Behind The Mask

III. The Crucible

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The Crucible
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The crucible is the idea of not allowing your characters to run away. The crucible is the element that holds things together and doesn't let them escape.

You should give your hero one path. He can't escape it - he is in a crucible. He has one way out, and what makes it very interesting is that the way he has to go through is miserable. This is what makes the hero heroic. The readers will be looking forward to the finale of the book, and you won't let them down. The story should present the tasks and situations in a gradually escalating difficulty. Make sure the successive task is harder than the previous one. If the reader notices the journey becoming easier, you will lose his attention.

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As much as I understand it, crucible means not letting your character especially the main one, escape nga. So basically, dapat may isang goal ang character, may isa siyang misyon, may isang rason kung bakit niya kailangang malagpasan 'yon at labanan. You should give your hero one path-this is very much important, isa-isa lang, dude. Mag-focus ka sa isang goal ng MC mo, kunwari psychological thriller. Why is he/she killing? Bakit isang grupo ng tao lang na 'yon ang target niya? Ano bang dahilan niya para patayin sila? Focus here, let your MC focus on killing that group. Minsan kasi may mga nababasa ako na napakaraminh goal o path ng isang MC, wala siyang main focus kaya medyo magulo ang kwento. Hindi p'wedeng minsan killer minsan cannibal, minsan victim minsan suspect. You need to have a focus so the readers can focus too.

He has one way out, and what makes it very interesting is that the way he has to go through is miserable. This is what makes the hero heroic.- For example, your main character is a forensic pathologist (a person who makes autopsy of a dead body, usually to examine if they were murdered or they took suicide). The MC's goal is to find the cause of death of Jade Smith (example), kunwari paranormal thriller iyong kuwento. The MC of the forensic pathologist would be in pressure kasi may mararamdaman siyang kakaiba, parang nagmumulto ang kaluluwa ni Jade 'di ba? So, it would he hard for him/her to find the cause of her death, especially if you would add some plot twist before the MC could find it out. Papasok na rin dito ang time pressure at ang contract with your readers. So in short, no matter what happens, the main goal will always be the main goal in order to follow the one path rule, some are just plot twists.

Pahirapan mo ang main character, masarap magpahirap ng MC HAHAHA kidding! But yeah seriously speaking, kailangang dumaan sa paghihirap ang main character upang mabigyan ng justice 'yong mismong role niya, iyong goal, and everything. Mayroon bang doktor na nadalian sa gawain niya? Is it easy to make an autopsy? Is it easy to find one's cause of deah? NO! So, you should not make everything easy, kung gano'n, hindi na kapani-paniwala at relatable 'yan kahit fiction. And the most important is, the challenges of the MC must be harder as the story flows. Kung moderate sa una, hard sa gitna, dapat vigorous sa ending, mas magiging excited kasi ang mga readers malaman kung hanggang saan ba ang kaya nitong si MC. (In this kind of situations, MCs must be tough).

Parang sa totoong buhay lang, habang nag-aaral tayo, as we age, pahirap na nang pahirap at masarap sa pakiramdam na kahit sobrang hirap ng mga pagsubok na dinaranas natin ay nagawa natin itong lagpasana. Isipin mo lang 'to then apply to your story, gano'n lang.

In thriller, there is no challenge that is easy as pie.

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Source of information:
https://writingcooperative.com/anatomy-of-a-thriller-dan-browns-rules-for-storytelling-fee7a94ac843

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you.