One of the best pieces of advice I ever read about writing was to beat up your characters. The advice didn’t mean have them physically assaulted in the story. Rather, constantly throw obstacles and hurdles at them, escalating the severity of the challenges that they have to face, so that they’re constantly just able to overcome one before another is thrown at them.
I knew that I wanted Dig Down to have intense sequences where Rob was in immediate danger. The premise for the story is that he’s managed to piss off lots of shady characters who now all want him dead, so these scenes needed to be as brutal as possible. If I just say he’s in danger, have him get cornered by one of the people after him, only to get away unscathed, there would be no lasting impact on the reader. They might get a thrill seeing him in hot water again and again, but if he kept getting away just before things got rough, I think the audience would see it as formulaic and forgettable.
That’s why I focused a lot of love and care into crafting the scenes in which he’s in danger. I wanted the reader to feel the impact of his situation. The book, and the experience the reader had, would be all the better for it.
When Rob is trying to escape with the briefcase, I went the reader to feel the turmoil that he’s in as he’s trying to escape from his pursuers while having to haul the heavy contents along as well. I did my best to remind the reader about how much of a burden carrying the case is during his escape by having him constantly switch it from one hand to another, or setting it down every moment he gets.
Rob takes his fair share of abuse from many people who are after his hide. I wanted to make sure the reader felt the impact of every blow his body sustained through the course of the novel. The damage he did to his ankle lingers through the rest of the story, influencing where he has to go next to deal with it, and cutting out the option of a possible escape later. It’s also on his mind as something he has to compensate for when he enters places he feels where he feels someone might be waiting for him.
I made the death of Spears particularly vicious so that it would be something that tormented Rob throughout the story, an ugly conclusion he’d have to face himself if he were to be caught by the police. I wanted to make sure everything Rob was going through as he made his escape felt suffocating to him.
Judging by the responses I’ve gotten to Dig Down, I’m glad I did. So if you’re writing your own story, once you’re done with your first draft, go back and reread it to see how tough you’ve been on your characters. Have you been lenient at times with them where you could have put them through the ringer? Is there something you can add that would spice up these points in your story? If so, I’d recommend making those changes. Your story will be a richer experience for it.