Amanda Frederickson's Blog: Musings - Posts Tagged "motivation"
Danger: The Threat
Jumping straight into things, the threat is whatever is trying to ruin your hero’s day. For this particular application I’m assuming some sort of monster-type threat (versus an evil empire type threat or interpersonal type threat or any other type threat). The threat is the foundation for the story’s conflict, so you want to make it a good one. A hero is only as good as the opposition, which means your threat cannot be easily defeated. Like, say, by a leaf.
Here’s the thing: the threat can’t just threaten the hero (though it certainly should do that as well). It has to threaten what’s at stake.
Think of our little hobbit hero. What is the main thing standing between Bilbo Baggins (and the dwarves) and reclaiming the dwarves’ halls of gold? The nice whopping dragon curled up in the middle of it all.
Are dragons dangerous? Of course they are. Everybody knows that. But why?
Because they breathe fire and eat people. Through Thorin’s detailed story we have the example of what this particular dragon has done in the past when it took over the Lonely Mountain in the first place. He set fire to everything (and just about everyone).
But is it enough to show that the monster in question is capable of destroying things? Actually, no. Simply being capable of threatening what’s at stake doesn’t mean that it will. It needs its own stakes and the motivation to pursue them. These opposing goals are what will truly make any conflict compelling. The audience can see what would result if the monster achieves its goals, and it needs to be bad. The dragon comes into play when its stakes (the heaps of gold) cross with Bilbo’s actions, and when it happens things really heat up. (Haha. ^_^;)
This is where tension is born.
So, the monster has its own goals and we see that it is capable of achieving those goals. Now it needs to do something about it.
(Because this thing ended up very long, I decided to move the detailed application for Rings of Akhaten to a second post. If you like seeing things applied to examples or if you like to see things torn to shreds, go on to that one. Coming soon: gratuitous deaths.)
Here’s the thing: the threat can’t just threaten the hero (though it certainly should do that as well). It has to threaten what’s at stake.
Think of our little hobbit hero. What is the main thing standing between Bilbo Baggins (and the dwarves) and reclaiming the dwarves’ halls of gold? The nice whopping dragon curled up in the middle of it all.
Are dragons dangerous? Of course they are. Everybody knows that. But why?
Because they breathe fire and eat people. Through Thorin’s detailed story we have the example of what this particular dragon has done in the past when it took over the Lonely Mountain in the first place. He set fire to everything (and just about everyone).
But is it enough to show that the monster in question is capable of destroying things? Actually, no. Simply being capable of threatening what’s at stake doesn’t mean that it will. It needs its own stakes and the motivation to pursue them. These opposing goals are what will truly make any conflict compelling. The audience can see what would result if the monster achieves its goals, and it needs to be bad. The dragon comes into play when its stakes (the heaps of gold) cross with Bilbo’s actions, and when it happens things really heat up. (Haha. ^_^;)
This is where tension is born.
So, the monster has its own goals and we see that it is capable of achieving those goals. Now it needs to do something about it.
(Because this thing ended up very long, I decided to move the detailed application for Rings of Akhaten to a second post. If you like seeing things applied to examples or if you like to see things torn to shreds, go on to that one. Coming soon: gratuitous deaths.)
