You don’t want to be caught in the spider’s fly trap. No, wait . . . we didn’t say that quite right. “You don’t want to be caught in the writer’s try trap.” From the character’s point of view in our stories, the goal isn’t to try. Since success is the character’s focus, we would weaken the intensity of the moment by suggesting that trying would be good enough.
Here’s an example:
It was do or die. Indiana Jones had only one option left. Either try to escape the giant boulder chasing him or be road kill.
If we’re focused on Jones’s effort, not his goal, we might be tempted to write that way. But if we want readers to be the character with all his sense of urgency, we need to leave out the “try” and focus on the “do.” The change is subtle, but the difference is important to the character’s point of view. Jones is focused entirely on the doing, and no part of him is willing to be satisfied with trying.
Let’s write it this way:
It was do or die. Unless he wanted to be road kill, Indiana Jones had only one option left: escape the giant boulder chasing him.
The next time you’re tempted to use try, check to see if you’re being caught in the writer’s try trap. Leave out “try,” and you’ll probably deepen the intensity of the character’s point of view.
Yoda said it well . . .”
