Read the Science Fiction Thriller
From the founder of Storymind
Man Made follows a mysterious force as it sweeps around the globe erasing anything man made - from buildings, vehicles, and technology to medicines, clothing, and dental work.
Governments stagger under the panic, religions are at a loss for an explanation, scientists strive for any means to stop or divert the phenomenon, and the world’s population from families to individuals struggle to prepare for The Event, which will drive humanity back beyond the stone age.
The Event is coming.
Are you prepared?
What Chases Your Characters?
By Melanie Anne Phillips
A goal is what the characters chase, but what chases the characters? Answer: the Consequences. Consequences double the dramatic tension in a story by providing a negative result if the goal is not achieved.
Consequences may be emotional or logistic, but the more intense they are, the greater the tension. Often they provide greater depth if there are emotional consequences when there is an external goal, and external consequences if there is an emotional goal.
Your story might be about avoiding the consequences or it might begin with the consequences already in place, and the goal is intended to end them.
If the consequences are intense enough, they can help provide motivation for characters who have no specific personal goals.
But no matter how you use them, a plot with consequences is stronger than one with only a goal.