I’ve unleashed Prison Break: Season Two upon myself. I’m only two episodes in, but already Michael is being squeezed, metaphorically, into some very tight corners. He is only a half-step in front of his pursuers. Sometimes his pursuers seem to have the jump on him.
It is this dynamic that is making the second season such an exhilarating experience, and it’s something I need to ensure I incorporate into my own writing.
You see, sometimes I think I tend to try and keep the bad guys away from my hero. I want to keep my heroes out of danger. This is because in real life, if I was the hero, I would want to be far from danger.
But a story isn’t real life. In a story, the hero needs to be in as much danger as possible. The bad guys need to be closing in, the hero needs to be, at most, a half-step in front, always almost in the clutches of their enemy.
This is because a protagonist will be at their most heroic when the obstacles they have to overcome are the greatest. A hero who is rarely in danger and who only faces minor obstacles to achieving their goal will not be as compelling as one who is constantly on the run, and only managing to stay in front of the bad guys by the slimmest of margins.
Now, in saying that, I recognise the need for changes of pace and an emotional journey. It is important not to be going at break-neck speed through the whole movie. There needs to be crescendos and decrescendos, moments where the pace accelerates and quieter, calmer moments.
But, when the bad guys are closing in, don’t be afraid to let them really get a strangle hold on the hero. Put your hero in the direst, darkest predicament you can think of, and then see if you can figure a way out of it. You need to make it tough for your hero. We need to see the extraordinary lengths they will go to achieve their goal. We need to see them call on unknown reserves of grit and character to overcome their foes.
Sometimes I think the temptation as a writer is to veto certain actions of the bad guys, not because we don’t want to see our hero stretched to breaking point, but because it takes more effort to figure a way for the hero to escape the situation. But, the more effort and thought it takes to concoct the story, the more you are stretched as a writer to come up with a clever plan for the hero to carry out, the more likely you are to surprise and please an audience.
I’m going to make sure I stretch my heroes to their very breaking point. I will let my bad guys get closer, let them expose the hero’s weaknesses, pounce on them when they are at their most vulnerable.
After all, it’s the ones who get back up when they’re down for the count, who struggle on when there seems to be no way forward, who refuse to give in when the bad guys have won, they’re the ones we call heroes.