Death is Good Motivation

Hi,

So I'm in the middle of last act of my script, trying to figure out how to add more excitement and raise the stakes. Suddenly, something catches my eye out the window — it's this Dragonfly going after what looks like a Bumble Bee. It was like watching Top Gun, when that MIG is on Maverick's tail.

This Bumble Bee is flying for his life. It dodges and Dragonfly stays with him. The Dragonfly speeds up and hits him, and the Bumble Bee drops a foot. The Dragonfly swoops down and it back on his tail. It's a life and death chase, and within seconds, I'm on the seat of my chair, rooting for the Bumble Bee.

The Dragonfly was coming in quick. It looked like the Bumble Bee was a goner. Then the Bumble Bee dropped again, but this time into the grass, eluding the Dragonfly (at least that's what I want to imagine, versus poor Bumble Bee had a heart attack in mid air and died on impact). In the end, the Dragonfly was thwarted and flew off — probably spewing Dragonfly expletives.

Where am I going with this? The answer was right there. Putting your character in mortal danger ups the stakes and adds to the excitement. I was going to easy on my characters in the last act. I needed to sick some dragonflies on them.

Death is Good Motivation

Think of some of the top grossing movies . . .

• Titanic

• Jurassic Park

• Men in Black

• ET

When your life is on the line, it gets exciting.

Not every story needs to have a life on the line, but in Blake Snyder's words (author of Save the Cat) you still need the "whiff of death".

OK, I"m off to take my own advice and finish my script.

di