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writercises Original Posting April 7, 2019
Lights Out!All is lost! There is no way to win. The forces against us are too strong. The dilemma that we face has no good choices. This is the beat that really makes your readers sweat. What's the worst thing that could happen? And it does!Now why do you put this in here? Well, looking at the Hero's Journey, this is death and rebirth. The final cleansing. And there's a real catharsis here. Beyond death, the recovery makes us sing.James suggests that whether you are a plotter or a pantser, keep looking for possible endings. Plotters may do this while outlining. Pantsers, do it all the time. Keep a list of your ideas. One of these may be your real ending. But one of the others may be your Lights Out beat, when everything seems to have fallen apart.And James's reminder? Well, endings often involve sacrifice. Rebirth comes after death. Death is often the sacrifice of what we want most. That's when the lights go out.Like Mounting Forces, this section provides examples, but is somewhat sketchy. It's very much going to depend on your story. Think about the death that your lead faces -- physical, professional, psychological -- what they thought they were going to do about it, and what could happen to make them sure they can't win. Betrayal, broken promises, the secret weapon isn't there, whatever makes the darkness blacker, blacker, blackest. Which makes the victory even sweeter and brighter in The Final Battle!It's interesting to me that he puts this after The Doorway of No Retreat #2. I'm not sure that it has to be quite that late. You may want to put this earlier, somewhere in Act II.What's next? The Q Factor!
Lights Out!All is lost! There is no way to win. The forces against us are too strong. The dilemma that we face has no good choices. This is the beat that really makes your readers sweat. What's the worst thing that could happen? And it does!Now why do you put this in here? Well, looking at the Hero's Journey, this is death and rebirth. The final cleansing. And there's a real catharsis here. Beyond death, the recovery makes us sing.James suggests that whether you are a plotter or a pantser, keep looking for possible endings. Plotters may do this while outlining. Pantsers, do it all the time. Keep a list of your ideas. One of these may be your real ending. But one of the others may be your Lights Out beat, when everything seems to have fallen apart.And James's reminder? Well, endings often involve sacrifice. Rebirth comes after death. Death is often the sacrifice of what we want most. That's when the lights go out.Like Mounting Forces, this section provides examples, but is somewhat sketchy. It's very much going to depend on your story. Think about the death that your lead faces -- physical, professional, psychological -- what they thought they were going to do about it, and what could happen to make them sure they can't win. Betrayal, broken promises, the secret weapon isn't there, whatever makes the darkness blacker, blacker, blackest. Which makes the victory even sweeter and brighter in The Final Battle!It's interesting to me that he puts this after The Doorway of No Retreat #2. I'm not sure that it has to be quite that late. You may want to put this earlier, somewhere in Act II.What's next? The Q Factor!