Thread by @Catrambo

I will tweet highlights from the class this morning, which is @tobiasbuckell talking about Setting the Stakes with the hashtag #settingstakes

kittywumpus.net/blog/class-set…

This class came out of a conversation about something else, and it's another case of me wanting to hear someone talk at length about a particular aspect of writing, so I've got notebook open and ready for notetaking. #settingstakes

I find that one of the most common ways for stories to fail is that the author knows the stakes, but the reader is at a loss. #settingstakes

We're starting by thinking about the gardener vs architect metaphors of story planner. Most of the class tends to identify as gardeners, the organic/pantsing approach, rather than architects, who are planning -oriented. #settingstakes

We're talking about characters and how knowing how they will behave is more useful than physical appearance. What will they choose to do when faced with various pressures? #settingstakes

Readers move through your work on a scene by scene basis not because of the overall plot stakes, but the smaller stakes: for example, what a character does when their loyalty is tested. #settingstakes

Every scene has smaller stakes for the characters, ones that are not the overall plot stakes, but things idiosyncratic to them. #settingstakes

At the end of not just each chapter but each scene, you want the reader to think, "And then what?" What are the consequences of the choices that have been made in that scene? #settingstakes

Fights are usually boring unless there's something at stake. (Exception: anything with @EyeOfJackieChan.) It's just people swinging. There needs to be a choice made as a result of the battle. We should care about the outcome. #settingstakes

How do you convey this information? Have 2 chars talk about it. Or have the character think about it. Or it's kosher for the writer to tell them to the reader. #settingstakes

Things are obvious to you because you're living in the story. You want them to be there for the reader too; it's way easier to be too subtle conveying them than too obvious. #settingstakes