What’s scary about this?

Reading David Farland’s Million Dollar Outlines, and liked the first exercise so much I thought I’d post it here.

It’s easy enough.

Sit down for ten minutes.

Think of five things you most like in your fiction. Then identify what you think is the biggest potential danger in trying to create that effect.

1.a sense of wonder and excitement.

I worry that it won’t translate, or that I will come across as a rube or a hick.

2. I like seeing a hero win against impossible odds.

This is tricky, because the temptation is twofold. Maybe I will make things too easy for my heroes, and they’ll never have to struggle or be in real peril. Or maybe I will make things too hard, and he either won’t win, or the ending will be contrived and unauthentic.

3.I like seeing a good love story.

But with today’s culture being what it is, I worry that people will think of my stories as being too prudish. And being able to separate love and sex is growing increasingly difficult for this culture.

4. I like big battles, explosions, and action.

It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on, and to convey the appropriate amount of peril. See 2.

5. I like big ideas in my fiction – I love Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and The War Against the Chtorr books specifically because of the super-interesting ideas in them. But it’s hard to do that without coming across as preachy and didactic. And those same ideas may alienate potential audience members.

What are you scared of?