Kara Lennox has published over sixty novels for Harlequin Books and Bantam Books, plus ten screenplays (three of which have been optioned). She’s a lot of fun and super talented and here to talk about raising the stakes at the darkest moment in your story. I’ve know here and her husband for years, and I’m thrilled to have Kara join us for this week’s HoWW guest blog.
Come back to HoWWnext Wednesday for James Scott Bell’s “1st Doorway of No Return”!
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Is Your Black Moment Black Enough?
There must be a point in your book when all seems lost. The hero is about to fail in his quest; the heroine is about to be thrown off a building; the villain has gotten hold of the secret weapon. Your hero and heroine are breaking up and there appears to be no way to work out their differences.
One common flaw in books that fail (my own stack of rejected manuscripts included) is that the stakes aren’t high enough. So from the beginning of your book, ask yourself what is at stake. If your hero/heroine fails to reach his goal, what will happen, and is it really, really bad? Is someone going to die?
There are other high stakes besides loss of life. Loss of love, of course, is always a risk in a romance novel. But to make it work, you have to convince your reader that this is a once-in-a-lifetime love, that it’s special, epic love, and if the characters can’t make it work their futures will be meaningless. Other high stakes include loss of identity (your character can no longer be the person he/she wants to be), loss of family, loss of home (but only if it’s a special home, like a ranch that’s been in the family for generations) loss of sanity. This is just a partial list.
If your stakes are high, the black moment (roughly three-quarters of the way through the book) is the time to play that up.Literary agent Donald Maass, in his bestselling book Writing the Breakout Novel (and his seminar of the same name), recommends you keep asking yourself, “What is the worst that can possibly happen? How can I make it even worse?”
Don’t hold back. Your black moment isn’t black enough until the reader, and possibly even you as the writer, can’t see a way out. In some cases, your hero might actually fail in his/her quest. That’s okay, so long as he/she ends up gaining something even better in the end.
The black moment is when your characters must resolve to make that ultimate sacrifice. Throughout the book they’ve been growing and learning; now, when nothing is working, their only choices is to somehow apply the lessons they’ve learned to get out of the fix they’re in. Maybe they put together the final clue of the mystery and figure out where the kidnapped child is hidden. Maybe the heroine realizes the only way she can be with her vampire hero is to become a vampire. Maybe the heroine learns that she had the tools she needed to vanquish the villain all along.
Escaping from the black moment might require all of your skills as a writer and a good bit of brainstorming. Sometimes, once you know how you want the characters to escape, you’ll have to go back and plant the tools, or the knowledge, or the clue that is needed.
One thing you do not want is some heretofore never mentioned element to swoop in and save the day. No angels suddenly appearing out of nowhere to vanquish a demon; no rich uncle suddenly dying and leaving the heroine enough money to save her failing company; no suddenly, conveniently remembering a secret password. Also, no abrupt, unmotivated changes of heart. I have read many books where the hero is a complete jerk throughout the whole story, until the very end when he suddenly turns all mushy and says something like, “Didn’t you know all along that I loved you?” This might have flown in years past, but not today.
Likewise, this is also not the time to reveal that the “other woman” is actually the hero’s sister. The black moment must stem from something worse than a simple misunderstanding that could be cleared up with a short conversation. You don’t want your reader screaming at your book, “Just tell him, already!”
If you’re struggling for a black moment, look at your characters for a clue. Ask yourself what is the one thing your heroine would never, ever do? If the heroine is a daddy’s girl, she loves her father and trusts him and would never, ever betray him, the black moment might involve her discovering he is a criminal. And her ultimate sacrifice is that she has to turn him in, possibly to save the hero from being convicted of the crime.
Now that’s a black moment!
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Best-selling author Kara Lennoxhas written more than 60 contemporary category romance novels for two major publishers, Harlequin Books and Bantam Books. Her books have been translated into 19 languages and published in twenty-plus countries around the world. Currently she writes romantic suspense books for Harlequin Super Romance. Books 4, 5 and 6 of the Project Justice series are scheduled for next year. She anticipates seeing several of her classic Loveswept novels re-issued in the near future as e-books under the resurrected Bantam Loveswept banner.
Kara has also written ten screenplays, three of which have been optioned.
She is a frequent speaker and workshop presenter at writers’ conferences around the country, including an all-day craft intensive seminar. Her frequently teaches online classes as well. Kara has written hundreds of magazine articles as well as brochures, press releases, business plans and advertising copy. She is an artist and entrepreneur, selling her own paintings and collages as well as vintage jewelry in her two online stores. Kara lives in Southern California with her writer-publisher husband, a neurotic cat, and a geriatric, obsessive-compulsive cockatiel.
Tags: Anna DeStefano, black moment, fiction, fiction writer, hero, novel, novel writing, protagonist, writing articles, writing coach, writing craft, writing resources
A great explanation of “the black moment” and my favorite part of any book! It’s the black moment that will not just hook me into the story but hook me into being a loyal follower of an author.
Natalie
Thanks for the comment, Natalie. I agree with you totally. If the author can make me cry or feel really scared during that black moment, I’m a fan for life!
Kara
Great explanation of the black moment!