Hello hello!
We are officially into the story now.
Up until this point, you’ve been laying the foundations: your Hero’s Ordinary World, their core flaw, the destabilising moment, the refusal, meeting the guide, and crossing the threshold. Depending on the length of your book, that can easily be your first few chapters.
Now we’re in the adventure/journey: the part where things start going wrong, allies and obstacles appear, and the Hero begins to get tested.
Housekeeping note
I’ve noticed a couple of you starting your own threads in the chat, and I love that. Please don’t be shy about it.
If you want feedback from the group, start a thread and give us the basics: who your Hero is, what their Ordinary World looks like, what your destabilising moment is, and where you’ve landed with refusal/guide/threshold.
It’s hard to give useful feedback when we don’t know your story yet, and the whole point of a writers’ group (or live challenge) is that you get multiple perspectives, not just mine. You never know what someone else’s experience will unlock for you.
Let’s talk about tension
Tension is what pulls a reader through a story. It’s what makes us care. It creates stakes, and it makes us lean forward. If we don’t care whether your Hero succeeds or fails, we don’t keep reading.
Today and tomorrow we’re going to focus on two different kinds of tension:
Today: the foundational tension that comes from your hero’s want versus need
Tomorrow: specific tension devices you can use in scenes to keep the pressure on
How want vs need creates tension
Here’s the big idea: your story cannot resolve until your Hero comes around to what they need…not what they want.
When the Hero enters the journey, what’s driving them is what they want. And what they want is usually tied tightly to their core flaw and their Ordinary World thinking.
That’s where the tension comes from.
Because when a Hero is pursuing what they want (and what they want is rooted in a flawed belief), they make decisions with a skewed mindset. They choose poorly. They misread people. They cling to control. They reach for the “old solution” in a situation where the old solution doesn’t work anymore.
So they hit roadblocks.
They fail tests.
They create new problems.
They keep the story moving…because they’re chasing the wrong thing.
And then, slowly, through pressure and consequence, they begin to realise what they actually need.
Most of the time, the need is the opposite of the want. It’s the antidote to the flaw.
Another way to think about it: at the start, your Hero wants their Ordinary World back exactly as it was before the destabilising moment. But that can’t be the ending, because if nothing changes, it isn’t really a story.
The “good ending” is the ending where the Hero becomes someone who can live differently.
Quick examples
Finding Nemo: Marlin wants control and safety at all costs. He needs to let go, trust, and allow Nemo freedom.
The Hunger Games: Katniss wants to stay invisible, self-sufficient, untouchable. She needs to be seen, form alliances, and stand for something beyond survival.
The Matrix: Neo wants answers without responsibility. He needs to accept agency and step fully into the role only he can carry.
The Princess Diaries: Mia wants to remain unnoticed and avoid responsibility. She needs to accept visibility and step into leadership.
Your task for today
This is a deep one, so take your time. And it’s completely okay if you don’t have a perfect answer yet. We’re building clarity as we go.
In the comments below, give me two sentences:
What does your Hero want?
What does your Hero need?
Reflection prompt
In the chat (or in the comments, if you prefer):
How does your Hero’s want actively delay or block what they need?
Be as specific as you can. This question is going to start revealing your obstacles, your failures, and the shape of the tests your hero will face, because most of those tests exist to show your Hero, again and again, that the old way won’t work.
As always, email me if you want to talk it through; I love these deeper back-and-forths about your stories.
I’ll see you tomorrow for tension devices.
Bye for now,
Shelly
