The Key Element Your Novel Is Probably Missing

if you've gotten feedback that your novel just isn't that engaging or interesting it can be really confusing to figure out what's falling flat to you it's certainly interesting that's why you wrote it after all so what went wrong in your execution of the story what isn't resonating with the reader as a professional book editor I've worked with hundreds of authors and reviewed and edited even more manuscripts so I'm here to reveal one of the top reasons why your story is not Landing with your reader this is something that is quite complicated and not always easy to see in your own work but once you're able to identify and then correct it I promise it's going to transform your story and it's going to make it from a slow burn read to an absolute page Turner I'm also going to talk through some tactical tips on how to go about addressing this issue in your own manuscript now if you're an author and you are working on a book I recommend subscribing to my channel every week I either post videos with writing advice like this this one or I talk about the book publishing industry as my background is with big five publishing houses I also have a free resource for anyone who has a current draft it is called my story self assessment worksheet and it's a fun easy way to look at your story from a different perspective identify what's working well in it as well as what you could potentially improve on the next draft downloading that's going to sign you up for my newsletter where I publish exclusive interviews with publishing industry insiders and successfully published authors and they're giving some amazing tips and insights I've really been enjoying doing these interviews and seeing the newsletter grow so you don't want to miss out on that if you want to go straight to the newsletter the link is also in the description so what is this mysterious element that is making your story not resonate with readers and the reason why it is falling flat my answer is that the stakes are too low now you might have heard your beta readers or critique Partners or someone in a writing Workshop or me or or a different book editor talk about stakes in relation to your story but what does that mean what are the stakes this can feel nebulous and vague but put simply the stakes are what your main character has to gain or lose from the events of the story ultimately the events of the story have to matter in some way or another there have to be concrete and significant consequences because if not the reader will sit there wondering what are we reading for what am I trying to find out what am I waiting to see unravel and they're gonna eventually disengage with the story if they cannot identify the stakes now to you the stakes might feel clear or they might feel strong enough but oftentimes more than you would think the stakes actually need to be significantly heightened to get the reader emotionally invested in the story think about it this way we don't just want to read a book where characters are mulling about Willy really going about their day-to-day life right because that's frankly boring we want to see the characters engaged in some type of action and sequence of events that mean something to them that transforms their lives in one way or another I'm not saying that you have to write a ultra high packed Thriller the same even goes for a slow burn romance there are still Stakes attached to each and every story I promise you so now I'm gonna go over three tangible ways to raise the stakes of your story and thereby give the reader something to be reading for and make the narrative more propulsive the first is to create a personal connection sometimes your Stakes might feel too low because the protagonist is actually quite detached from the major plot events of the story they're not directly involved or directly affected by what's going on in the plot and thereby there's a separation between what actually matters to that character who's the person we care about and what we're seeing go on in the plot action this particular issue most frequently arises in mystery and crime novels because you often have a detective or investigator character or even an amateur sleuth character who is solving a crime but that crime has to do with just random strangers right they don't know those people they're not attached to them in any way but the act of solving the crime still has to have personal Stakes for us to care about watching this story unfold and get connected to the protagonist so think through questions like why is it important for the main character to solve this crime how are things going to personally change for them if they solve this crime or if they don't one way to address this is to have the main character have some kind of personal connection to either the victim or someone who is a suspect in the crime automatically that significantly raises the stakes because now we understand why the main character is so invested in seeing the crime solved because they want to see Justice for this person that they knew or they want to see if this person that they knew is actually a criminal right but this strategy doesn't just apply to murder mysteries of course say that you have a Sci-Fi novel about an Intergalactic battle between dueling Empires again the question is why does your main character Care on a personal level perhaps their family is part of a dynasty that runs one of the empires or perhaps one of the empires is targeting someone that they know specifically make sure there is a concrete reason for the main character to be entangled in the plot action whatever that may be make them care about the people that are involved in those events because otherwise your reader won't care the next way to raise the stakes in your story is to make the situation dire for your main character when thinking about the consequences and potential outcomes of the events of the novel for your main character there's a sliding scale of how severe those consequences could be right for instance of course it's bad if the main character loses ten dollars but it is much much worse if they lose ten thousand dollars right for the purposes of your novel a novel that is meant to be compulsive and Page turning and exciting you want to make sure that the consequences are significant enough to truly transform the main character's life otherwise the stakes will feel pretty low so for instance if your character is in a position where the events of the story could result in them losing money you can go a step further and Define that they might lose their house if things don't go the way that they need them to go that makes the situation more intense and thereby creates more suspense and Intrigue and excitement for the reader another example would be say that one of the main characters has a family member who is ill or sick you could take it a step further and have that character actually get hospitalized that immediately raises the stakes again making the situation more dire more intense is going to make the reader automatically more invest did in the story and this is not about creating melodrama for melodrama's sake or writing a soap opera right that's not what we're going for but the reader has to have the sensation of oh my gosh I need to see what happens because that's going to be what compels us to keep reading if the question is whether or not the main character is going to lose ten dollars We're not gonna have that feeling right we aren't going to really feel the stakes of them losing that so make sure that the consequences are tangible and significant the last way to raise the stakes in your novel that I'm going to go over today is to craft a secret if your plot doesn't have a natural way to incorporate the main character having a personal connection at stake or making a situation more dire with negative consequences then it could be a good idea to use the tactic of creating a secret that they are harboring this is a great way to raise the stakes because the reader will feel that there's going to be some kind of negative outcome if that secret is aired for instance if you're writing a romance perhaps the main character is holding the secret that they have a child from a previous marriage and they know that they're now new romantic partner does not want children this has high stakes because we understand that the relationship will be threatened if that secret comes to light the key with this technique of crafting a secret is to ensure that there is plausible and compelling reason for the main character to think that the secret would actually damage their life in some way in other words the reader has to be just as convinced as the main character that airing the secret would be devastating because if the character thinks it's a really big deal but the reader just doesn't think it's that big of a deal or really would have a negative consequence then it's not really going to work to raise the stakes we have to be just as convinced as them that there is a lot writing on them keeping this secret I hope this helped you understand the role that Stakes play in making a compulsive propulsive narrative and helped you understand some tactical ways to raise the stakes in your own novel leave me a comment here if you've ever gotten feedback around Stakes or making your plot more engaging and let me know how you handled it I have another video that goes into the easiest way to Plot a novel and I talk about stakes in that one because steaks are a critical component of how you approach your plot and I talk there about how Stakes feed into your character's objectives and obstacles so check that out for some more in-depth tips if you found this video helpful please hit that thumbs up button it helps my videos reach more viewers hit that subscribe button to join this amazing community and don't forget your free story self assessment worksheet and my newsletter Link in the description below thanks so much for watching and happy writing [Music] thank you

Channel: Alyssa Matesic

Views: 5,527

Keywords: authortube, how to write a book, how to write a fiction novel, how to write a fiction book, writing a novel, tips for new authors, tips for new writers, writing a novel for beginners, how to start writing a book, how to write a book for beginners, writing a book for the first time, how to write a novel, novel writing, tips for writing a novel, novel writing tips, write a good novel, how to write a good novel, novel writing for beginners, booktube, writing a bestselling novel

Id: beU2ch8i9Mk

Length: 9min 55sec (595 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 04 2023