upswing (unless you're in Greece, sorry Alliterative Allomorph), it takes a while for the ups to catch up to the downs--especially on the personal level.  Plenty of people are stretched to the max--credit cards, second mortgages, car loans, etc., etc.

At some point, all of that lending and borrowing comes back to bite.  At some point, the balance is due.

The same can be said for writing.  Every character puts a certain amount of energy and effort into solving a problem, a certain amount of their life into the force behind building to the climax.  And at some point in your book, they are owed, they want payment.  They have to get something back to keep them going.  That something might be your finale, or it might just be a dangling carrot.

Have you reached a point where your characters must get something more to keep going?  Are they so involved in the plot that it doesn't seem believable?  How do you balance their "normal" lives with where you want them to be?

10 comments:

  1. Usually right before the climax in my books, the characters have been working hard to find a solution to the problems they face and they just want the answer. They want the reward for all their hard work. I think your blog hits a good point. If your character doesn't want that reward, the reader will pick up on it and the story will mean less.

    CD

    ReplyDelete
  2. I gave my main character what he thought he wanted most about halfway through the story - and at the end, he got what his heart wanted most.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My characters rarely have happy endings.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Right now, my character would just be happy to stay alive. She'll have plenty of time to think about happiness tomorrow ... if there is one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Action. Lots and lots of action. I try not to give them much time to catch their breath. Sometimes I don't have to develop their characters (although there is character development in my books), I just have to throw new and creative challenges at them, sometimes in rapid fire succession.

    Stephen Tremp

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well...they want the mystery to be solved so I can't let them get what they want until the end of the book. But I do let them get small rewards and small resolutions along the way.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My characters are pretty well balanced for the most part but I'm about to get to the climax so let's see if that sticks!

    Nice post!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You know, what a character wants doesn't necessarily mean a happy ending...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good question. I'm in the revising stage, so this is something I'll keep in mind as I'm working! I think it's balanced, but I'll really have to look at it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's so important that the protagonist is rewarded for all their hard work. There's nothing more I hate than when someone else in the story swoops in and figures things out or saves the day and robs them of that. Of course, my poor mc is gonna suffer a whole lot before he sees any reward.

    ReplyDelete