Mayday Mayday: On Emergencies.

So Oh-oh Urgent, Just You Wait and See

I’ve always found it odd how some stories fail to grasp the inherent urgency to a good emergency reveal.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s something to be said for everyone reacting calmly and coolly in certain occasions, but why waste the opportunity to inject some good old fashioned chaos into proceedings and show how characters react?

Characters move the story along after all so why pass on an opportunity to show how they think?

Sound hard? Think again.

Simply show your characters reaction and- voila! its mission accomplished.

Yup its that simple.

Emergencies by definition require a fair bit of tension/urgency so a single well timed gasp or lurch into action can speak volumes. This is where you want things to be snappy. Keep sentences short and tense. Lots of kinetic movement. You know, rapid thoughts and the like.

What you *don’t* want is for someone to be told their baby is in a house that’s on fire and have them react with the same some sort of detached serenity to which I recognize the waiter forgot to give me a side of honey mustard with which to dip my fries. Oozing across the page like a slug instead of the natural panicked sprint.? Not a good look is all I’m saying.

Furthermore, dear reader, not only does a character’s lack of any meaningful animus murder the absolute shit out of a scene’s pacing but it also commits the cardinal sin of destroying the drama of what is for all intents and purposes a dramatic moment.

Remember that classic axiom about how actions speak louder than words? Well they count doubly so when time is of the essence.

When done properly, a short set of actions can communicate to your readers in a single sentence precisely what and who someone cares about without even a single line of dialogue being present.

And the fun doesn’t stop there!

Master that particular little art form and you can try throwing in contrasting reactions to the same news in the same scene, the more juxtaposition the better. Having one character reacting calmly while another is practically tearing their hair out with worry? Shakespeare eat your heart out.  

Add layers to your scenes, show an escalation of stakes. Avoid those awkward sign posts inherent to many a first novel, and bring the rain.

(Or pain depending on how you want your particular emergency to be resolved. But that, dear reader, is a topic for another time.)