: Re: How do you escalate a story's plot after killing the Big Bad? Everyone remembers the Death Star and how it was supposed to be the most potent superweapon in the Star Wars-verse. Then in the

@Bryan361

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This is where all the effort you put into character development pays off.

During the first adventure, your protagonist slowly transformed from a downtrodden underdog into a big-bad defeating hero, acquiring the skills and insights necessary to turn the tables on an initially invincible foe. Along the way, they hopefully matured a little and came to understand that the world is not as simple as their younger, more naive self believed. If you have handled this growth properly, your character (and potentially your readers) are now ready for the next adventure.

And that adventure starts with a new world view.

Now in the peace that momentarily grows out of the climax, your character can ask some questions that wouldn't have occurred to their younger, less victorious self.

Why did the big bad want the power in the first place?
Could it have been to protect everyone from something even worse?
Could an occupied throne (even with big bad in charge) be better than the civil war which must now occur (again!)?
Are the horrible tyrannies which first motivated the hero into action, actually necessary regardless of who is on the throne?
Are they perhaps the least evil option available?

When the rose tinted glasses of youth are torn from your hero's eyes through their own success, are they ready for the real world which might be waiting?

Exploring the disenchantment which follows victory is not the high-action adventure of taking on big-bad, but it is a golden opportunity to evolve your characters from paper-thin plot servants into fully fleshed out people who happen to live on a page. Taking them through the pain of winning will help make them real in a way that simple victory never could.

And once you have completed that transformation, you have something new and rare and precious. You have characters that your readers believe in, care about and recognize in all their strengths and frailties.

With those characters at your disposal, the third book is going to be a breeze to write!

Keep Writing!

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