Two Ways To Add Drama To Your Novel

     Drama is important in your novel--one can argue that without drama, there is no novel.  You can write a book without an antagonist, a series without a singular set of characters, a play without a plot, a novel that's mostly a comedy, but you can't write anything without drama.  Drama is your meat and potatoes.  Maybe comedy or romance or fluff is your desert, and everybody loves them some pumpkin pie (or at least I do.  It's fine if you prefer cherry or apple or whatever.  More pumpkin for me.), but you can't eat that entire pie without a few solid meals in between.  You'd get sick and end up malnourished, and it wouldn't be a pretty sight, I assure you.

     Basically, without tension; stakes; DRAMATICALITY!, your jokes (or fluff, etc) will fall flat, because there will be no reason to care.  Even if your jokes are funny, your characters will have nothing to do, because there won't be any action propelling them to make the mistakes that people find endearing; action is all that drama is.  And without those elements, there's no reason for a novel to exist.  We could just as easily have picked up a joke book, or read some fanfiction and not have bothered with the lackluster story that's been presented to us.

     And if you're not writing a comedy or fluff piece, drama becomes all the more important--in fact, it becomes just about everything.

     There are lots of ways to add drama to your novel, but here are the two big mainstays of fiction.  They form the basis of basically everything your book is about, many times out of one hundred.

     The first thing you do is find out what the character fears most.  Is it snakes?  Commitment?  Flying?  That creepy old dude squatting in the porta-potty down the street?  Pinpoint that fear.  Point out that he's afraid, figure out why he's afraid.

     Then slap him upside the head with that fear; force him to face it head-on, and set the stakes high enough that he has to do it.  Make him the only one qualified to catch snakes to make a special anti-venom for his baby brother, tell him that if he doesn't marry his on-again off-again girlfriend that she'll be deported, shove him into a situation where the only way to find the mystical prince destined to save the world is to bring gift offerings to Porta-John and spend a week living with him in the cramped porta-potty for which he has named himself.

     Then, once he's faced a fear and come out stronger (or weaker) for it--do it again.  And again.  And again.  Repeat ad infinitum, or until your novel is finished.  Whichever comes first.

     The second thing to keep in mind when trying to stir up drama is what your character wants most.  Does she want to be a member of a famous band?  Does she want to go on an amazing adventure?  Marry the girl she's been crushing on for like, forever? To go to college and get an education so she can make her family proud?

     Now give it to her.  Make her work for it--or don't, either can work, depending on how the story is laid out; if the story starts with this sudden blessing bestowed upon her for no reason, that's fine!  It'll make the next step less tragic, if she hasn't done anything to earn it.  But let her have this one.  Let her earn this victory, become that band member, marry that girl, be the Chosen One--and then let her reap the consequences.

     Make them substantial.  Make them horrible and totally unexpected--make her doubt everything she's ever wanted; it's not so great, being a superstar, she finds, and her idols, it turns out, are total assholes; she quickly finds out that she doesn't actually know the girl of her dreams at all, and they're terribly incompatible--perhaps horrifically so; the adventure she wanted involves levels of violence and hardships the books never cover--she forgot that she was never good at gym class and probably should have thought this out a little better; and of course, the degree she wants isn't really the one she wants, and she wonders how she ever thought it was.

     For the best effect, sprinkle these twisted gifts with elements of her worst fears, and laugh as her life spirals down into something she never expected and doesn't quite have the skills to deal with.

     Now force her to find a way out on her own.  Whatever skills she lacks, she has to find a way to gain them, whatever mistakes she's made, she has to find a way out of it, no mysterious saviors, no easy solutions, no (or few) external forces, no Deus Ex Machinas--she got herself into it, and now she has to get herself out.

    And this, comrades, is the very heart of drama.

5 Reasons Your Story Isn't Working

     Sometimes a story just doesn't work.  You're typing along, lalala, story story story, and then suddenly, BAM you hit a wall!  Then it's goodbye story, hell-llo writer's block!
     The first step in getting your story back on track is to figure out why you're stuck.  Here are five reasons you may be having difficulties.

