Storytelling techniques – Create Complications



One of the things that keep readers turning the page is the amount of tension, drama and conflict we create within a story. Every story relies on a certain amount of conflict, but part of creating all that drama is how we create complications for our characters.
 
We don’t want our characters to have an easy time. In fact, we want the opposite. We want them to go through hell, we want them to suffer, we want to push them all the time, corner them and make their lives difficult. If they had it all their own way, there wouldn’t be much of a story to tell.
That’s why we create complications for our characters to deal with. Because their story is not meant to be an easy ride.
When we talk about complication – and creating them – we are referring to the escalating series of problems that take place in the story; the kind of things that make life difficult (but not impossible) for our characters. Lots of complications usually facilitate conflict.
Don’t confuse complications with obstacles. They’re similar but have different functions.  Obstacles are the major, ‘almost impossible’ barriers we throw in the way of the protagonist achieving his or her goal. Complications, however, are those annoying little things that pop up to make life difficult. For example, the hero must race his car across town to save it from a bomb about to go off, but the car won’t start. So he has to get his hands on another one.  But there’s no key. So he has to break in, hot wire it and he only has minutes left...
That’s what complication is. It’s about making life complicated for your main characters. The character needs to do something, but you as the writer need to find a way to prevent him doing it.
Often complications arise naturally as you’re writing and expanding the story. The progression of the story sometimes needs added complications, and you may see an opportunity to create one or two. Many authors create them at plotting stage, to make sure the characters don’t get an easy time, while others add them during the editing stage. It doesn’t matter how you approach it or how you do it, as long as you make the these things interesting enough to provide that extra bit of tension and drama, and of course, added conflict.
How do you know if you have enough complications for your characters? 
When you read through your story, do your characters sail through it without too many problems? Is everything too easy for them? Do they face any of those niggly little problems that threaten to thwart them as they move close to the climax of the story?  If so, add a complication or two. 
Adding complications is a great way to generate tension, atmosphere, drama and acts as a catalyst for conflict.  But don’t overuse them. Too many will make the story messy. Like major obstacles, complications work when the story demands it, i.e. when a character needs to do something important, but is set back by a complication. It won’t stop him doing what he has to do. It will just make his life difficult.
And that’s what creating complications is all about.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter & Novel Lengths

Just how long should a chapter be? What’s the best length? And does a novel have to fit into a set amount of words? These are just two of the most common questions asked by writers.   They assume they have to work to a strict template of X amount of words and X amount of chapters, usually because most novels have around 30 or 40 chapters and around 80,000 words.   Novel Lengths Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths - novel lengths are dictated by the story itself, not the writer or the editor or a specific written formula.   Secondly, writers don’t have to fit their word count into generic set amounts.   Again, the story will dictate how long the novel will be. It’s also worth knowing the different types of novels that work well with different word counts.   Uncomplicated stories containing minimal characters tend to be short – usually around 20,000 to 60,000 words.   These are called novellas. Longer, more complex stories, which contain a handful o...
Read more

What Makes a Story Dark?

If you’re a horror writer or you love to write dark, psychological stories and thrillers, or moralistic tales, this is the one question that needs an answer. Wanting a dark story and writing one are two different things, so how do you actually make a story dark? To answer that you first have to understand what is meant by ‘dark’. We usually define ‘dark’ as quantifiable elements that we know and are familiar with, but it’s more than that. Dark doesn’t necessarily mean scary or gory with a crazy psychopath going around chopping people into bits. Instead we have to think of ‘dark ‘as anything outside our accepted rose-tinted reality. Dark is the underbelly of our society; it’s the handling of ideas, themes, social issues and behaviours that would be seen as morally unacceptable. It’s less about fictional monsters but more about the real monsters that lurk in the shadows, something that is underscored by our fears and anxieties. It’s the unknown, because the things we don’t know ...
Read more

Modifiers, Intensifiers and Qualifiers - Part 2

Unlike modifiers, which modify words or phrases, an Intensifier is a term for a modifier that amplifies the meaning of the word it modifies. An intensifier is used exclusively to modify adverbs and adjectives and is placed  before the word it is meant to modify.  In simple terms, the intensifier emphasises adverbs and adjectives - it makes them more intense . The word is derived from Latin, meaning to “intend or stretch”. In grammatical terms, the intensifier lends no weight to the meaning of a sentence other than to give it an additional emotional nuance to the word it is modifying, however, since they modify adverbs and adjectives, they should be treated in the same way adverbs adjectives – used little and sparingly wherever possible within your writing. This is where learning to spot them will benefit your quality of writing. Intensifiers are attributive and serve only to fill space, so unless there is a valid reason to intensify the meaning and emotion ...
Read more