7 Point Plot: Crisis

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      In the last plot point, the main character came out with a win. The most story-logical next big plot point must, therefore, be a failure. After all, where's the tension for the reader otherwise?

      This Crisis marks the end of the middle of your book. This failure fires
your main character from a catapult right towards the supreme
show-down.

      For this transition to be inevitable, the stakes must be raised. There is usually either a destruction or threat of imminent destruction of a
person, object, or world. Imminent destruction usually has a time
limit attached that the hero must race against – thus also raising
the suspense level.

      The Crisis drives the main character towards the bad guy (or bad event).
The character typically makes a decision because of the Crisis that
causes the final conflit either directly or indirectly. It
depends on your story. Action-focused stories tend to take the direct
approach while character-focused stories may or may not take the
indirect approach.

       The Crisis ends badly for the character but the lessons of the Middle
have been learned. Mostly. This means your character isn't going to
do much more growing in the last section of the book. Which is just
as well since the last section of the book is pretty short and
usually action-driven.

       The Crisis is usually followed by some down-time when characters can
romance, gather resources, and make final plans. But that does not
mean that there is no tension. Your character has already started on
her trajectory towards the final battle. The clock (if you use one)
is ticking. For added tension, I like to place the Crisis for my
romantic subplot during this downtime.

7 Point Plot: Pop Quiz 2

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       This is the second pop quiz. If the Midpoint was about changing from reacting to acting, then Pop Quiz 2 is about changing from loosing to winning. Readers everywhere see this as a sign that ultimate victory is possible for the main character.

      This doesn't mean you make it easy for your character. It needs to look like your character is going to loose – to the reader and the character both – until the big turn around. Sound familiar?        Yup, kinda like the big finish only less intense.

      So why the big turn around? I think there are two reasons.

      First, reader psychology. A win now will make the next defeat – the one that triggers the final battle – all the more painful and unforeseen. After all, the reader has seen that the character can win and there is an emotional high from winning that will make the crash of defeat all the more bitter.

      Second, the character has changed and both character and reader need to know
that the character's goal, growth, or plan is on the right track. If the plan fails, then you switch to another plan, right? So if you want your character to stick with it then she needs a little positive reinforcement.

      But how does the character solve the problems posed by Pop Quiz 2? n a very character-driven approach, the character listens to her heart. She is figuring out her inner conflict, trying to do the right thing, and the insight given by the struggle is what she realizes she needs.

      In the other extreme, the main character can pull out a win at the last minute by learning a new skill, grabbing a weapon, or through the help of hard-won allies (so long as the main character is still the main character of the scene).

      In my own fantasy, I like a tense battle here decided by the inner conflict element. You don't have to choose one over the other, you see. You can combine both approaches. Just keep it tense.

7 Point Plot: Midpoint

         I love the midpoint of novels. I tend to be a proactive person. It is like Midpoints were made for me.

         On the outside, the Midpoint can be new information and/or a confrontation. It is the second-most tense time in your story.

         But what I love most is the inside of the Midpoint.

         The characters have been reacting to their circumstances. During the Midpoint (sometimes in the reaction section) the characters transform from reactive to proactive. Because readers see partly through the character's eyes (but also through the narrator's voice), the reader's perceptions also transform.

         For the joyful adventurer, the Midpoint is usually some kind of revelation. “Oh no, Voldemort is after the Sorcerer's Stone, guys. We have to protect it!” Tension here may come from rapid revelations, prophecies, or a string of clues unraveled.

         For the reluctant adventurer, the Midpoint is usually a face-off against a bad guy – maybe the main antagonist or his stand-in. This is especially the case when the character is so unwilling that it takes an immediate life-or-death situation (with the threat of a future one) to get the character to become proactive about her situation.

         The Midpoint usually comes halfway through the middle. Sometimes it happens sooner but rarely later because readers love excitement. So give them what they want.

