Craftie Ladies of Suspense

Have you ever hit a wall...where you are bogging down while writing a story? Or if you are reader--have you ever been immersed in a story and then felt yourself losing interest? Perhaps the story had you in its grip and now...it's humdrum.

One thing that can happen is that the characters lack enough conflict and motivation to really drive the story. Or, perhaps the scene is meandering, without a clear-cut goal. If a writer suddenly finds herself bored with writing a scene, imagine how a reader will feel!

Every scene needs to show:
1. A character's strong goal.
2. The conflict that makes it very difficult to achieve it
3. Why it matters a lot to the character
4. And how his efforts to achieve it, coupled with his success or failure, makes things better or worse for him at the end of the scene. Something has to change following the action in this scene.

McKee's book, STORY, refers to making sure that the emotional level changes, between the beginning of a scene--if the character start out positive, and things are going well, the scene will be flat if all goes well throughout the scene and at the end, he is still happily going on his way.
Just some thoughts, late on a Sunday evening...

Blessings to you all!

Roxanne