30 Days of Writing and Publishing Tips – Day 6 Does your story need a ticking clock?
This is day six of my posts for writers having trouble writing their stories or attracting an agent or an editor. The first post is here.
I’ve read many stories by unpublished writers that were very good, but the writers were unsuccessful in attracting an agent or an editor. Sometimes it’s because the readers don’t get caught up enough in the story to make it stand out from similar stories. One way to give a story an edge is to add in a ticking clock element.
The ticking clock – if your main character doesn’t overcome the obstacle or complete the goal in a set time, all is lost. This doesn’t mean every story needs a bomb with a timer attached and the main character manages to cut the wire just in time but it does mean adding in something that forces the main character to strive for the goal.
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Does every story need one? No.
Does it help certain kinds of stories sell? Absolutely!
I love stories with ticking clock elements, both to read and to write. When writing them, it focuses my storytelling so that the time frame is set, and I don’t meander about adding in subplots that may be fun to write, but aren’t really all that important to the main story.
Think of exciting movies like Star Wars A New Hope. There is no better example of a ticking clock than the ending of that movie. Luke literally blows up the Death Star at the last second before the Resistance’s planet is obliterated.
Now of course most stories don’t have such a dramatic plot, but if you like those sorts of stories and are writing fantasy, sci fi, paranormal or thrillers, you might be able to add in a ticking clock element. It works in other types of storys too, like historicals – I’ve got them in both ALL IS FAIR, my historical out now, and my next one coming out next January, GONE BY NIGHTFALL. My other middle grade and YAs have them too.
It doesn’t have to be a ticking clock element that means the end of the world, or death, but there are ways to add in a time frame so that the main character is forced to act. It can even be in a romance-let’s say the main character is only going to be in a certain place for a specific amount of time, and after that, they won’t have a chance to connect with the love interest. I just checked in with my daughter who is reading a romance right now and asked what the ticking clock was in that book – the main character wants to find a date to a friend’s wedding.
Ticking clocks of any sort add tension, and tension keeps readers reading. Maybe this is just what your story needs.
And here’s my sci fi trilogy, ticking clocks in all three books, though it took several revisions and thought to come up with them!
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