No Way Out

A good storyteller knows how to get out of jam. That's what a great story is all about. Writing the climax. The story arc. Taking the reader on a journey where the struggle of the protagonist is at its dead level worst with no way out and then writing a solution.

When I led a writer's group I used an exercise where all of us had to write our way out of a current negative situation we were in. It helped us all feel a little less helpless in our challenging conundrums. Looking back, it was a great short exercise that sharpened our skills in rescuing our protagonist. In fact, I think I'm going to do that again. Over and over.

Think of it as a trap door. The skill of writing is to build tension and get your protagonist trapped in a corner and then creatively construct a trap door. Lead them to it, get their shaking hand around the knob, and have them turn it and push it open. Only to swing it into a world of better possibilities. What a rush! Think of it, you get to play rescuer in every story. Makes me want to write :-)