What’s a Ticking Clock, and Why Do I Need It?
by Ann Roth
©2004
Think about your favorite story. If you have several
favorites, choose any one. What is it about that story
that makes it so special? Perhaps you fell in love with
the characters, or the clever plot fascinated you. Maybe
it was the setting, or the author’s voice. It may well
be all of these things. There’s one more key device that
kept you turning the pages--the ticking clock.
A ticking clock is a deadline or time limit that occurs
within the story. In other words, someone has a
deadline, and time is running out. The time limit may
apply to the hero or the heroine, or to both. What you
choose as your ticking clock depends on the kind of
story you want to write. For suspense or thriller
stories, the ticking clock could be a life-threatening
deadline--either the character(s) meet a deadline, or
someone dies. For lighter romances, reaching the time
limit or deadline will have less serious end results.
But no matter what kind of story you write, you need a
ticking clock (or two) to add tension.
Let's look at an example of how the ticking clock works
to add tension and interest to a story. Let’s say you’re
writing a story about a heroine, a single mother, who
lives in a small town with her ten-year-old son. She
works as a secretary for an insurance firm and is dating
a mild-mannered banker who gets along well with the boy.
Who knows, this man could become our heroine’s husband.
While this is a pleasant enough story, let’s face it,
it’s pretty ho-hum.
Now we’ll add a ticking clock and see what happens to
our vanilla-flavor story. What if our heroine is
suddenly fired from her job? Choose any reason for her
termination. It could be some huge mistake she made, or
someone else’s mistake passed off as hers. At issue, and
most important to her, is her sudden loss of income. She
has enough in savings to pay one more month’s rent.
After that, unless she finds work, she and her son will
be on the streets. Already we see how this need for a
job as soon as possible--her ticking clock--ratchets up
the tension.
Wait a minute, you say. She can collect unemployment.
But she’s been fired for wrong-doing (albeit possibly
mistakenly), and therefore isn’t eligible. Suppose she
looks and looks for work, but this is a small town in
the throes of high unemployment. Plus having been fired
further hampers her from finding a job. Soon she’s tried
every possible channel, with no luck. There’s only a
week left before the next rent payment is due. Time is
running out, and our heroine grows more discouraged and
desperate by the day.
What will she do? Her family can’t help her. Maybe
they’re too poor, or they live far away and she's too
proud to ask for help, or maybe she has no family. Her
boyfriend the banker lives beyond his means and has no
savings. He can’t (or won’t) help her. So our desperate
heroine heads for the only bank in town, where her
boyfriend works, to apply for a loan. But the bank
rejects her application because she has no means of
paying back the money. Her boyfriend can’t override that
policy. His hands are tied.
Now what? Will her boyfriend at last play the hero and
invite her and her son into his already crowded studio
apartment? Or will he show his true colors as a jerk by
breaking off the relationship and disappearing from her
life? Will she then be evicted, and forced to steal in
order to save the day?
There are dozens of options. The path our heroine takes
is up to her and to you, the author of the story. But no
matter what happens, our heroine’s ticking clock has
added tension, turning our dull tale into a page-turner.
If your story lacks the spark that keeps the reader from
wanting to read more, it may be that you need a ticking
clock.
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