The mirror moment and door #2.
The Mirror Moment
Write your novel from the middle
- James Scott Bell
Midpoint (of story, may not actually be):
A look in the mirror
- Who am I?
- What have I become?
- What MUST I become?
Or
- I am probably going to die
- Finding strength to keep going
Biblical terms
Could be either Samson or Job
Samson squandered his talents
- Captured by Philistines
- Sacrifices himself, accepts dying
Job is ordinary guy
- Bad things happen
- Has to grow stronger
- Vindicated in the end
Does your character have a moral flaw
What must she do to grow out of that flaw?
The Golden Triangle
- If you know the mirror moment, you can go to the pre-story psychology to find what will cause the transformation at the end
- You can go from scene to scene, knowing what the transformation will be
Can also the transformation from a go character to a bad one
Eg Michael Corleone in The Godfather
Midpoint is the moment when Michael has his plan to kill the crooked cop
`it isn’t personal, it is just business`
Transformation – in the end, he will be the ruthless killer
Show on page – how do we show the transformation when written?
Eg Michael has ordered the killing of his sister`s husband
His wife Kay asks him if it is true, and he looks her in the eyes and lies about it
Lethal weapon
- Transformation is shown when he gives away the hollow point bullet that he told his partner that he was saving to kill himself with
- Walks away, but then goes in to have Christmas dinner with them
- Gave up the symbol of his issue when he gave up the bullet
Don’t just have one possibility
- Brainstorm for lots of ideas