1.  You've lost your passion

     Sometimes the spark just goes away.  You lose interest in whatever gave you the idea for this story in the first place, you realize you don't really want to work with these characters anymore, you start to hate the genre it's in--whatever the reason, you lose the will to keep pushing forward.  When you just plain lose interest, it's hard to reignite it.  You could try reacquainting yourself with your story, reworking the plot, throwing in new characters--or you could put it away for a while and see if it calls out to you again later on.  It may have potential, but maybe your gut is trying to tell you something.

2.  You're using the wrong medium

     Some books are made for a Word document, some for pencil and paper, and some for carving into the cliffside with a rusty spoon.
     Different mediums create different actions, different motions, different moods, all of which affect the way you think about your story.  A slow-paced urban fantasy written in heavy dialect might call for longhand, but a fast-paced passionate science fiction tale might need to be hammered into a keyboard.  Try experimenting with different mediums and see if there's something that clicks.

3.  You're using the wrong narrator

     Your narrator should be in the best position to tell the story--they need not necessarily be the coolest character, the most powerful character, the character who ultimately wins, or even a character at all, but they do need to be in the best place to describe the happenings of tale, which means that if they are a character, they need to be in the thick of the action, or in a position to see the story as it needs to be relayed.  If your narrator is off in the background of the story you really want to tell, you should consider either bringing them closer to the action, or making another character the narrator.
     At the same time, if you need to hold certain information outside of the audience's reach, you need to put the story in the hands of a narrator who will either not know this, or have a good reason for keeping it out of the narrative.

4.  You don't yet have the tools or skills you need

      Sometimes there are more complicated maneuvers that a story necessitates which we don't yet have the experience or finesse to pull off, and that inexperience can drag at the story, sometimes causing the tires to blow or bouncing up to break the windshield.  You might be able to get yourself to the point you need to reach through simply pushing yourself through this story, researching what you need to and putting yourself through writing exercises, but sometimes you need to stop, put this manuscript aside, and let it stew while you build your skill level.

5.  You're not telling the right story

     Sometimes there's a really amazing story embedded in a manuscript--"this galactic war is so fascinating," the reader says, "so why are we spending only three pages looking into it while eight hundred are wasted on a forced and cliched romance?"
     If your story doesn't seem to be working, look it over again.  Is there something more interesting, more enthralling happening behind the scenes?  Does some of your world's history or a character's backstory jump out at you as a better read?  Maybe you need to expand upon that, instead.
     Or maybe there's a completely different story out there, waiting for you to come and claim it.

Writing Game: Seven Minutes In (Writing) Heaven

     This is a little writing game designed to get your mind working and the juices flowing.  You can use it as a warm-up for before you start the brunt of the day's writing, or as a pass-time when you've got down-time and want to keep your writing skills sharp.  Whatever you want to use it for, here's how to play Seven Minutes In (Writing) Heaven.
   
Note:  Closet neither included nor required

What You'll Need:

3 containers of a reasonable size
Paper
At least one die
Writing materials
A stop watch or other time-telling device

Set-Up:

1.  Get all your things together in one place (always useful)
2.  Tear your pieces of paper into small slips
3.  Separate your slips into three piles
4.  Take the first pile; on these slips of paper, write the names of all the characters you might be using.  In the second pile, write down a number of locations, real, fictional, inside, outside--whatever you can think of.  In the third pile, write out a number of events or conflicts that you might want to use.
5.  Put each pile into a separate pile; shake and mix liberally

Game Play:

1.  Roll your dice.
2.  Whatever number you come up with, that's the number of characters to pick from the first container
3.  Pick one slip from each of the remaining containers
4.  Set your timer/observe the clock; you now have exactly seven minutes to write a short story using the criteria you've gathered.  With any luck, you'll produce something you can use either as a scene in a story, or at least learn a little bit more about your characters, their motivations, and relationships.