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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39943
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39943
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **Situations that create a sense of urgency can be condensed to a running timer** : there's the total amount of time, there's the time still left, and there's what is expected to happen when time runs out. When writing a scene, you have to justify those elements. You can also play with them.

Let me explain: in your maze example, what limits the amount of time the characters can spend there? Are the monsters more likely to attack when it grows dark, and the sun is already setting? Do they have a limited amount of food and water (in which case losing the bag of food while running from a monster would shorten their time, while finding a water source would give them some more time)? The presence of monsters alone does not convey a sense of urgency, since there's no timer attached to it - it only conveys a sense of danger.

Your bomb example: if there's a time-trigger, there's urgency. That's why you see those so often in movies. Even then, if the bomb is set to explode at 16:00, you've got to justify the characters arriving at the scene at 15:50, rather than 14:00. But if the thing is triggered rather by some form of physical contact, characters can take their time clearing all civilians away, getting a robot on site, and diffusing the thing. Not glamorous, but actually much more common.

Some situations come with an inbuilt timer: if a character has been shot, there's only so much time until he bleeds out and dies. In other situations, you've got to set the timer manually, as you did in your third example (friend due to leave in a week).

A second crucial element is that **the time is never enough**. If the available time is adequate for the task, there's no problem, no story. It is when time is insufficient that characters must put forth all their resourcefulness, overcome the odds, and make it.

Original score: 3