: Re: Alternative sources of drama/tension when the setting is low-violence So, I think I might just have turned my fantasy setting into a Saturday morning cartoon. I just, don't want people to die

@Deb2945533

There are other stakes than death. From all of Jane Austen to some of Asimov, sometimes the world isn't about to end, and nobody is about to die. So what else is there?

First, your story can be small: will the guy get the girl? That's Jane Austen. Will things work out financially for the MC? Hector Malot and Charles Dickens. Will a criminal be caught (and order restored)? Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Asimov's Robot series. (Yes, those are simplifications - there's more to the writing of each.)

If those stakes are not enough, and you do want a world-shaping plot, maybe there's something threatening the peace of the world. Maybe the vegetables are demanding equal rights. Maybe some corrupt human is interfering in dragon politics, attempting to instigate a coup. Maybe an asteroid is coming towards earth, and the humans, veggies and dragons have to work together to deflect it.

The possibilities are endless. Anything one has, one can lose - not just one's life, but one's property, relationships, hopes, aspirations. One can want things and struggle to gain them. All of those are stakes.

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