What Writers Need to Make Danger Interesting

I'm a mom, so my spectrum of TV and movie pleasures range from Moana with my kiddo (and hey, even without my him) to The Handmaid's Tale (definitely without my kiddo). Both of these are full of danger appropriate for their target audience, but I noticed a big difference in my response to those dangers.

Let's talk about that Moana scene where Moanna and Maui fight the coconut pirates. (Don't worry, I won't spoil anything major in this post.) Moana is one of my favorite Disney movies, but I have to be honest with you...I barely know what happens in this scene. Every time this scene plays, my eyes glaze over and my mind wanders to anything else. That's because in my first time watching, I already knew they'd make it out of this jumble okay. Even though Moana and Maui were wildly outnumbered, the unfair fight didn't feel impossible. I didn't feel their fear, which is fair (tongue twister!) because this movie is for kids. But still, the writers could have upped Moana and Maui's disadvantage to increase the tension and conflict. Otherwise, an action scene can have as many explosions as it wants, but the danger still feels shallow.

Now let's shift gears and talk about The Handmaid's Tale. In the premier of season two, June faces a danger that had me completely enraptured. A fire in my own apartment couldn't have ripped me away from this scene. Like, I knew she would make it out okay because the rest of the show needs her, but I couldn't rationalize the fear and tension away because THERE WAS NO FREAKING WAY OUT. June didn't just have odds; she had impossible odds. I could feel that she knew there was no way out of this one, that this was the end for her because I was up close and could see the staunch fear in her eyes and the tremble in her lips.

Play appropriately to your audience, of course, but never give your characters a way out. Make us doubt our instinct that they'll make it. Get us up close and personal with the character's own fear. And then just when we think it's all over, throw a curve ball and wow us with a plot twist or a character that uses their mind, strength, and resourcefulness to overcome impossible odds.

Follow Jessie Mullins on Facebook and Twitter for more bookish things. 

Why Your Story Needs Real Stakes

A couple weeks ago, my husband, Gary, and I settled in for a movie night. After browsing Netflix, we decided on a movie that sounded pretty interesting. After the Dark. 

Here's the synopsis from IMDB:

At an international school in Jakarta, a philosophy teacher challenges his class of twenty graduating seniors to choose which ten of them would take shelter underground and reboot the human race in the event of a nuclear apocalypse.

I love the premise. The beginning of the movie caught our attention right away with all the philosophy talk. But it was just that...talk. So we were even more excited when the professor announced that the students would have to decide which ten of them would continue on in the event of an apocalypse.

Except, unfortunately, it wasn't exciting at all. 

The students weren't actually deciding which ten of them would get to live. So there wasn't even the most basic stakes of, like, hurt feelings. They all drew a card with an identity or profession and decided based off those.

Every time they talked out a scenario, we saw it play out on screen. Each time they went through a scenario, ten of them were chosen and the rest died. Death is a pretty big stake, right? Half of the people dying is a pretty big deal? Nope. Because no one was actually in any danger whatsoever. They were really just sitting in a classroom. Still talking.  

That wouldn't have even mattered if the students' grades at least depended on how well they made decisions or if they got to live. But that wasn't the case either. At one point, the professor threatened to dock someone's grade, but he didn't say that until nearly the end of the film. And it wasn't a stake so much as him just being a jerk control freak.

I kept waiting for something redeeming, but when the credits rolled, Gary and I felt robbed. Where were the stakes!? A great idea is just an idea--not a story--if there are no real stakes. 

Your characters or their goals need to be in real danger in order to keep your readers captivated. If there's nothing actually at stake, the reader has no reason to invest their time. There's nothing keeping them glued to your pages to see how and if everything will be all right. Make your characters matter. Make their goals matter. Give such powerful stakes that the reader is personally invested, feeling that if the character fails, they're doomed too.  

Have you seen this movie? Do you agree or disagree? Share in the comments below!