Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Writer's Thoughts: Big Reveals

You know what moment I love most in books? The big reveal. It's that pivotal scene where things come together for the characters and, for the tiniest fraction of time, the world makes sense.

 Book 1's Reveal at the Crisis

Some reveals are typical. They take place at the end of the novel where the character is transformed by all the events leading to this moment. Book 1's reveal was like this. It happened soon after the crisis.

  Book 2's Reveal Near the Middle

Other reveals take place toward the beginning. These ones tend to be smaller and not as monumental and game-changing as the final reveal. This scene from Book 2 has Meika, a desert native, discussing the desert people's view of God as she tries to convince Roan there is a God out there.

 Book 2's Final Big Reveal

This reveal reiterated the first one as Roan comes to terms with the fact that there truly is a god. This is the crisis of the story and still one of my all time favorites. It might even take the cake for being my favorite scene in all my works thus far.

 Book 3's Reveal Near the End of the Middle
This reveal was not the main one for Book 3 but it was important nonetheless as it serves as the main plot to this book. Roan comes across this reveal before the crisis hits. It's different from the others because this reveal was the epiphany of tension in the novel. It all came to this moment where Roan thought he had everything figured out. Unfortunately, after this rather positive reveal he was dealt a terrible blow and his spirit broken. Most reveals tend to set up characters for success. This one not so much.

Book 4's Big Reveal Had Help From Jace

After basically taking a hiatus from the series for a couple books, Jace came back in this final big reveal as he attempted to help Roan describe what he learned as the plot progressed in Book 4. Roan's reveal here was extremely impressive, perhaps the greatest since Book 2. I really enjoyed writing this one.

There are a number of reveals in a novel but only one big reveal. Timing that moment to perfectly coincide with the crisis, climax, and the transformation is a struggle but definitely an art. It's one of my favorite things to write, probably thanks to its difficulty!

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