the shock & clock method

Here are three signs that your story is stuck in the same quicksand it belched up:

1.      The previous three pages are just dialogue.

2.      The first draft isn’t even done yet, but you’re already dreading the editing phase.

3.      You can point at the precise moment your readers will put the book down and turn to Hulu.

You’re stuck, darling. Worse — you’re sinking. Your character arcs plateaued, your plot wrote its suicide note, and you’d rather talk to your kid about Minecraft than type one. more. word. What are you supposed to do when you’re bored with your own fiction?

Never fear! Your story is salvageable. It’s just stuck in the mud, not entombed. Get your story soaring with the Shock & Clock Method. 

THE SHOCK

Pour that wine, writer, even if your muses are napping. Crack your knuckles and let’s get typing! Step one: do something shocking that gets your character moving — running, preferably. It doesn’t have to be a struck-by-lightning-shock, but it must be unexpected. Send a mailbox into space. Land a tornado. Set something on fire!  

Get your characters a-going — toward something, away from someone, doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re moving.

THE CLOCK

Step two: start the clock. A ticking clock. A countdown. The clock doesn’t have to be big like a time bomb, but it must be unavoidable. Think of all the stories that would’ve blah-ed without time for an obstacle! Cinderella would’ve kept partying long after midnight. The Council of Elrond would’ve bickered for weeks! The rebels wanted to destroy the Death Star, yes, but they sure hurried the hell up when they were within firing range!

FINAL THOUGHTS

It was Vonnegut who famously said that every character should want something, even if it’s just a glass of water. Aim your characters higher. Shock them when they’re swallowing that water, and start a clock.