“Black Moment”
by
Donald L. Vasicek
The black moment in fiction writing is the moment in the short story, the novel, or the screenplay where the main character is challenged to overcome what has been his/her
Problem throughout the story. He/she either confronts it and beats it, or it defeats him/her.
How does your main character defeat and overcome this fear? Just before the villain (in fiction, a villain represents pure evil with no redeeming characteristics) or the antagonist (represents the opposition to the main character’s goal – can be a person, persons, or any of a million or more inanimate things, objects, or places) is about to defeat your main character, your main character should experience an epiphany. An epiphany is the sudden realization of something your main character has been trying to see throughout the story. This discovery will either push your main character over the top and your main character wins, or it causes your main character to withdraw into defeat.
In your story, you should have your main character striving to accomplish a goal. This goal should be set at about page 10 in the screenplay, and early on in a short story or novel, where you establish the goal of the main character. I call it the dramatic premise. The dramatic premise of the story sets in place what the main character will set out to achieve in the story.
In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee’s scintillating novel, the main character, Scout Finch, is challenged to learn about poking fun at a mentally-challenged neighbor. Her father, Atticus Finch, played by Gregory Peck in the movie, sets out to defend an African American man from being convicted of rape in a Southern and deeply racist community. Friends and Scout make fun of their mentally-challenged neighbor named Arthur (Boo) Radley even though Atticus tries to teach Scout how to be sympathetic regarding prejudice.
In the highly-charged story, Boo ends up saving Scout and her friends from the rape victim and her father, who are out for revenge, whom Atticus proved were lying during the trial. Even though Scout has a black cook, and she and her friends sit in the “colored balcony” at the trial, it isn’t until the rape victim’s father attacks Scout and her friend (the black moment in the story) and Boo saves them, that Scout realizes what life must be like for Boo.
She experiences an epiphany because of the attack. And she wins because she acquires the realization that that Boo is a human being and that hatred and prejudice should not sully her faith in human goodness.
Scout’s goal throughout the story is to learn and grow with respect to prejudice. And she accomplishes it through the black moment when she and her friend are attacked and Boo saves them. She experiences an epiphany at this point in time that causes her to learn and grow and to overcome the ignorance that held her back from becoming objective about the human condition.
Donald L. Vasicek
The Zen of Writing
http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
dvasicek@earthlink.net
“Screenplay Anatomy of Third Act”
In all good movies, comedies, thrillers, action pieces, westerns, sci-fi, animation, drama, romantic comedies, etc., the third act of the screenplay requires the climax of the story, the black moment, the epiphany, the denouement and wrapping up loose ends.
The climax of the story is the culmination of what has taken place during Acts 1 and 2. A point in the story should be reached here which should be the highest point of tension
in the story. If you can imagine climbing a mountain where the trail goes steadily up, with short flat breaks on the trail before it goes up again until it reaches the peak, which is the highest point on the mountain, then, this is where you story should be in the third act of the screenplay.
In other words, you’ve gotten your main character to the top of the mountain. Now it is time for your main character to show what he is really made up of. This should be based on his transformation as he evolves throughout the story. Then, when you get him up on
the peak of your story, someone, or something, more threatening than ever before in your
story, is present to knock him off the peak. It is his job to defeat whatever or whoever it is so that he can accomplish the goal you had him set out on at about page 10 of your story where you established the dramatic premise for your story.
In fiction, this is called the black moment. The black moment occurs to challenge your main character to win or to lose his efforts to achieve his goal. A terrible fight (literally or figuratively) should ensue, where your main character is left hanging on the edge of the peak by his fingers. The antagonist or villain (in fiction, villains represent evil, while antagonists can represent any number of things including evil) stomps on your main character’s fingers. At just about the time your main character can no longer hold on to save himself, he has to overcome what has been hindering him from reaching his goal throughout your story.
It is at this time your main character should experience an epiphany. An epiphany is symbolic moment of revelation and insight. Your main character must make a decision now that will change his life forever. Win or lose? It is his choice to make. And in most movies, since most audiences want happy endings, your main character usually makes the right choice. Win. So, he grabs the antagonist’s foot. He pulls the antagonist off the peak and saves himself, something he has been unable to do throughout your story until
now.
The denouement is the final resolution of your story. Your main character must tie up all loose ends in the story. Say, he met someone with whom he’s fallen in love, but the question throughout the story has always been, will they, or will they not get together. You must show the resolution of this now. If a character was left hanging, so to speak, in Act I, without a resolution, then you must bring that character forward here, and show the audience how he ends up. If you foreshadowed something in Act 2, now is the time to show the audience what that was and how it helped the main character achieve his goal in the story. You know what I mean. Simply, don’t leave any loose end, or you will disappoint your audience. They want to know how everyone and everything ends up. And it is your job to show that to them in Act 3.
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