I want one of my scenes, a tet-a-tet between two characters, in which there is a huge power imbalance (one of them is a literal god), to feel as tense as possible.
There should be a constant threat, a feeling that at any moment the conversation could turn sideways and the God could obliterate...
I've been thinking a lot about stakes recently, and how to make them more interesting. It sometimes feels like every fantasy story I read has the exact same stakes. Usually, the protagonist's life is at risk, as well as someone they care about. What I've noticed, though, is that while those...