Build Your Story: 8 Strategies for Writing Innovative Setting with Impact
Whether emotional or physical some dangers are not
immediately evident. Or may not even be recognized as a potential danger. Sometimes
the danger is hidden behind a foil.
In the MG Mystery The
Lost Treasure of Fernando Montoya, by Rick Acker, sibling sleuths
investigate an historic site. A snake bites Arthur. They have been well
prepared for safety in the terrain by their uncle, their guardian for the
summer, and so his boots protect him from the venom. However the uncle, upon
hearing his niece scream, “came running
and jumping down the nearest vertical side of the mine, completing disregarding
his own safety in his hurry to reach Arthur.”
He injures his knee, ends up at first in the hospital and
then put on semi-bed rest recovery, effectively removing his physical ability
to protect his niece and nephew from their enemies.
In a later scene one of their pursuers takes advantage of a
demolition site to trap the siblings. In both cases the immediate danger posed
by the natural terrain hid the more dangerous threat.
Another hidden danger can be due to age, or lack of
experience, and used to heighten the tension.
In the collection of Where Treetops Glisten, Sarah Sundin’s recent historical novella, “I’ll be Home for Christmas, six-year old
Linnie wanders their small town whenever she gets a chance to slip away. Even
the police greet her mother’s call with a sigh. This last time it’s already
late in the afternoon and the police insist her mother Grace stay at home and
wait. “How could she sit still and wait
while her daughter roamed the streets? It was cold. Soon it would be dark. Cars
and buses might not see a small child in the falling light. And Linnie trusted
strangers far too much.”
Grace clearly recognizes the physical danger to her
daughter, even while Linnie innocently doesn’t. What Grace doesn’t see coming though is the emotional heart upheaval that will be released into their lives.
Share: What example
of a hidden foil have you written or read or seen in a movie recently?
Read deep, marcy
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