Raising The Stakes - Can You Learn How?

This week I’ve learned the importance of raising the stakes. It can be difficult to put those “death stakes” into a plot but I’m finding my recent study of screenplays and writing helpful and it’s working to help me with the novel writing. I am training my Brian to think about plot differently and improve. 

It’s amazing how there is a myth that writing skill can not be taught but I truly feel the opposite. And there’s nothing more beautiful than watching your prose tighten up of its own accord. 

The skill of raising the stakes makes writing easier to read and trims down on unnecessary fluff that detracts from the character's internal or external journey. Studying screenplay which is mostly dialogue has also helped me to figure out how to add different tics to characters that make their dialogue stand out. I'm practicing in my current novel that I'm writing for work and I hope that the lessons can become engrained soon.

I want to write a little more tomorrow on morning pages and how that process has helped me to arrive here. I want to explore if the morning mindfulness ritual has had an impact. I also worry I won't maintain this interest for a sustained period of time if work gets too crazy and I want to promise myself that's okay too.