Two page spread illustration from Chapter 3 of “The Conjurers” Middle Grade Fantasy
Today’s preview from “The Conjurers: Fight for the Fallen” shows an angry mob of Imps chasing Alex. The kids are stranded on an island, one of them (no spoilers) is gravely wounded and the jungle is trying to eat them. And this is only chapter three!
This illustration was a blast to draw. First off, using a two-page spread for a chase scene is always the best layout. The action sweeps across the both pages, adding to the energy and tension of the scene.
I’m also implementing a tip from my previous post, which is limiting the amount of detail. Initially, I had a lot more line work in the background. But by using a series of washes to build up the foliage, the creatures and the main character stay in focus. It’d be easy to get lost drawing all sorts of palm trees and weird jungle fruit or even a few hidden snakes here and there. All that would swallow the purpose of the drawing, which is the chase!
Here are three tips that used to pile on the action and suspense in the first three chapters:
1.Throw a bunch of obstacles between your character and their goal
One of the most common questions from storytellers is "How do I create a challenging obstacle for my protagonist?
One way to create a challenging obstacle for your protagonist is to use the fear-factor. Fear can be an immense motivator and can create a tremendous challenge for your protagonist. For example, if you set your book in an animal reserve, the animals could escape and endanger the lives of everyone nearby.
In the example above the imps are the obstacle between the kids and finding out what happened to their parents. But the imps are far from the only obstacle, which leads me to my next point.
2. Make the obstacles progressively more difficult
Getting chased by a bunch of imps with a taste for humans seems hard, right? Sure is. But not nearly as hard as what is coming next. Of course the heroes will find away around the imps. Otherwise, this would be a short book. So in order to keep the reader interested, the next challenge has to rival the razor sharp imp jaws.
Your goal is to keep making these harder for your characters. Don’t worry about solving these challenges. If you can’t see a way out right now, neither will your reader. If you focus on the solution, you’ll inadvertently lessen the danger of the challenge. Figure that part out in later drafts. Usually, the solutions come when you’re not thinking about the story. Just keep writing. I had no idea how the kids were going to escape the imps. Here’s the super cool part: they figured it out for me.
That’s why you never want to get “stuck” or stall out over how the characters survive the obstacles you throw at them. Make a note or leave a line full of question marks. As long as you keep writing, your characters keep growing and you learn more about them. When they become real, they solve their own challenges.
3. Make the obstacles related to your story
Alex and Emma defeat the imps! Suddenly, a land shark with a ninja sword swings out of the trees and...wait, what? Makes no sense, right? Sure, it sounds cool, but it has no relation to the story. My books are about magicians (not pointy hat wizards but deck of card carrying magicians), so random sword wielding sharks are not happening. How do imps make sense? Glad you asked. Now I don’t want to spoil too much, so let’s just say magicians used to smuggle imps out of the Conjurian to facilitate the tricks in the flat-world.
The imps are native to my story world, so they make sense. And here’s the cool part. When you add things like this to your story, they may come in handy later (no spoilers). And defeating these native threats may rely on other items or creatures that appeared in the first two books. Shy away from random things that don’t fit your story. And definitely make sure the solutions for the obstacles don’t appear out of the blue. If Alex and Emma stumble across an imp trap, it would feel contrived and you’ll disappoint the reader.
Hope these help! See you next time with another look inside book three!