Raise Reader Tension: The Unknown

 Introduce the Unknown and you will have the reader on edge -- an immediate increase in
reader tension. You can do this at any point. I think Middles are particularly well-suited for doing this since Beginings are for set-up, Endings are for wrap-ups, but Middles are for complications. And what is more intriguing and unsettling  to the reader than an "I know something you don't know"? Especially right when the reader is getting complacent.

English: Hampoil cave entrance from inner angle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        Foreshadowing in prose, allusions in dialogue, or unexplained events are just a few ways to raise reader tension. Some of this might be plotted into your first draft but if you have places that sag but are necesary to the story, you can add elements of the unknown to draw the reader back into the story.
        Look for ways you can rewrite the scene so the characters explore a new area (a cave, empty building, new sector of the city. A place neither the characteer nor the reader has ever been before.
        Look for places where you tell back-story or history directly and without conflict. Or brainstorm back-story or history that is not included in the story but you wish you could have included. Turn this into a secret to be kept from the reader (and maybe the character) that must be discovered through hints and clues given out by various characters and settings.
        Take a character who is important (but maybe not vital) to the story and rewrite your manuscript so the reader never actually meets this character.
        Take your time when introducing a new character or setting. The reader doesn't need to know everything at once. In fact, the reader doesn't need to know everything at all just so long as you know. Show the action and take your time with the explanations. (Some explanations can wait longer than others.)
Introduce uncertainty, mystery, indecision -- the unknown -- to increase reader tension. Raise reader tension to help tighten the sagging, dragging passages of your manuscript.

Raise Reader Tension: Main Characters

         How can you increase reader tension? I mentioned that it isn't the character that has to feel the tension but the reader. One way to achieve this is through tweaks to your main characters. Remember that surprise is key to reader tension.

English: A thermite reaction using Ferric Oxide. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        One reason readers become complacent is that over time, they learn to predict character reactions. This is especially true in the middle -- after character has been established. By the middle, readers think they know everything there is to know about the character. If you allow this, there is risk that the reader will get bored.
Use their assumptions against them while remaining true to the character you have created.
        Give your character an unexpected reaction. Unexpected to the reader, that is. You will have to justify the reaction and the readers will see that there is more to the characters than they thought, maybe an unmet need, controversial belief, previously unrevealed back-story.

NOTE: this works best if you set up reader expectations before challenging those beliefs. Find several similar situations in your manuscript that evoke the same reaction. Then insert or alter a situation that is almost identical except that it includes a personal trigger that will cause the character to react differently. The reader will be surprised, confused, intrigued. The different reaction will put the reader on edge until the change of behavior is explained (in a way that stays true to character). Done right, you can also deepen character with this technique.

        Another way to use your main character to raise reader tension is to exploit his/her character arc. A character becomes predictable when turning points are delayed for too long, lack surprise twists, or have steps that do not offer enough change in character outlook/motive/behavior.
        These techniques should help you to keep your reader guessing and engaged with your main characters. Keep the reader unsure, keep the surprises coming, and you will be well on your way to raising reader tension.

Raise Reader Tension: Surprise

Tightrope Walker (Photo credit: the other Martin Taylor)

        Does your story drag when you reread it, despite a well-conceived plot? You may be having trouble with dramatic tension. A feeling of tension in the reader is vital to building suspense because it keeps the reader from feeling complacent.
        Reader complacency is the enemy to tension. A reader can still feel complacent -- and bored --  even when faced with the fastest, most action-packed plot.
        How can this be?
         The complacent reader knows what is going to happen. So even when the character is surprised, the reader is not. Predictability is the enemy to dramatic tension.
It is not necessary for the character to feel the tension, so long as the reader feels it.
        After all, the character isn't the one reading the book, turning the pages, making the decision whether or not to put the book down or stay up through the night. Tension in the reader overlaps with -- but is not identical to -- tension in the viewpoint character.
You can fight complacency with uncertainty. Not uncertainty in the character (though that can help) but uncertainty in the reader.
        Surprise the reader.