I was reading a book the other day, one by a well known and respected author, when I stopped. Events had happened which went so far beyond bad that I didn't want to read further. This was undoubtedly me being a wuss and no fault of the author. What he was doing was creating jeopardy. It is hard to create tension in a plot, nor to admit anything heroic, when there is nothing going wrong. And this author had done it well, sufficiently well that when the heroine's action inadvertently took things rapidly downhill it was a shock.
I have to admit that my aversion to jeopardy inevitably reflects in my writing. I'm not very good at creating credible threats and my characters consequently seem to breeze through the plot with hardly a care. Or perhaps not. What I certainly don't want is the sort of manufactured Hollywood jeopardy that is inserted transparently to create tension. Like when the party decides to split up and explore separately - was that ever a good idea?
There has to be some striving in a book, some obstacle to overcome, but it needs to arise naturally from the story and not happen because the characters suddenly do something incredibly stupid. Unless of course doing incredibly stupid things is their thing.
But you'll be glad, or possibly not, to hear that I got over my shock and read the rest of the book. It left me on a cliff-hanger, as always, but maybe it also taught me that sometimes you have to embrace the horrible. To endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and by opposing end them. Or in this case, by continuing to read, get over them.
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