FAQ- Milk It!

Q: You're always talking about how much you've learned from your editor -- can you give us an example?

A: Oh, yes! One of my favorites is 'Milk it!' (This week's assignment in my writing class, as a matter of fact.)

I first saw this comment on the edit of  Signs in the Blood.  My protagonist Elizabeth was in a scary situation and needed to stop her car and get out. So that's what she did -- in about two sentences.

In the margin, Herself  penciled "Milk it!" meaning that I should wring every last ounce of tension possible from the scene. So there were sweaty palms and fumbling with seatbelt latch, yadda, yadda, till the escape had been effected -- maybe two pages later.

Here's a hypothetical example of a moment of high tensions being prolonged.  Suppose you have a character who is running away from someone, don't just write "She ran along the road and flagged down a passing car with friendly people who who gave her a ride home."

Too short for tension to build - it's over before it's begun. 

Instead, in this scene, the character should run, slip and fall, get up, run some more -- always aware to the footsteps growing ever closer. She should try to flag down a car only to have it zoom past her; she should keep running, slowing because of being out of breath or a stone in her shoe or something. 

All the time, the pursuer is getting closer. Maybe she passes a house and sees someone in the front yard but when she calls to them, that person scurries inside and slams the door shut. And the pursuer is getting ever closer.

This could go on for quite a bit (I'm sure you  could think of more stumbling blocks in her path) before the friendly car comes along. When it does, it could slow and she would think she was saved. 

Then it could speed back up and go on. And she would despair. Then at last, she could see its brake lights go on and it would back up and the driver would ask if she wanted a ride.

That's milking it!