Make Your Readers Beg

WITHHOLDING – MAKING THEM BEG

Withholding is a subtle art form. Remember, you’re not withholding from your reader, you’re withholding from your protagonist. But when you withhold from your protagonist, your readers begin to identify with them.

THINGS TO WITHHOLD – Many time your characters are on their way somewhere. They need to GET SOMEWHERE there on time. Or they need to perform some act which will propel the plot forward. They need to DO SOMETHING. But it won’t be easy. Other times, your protagonist needs to learn some fact, or gain some information about something.

You must be careful not to withhold too much. It’s like making a dog stand on it’s hind legs to beg for a treat. To keep the dog standing, you keep the treat in sight, but just out of reach. If you withhold it too long though, the dog gets tired and gives up.

THE EFFECTS OF WITHHOLDING – What happens to most people when something they long for is withheld from them?
For most, they get impatient. There is frustration, fear, and longing. Various intense emotions are often stirred through withholding. For some protagonists, patience can turn to to irritation, then anger, to rage. All of which creates even MORE problems for your protagonist.

Anger and irritation might motivate them to try even harder to obtain the object of their desire. Rage, on the other hand, might provoke them to some insane act which destroys their lives completely.

MICRO-LEVEL WITHHOLDING – While your overall plot should contain elements of withholding a primary goal, each scene should be seen as an opportunity to withhold on a micro level. In different scenes, your protagonist should want some smaller goal which will lead them ultimately to their larger goal.

Within each scene, try to withhold some smaller goal as long as possible. Preferably until late in the scene. Then, as the protagonist obtains that smaller goal, you can toss a new monkey wrench into the works to further complicate matters.

As you throw in fresh complications, this new conflict should lead into your next scene.

Within each scene, make your protagonist long for something. Maybe they need to go to the bathroom. Make it impossible for them to find one. Maybe their car breaks down and they desperately need to get somewhere. Make it hard on them. Send down lightning bolts and floods from heaven. Make every car that passes ignore them.

WITHHOLDING INFORMATION – is one of the primary ways to build conflict and tension. Maybe they need the phone number of a witness to a crime, or the plans to a secret weapon that could destroy the earth. Perhaps they need the password to their bank account. But no one knows anything. But finally, at the end of the scene, you can provide them a clue. A clue which leads to the next scene.

WITHHOLDING ACCEPTANCE – is also a good way to build tension. Maybe your protagonist is the new kid in town. Maybe she’s lonely and looking for a friend. But no one will give her the time of day. Maybe your protagonist is new on the job, and trying to fit in. Make it hard on them. Reject them. Ignore them. Throw rocks at them. The harder you make it on them, the more your reader will identify with them.

Withholding acceptance builds sympathy with readers, who emotionally identify with the protagonist and join them in their struggles.

WITHHOLDING LOVE – Unrequited love in your protagonist will also build sympathy with the reader. If your protagonist is looking for romance, don’t give it to them. At least not in the beginning. Many woman know that the surest way to make a man lose interest is to give him exactly what he wants. Consummation should come for your protagonist only after a protracted struggle.

WITHHOLDING above all, creates concern in the reader for your character, and propels your character forward in the plot.
Find out what your characters value most – withhold it from them. Make them fight and struggle for it. And if they already have it, then take it away from them. Ruin their lives. Ruin their reputations.
Then when all hope seems lost….