Bad News Blog Fest: 5 Ways to go from Bubble Bursting to Bomb Dropping

Some of the best writing advice I've ever heard was, "You have to throw rocks at your characters." Meaning that, even though it can be like kicking a puppy, good fiction can only happen when we torture our characters.

No one wants to read about a happy girl from a happy family that goes on sunny picnics in the park. Unless of course the little girl gets... *Dun, Dun, Dunnn!*  A SPLINTER!!

A splinter? No. That sucks. Only if that splinter is covered in Anthrax.

See? That's what I'm talking about. As the writer of little girl X, it may kill me to infect her with a biological weapon, but as a reader I'm thinking, "FINISH HER!" Okay maybe not that, but still I'm intrigued now, when before I was using the pages to line my hamster cage.

So in the end you have a choice: You can burst bubbles or you can drop an H Bomb. It will mean the difference between burning your manuscript to stay warm this winter and burning your paper back copies to stay warm this winter. (Just kidding! Sort of.)



So how do we do this?

1. Lay the groundwork.

In order to get maximum impact out of your bad news, first you have to put our teeth on edge and draw it out until we're grinding them flat. Make it obvious what the MC wants, and make them want it bad. Then make any potential roadblocks show their faces, but try to do it organically. Don't force it through an internal  monologue if you can find a way to introduce it naturally. And hint with tone and symbolism, basically give them the creeps. the bookshelf muse has an excellent thesaurus style blog for this!

Ideal Reader Reaction? "Hmm, that could be problematic..." and "Ehh, I have a bad feeling about this." 

2. Hit 'em where it hurts.

Identify the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen to your MC, now turn it up a notch. If your MC is madly in love with a hero who seems to be a sweet, loyal, gentleman... Don't waste your printer ink on a fight where he slips up and calls her a bitch, and all he does is crash on his friends futon *yawn*. Get him wasted and send him to his ex-girlfriends house. Or if you're really trying to twist the knife, how about her sister or her best friend? 

3. Leave 'em hanging.

Cliff hangers are a classic tool for a good reason. They, unlike almost any other writing trick, will never be a cliche. Don't tell us everything turns out okay right after it goes down, let the dust settle, give us some fall out time to keep us guessing. But don't wait too long, that furious paper-cut-page-turning has a shelf life. If you can stomach it, follow the worst possible news with the worst possible reaction/choice, (see # 2), and use that to draw out catharsis. 

4. Unhappy Ending. Warning: Not for the faint of heart

Why must everyone always end up happy? BORING! My favorite endings are ones where I can't manage to get my jaw off the floor. This may not be right for every story, we need to have some happy endings. I don't want to spoil any movies or books, so just think about those Indie films that left you shocked. Or better yet, Romeo and Juliet. Hello? That thing is famous for a reason. 

And # 5 is.....

5. Guess what? I don't have a number 5. Mwahahaha!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

This is brought to you because of the awesome bad news blog fest at Romancing the Blog so go check it out!