Just found this... and I can't be any more in agreement. You start thinking "I can't do that to my creation". Then you remember great stories come from conflict... and you start going sadistic on them.
Guys I’m really worried about Abbie. She uploaded a vid without a Jane Austen reference. Like? I suppose she did promise examples in the next vid. I say if none of those are Jane Austen then we go to her house and collectively take her temperature.
@@aanyachennupati771 I'm not being mean, they literally just said they know what it's like to be destroyed, I'm asking them if they need someone to talk to and if they're okay, because sometimes people don't have anyone to talk to, and I can step up and be that person if they need it. :)
@@baylee8659 so weird I can't find it 😕 can you maybe copy the link or something? You don't have to of course but if you don't mind I would appreciate it 😊
Anyone else finding these videos are like a counseling session? I have started thinking, "Wait, am I making decisions out of fear and misbelief? What internal conflict is driving my actions right now?" 😮
This is a quote from my book “your happiness isn’t going to knock at you door and Whisk you away , you have to pick up your discolored rucksack, and go find it” (random lol but proud of it)
@@anasoares1043 It kinda is. XD He's a good guy in book one. But get effed up real bad in the end. (Throughout the book as well, but the final blows are hard).
For my character, she'd been practicing trick riding, forming a strong bond with her horse and her teacher (not the disaster) and she's finally about to reach her goal by competing in a competition. Her sister, the antagonist, sabotaged the saddle by cutting one of the saddle straps enough for it to break under pressure and loosening the other one. The antagonist intended for her sister to get hurt, but instead, the horse gets spooked when one of the protagonist's tricks fails. It jumps a fence to escape as someone tries to calm it, lands wrong, and shatters its leg. It's broken to the point that even if they fixed it, the horse would be in pain for the rest of its life, so they put it down. The mc (who refuses to believe shes the reason her dad died when she was little) believes she's the guilty party, and is crushed, and gives in to her sisters constant claim that she is responsible for her dad dying. She believes that she is the reason both of them are dead and its killing her from the inside out.
So good sounding! I love horses. That would definitely crush me if my horse shattered it's leg like that. Especially if it was my negligence. I would read!
I agree that the disaster needs to have special significance to the character, like their personal primal fear. However, I'm not so sold on the idea yet that it has to be their own fault. It can still show them the flaw in their thinking, by disrupting their optimism bias. But when a character really only has themselves to blame for their own misery, that has repeatedly made me zone out and instinctively distance myself from the character: You disengage, think "they had it coming", and "I never would have done what they did". And just like that, the reader no longer suffers along with them.
I think what she's trying to say is that the character has to be at least active in what went down, instead of a passive character that allows everything, including the disaster, to unfold without doing much. In my book, the MC is warned not to trust this certain character but she defies them (mostly because she was desperate, she didnt really have any other choice) and just when she thought everyone was wrong about this character, she ends up getting hurt by them, very badly. While the responsibility ultimately falls on that character inflicting the damage onto her, the MC made the decisions that brought her to them to begin with. I hope that makes sense!
The disaster moment for both my main characters is when they were betrayed by the only people they thought they could trust. One spent the entire book learning not to trust anyone, while the other spent the book opening up more. I made the disasters mirror each other to differentiate between them. One character took the opportunity to realize their mistakes while the other sunk deeper into their lie.
I started heavily outlining my novel and it seemed coherent and seemed to respect my main characters misbelief and fear and I became so happy that I've got it all figured out. But then, usually looking back at your 3 act story structure template(which is amazing!!) I see a plot type hole. And how it doesn't match up and how it doesn't make sense. I seem to be switching my MC misbelief every two seconds because it doesn't line up with her actions or even the side plots. And every time this happens, you release a new video on the topic. Which is so helpful!!!! But it makes me torn because I have to 'rewrite the stars' again for my characters. Something productive to do today then !! Thank you for making these videos as they bring a lot of perspective and useful tips !!
In my book i gave my MC a serious fear of boats & water (due to a specific childhood trauma), then made it so she HAD to get on a boat in order to get home... *and then I sank it* 😃
Can I have a disaster AND a temptation moment? Or, alternatively, two disasters? With one of them being a red herring? In my story, the most traumatic disaster arises as a natural consequence of the protagonist resisting the antagonist - the antagonist tries to break the protagonist’s resistance this way. But because the antagonist has all rational arguments on her side, as long as the protagonist accepts her framework of values, this first “red herring” disaster causes the protagonist to wonder whether the antagonist might be right. Thus, the protagonist ceases her resistance (dark moment), which becomes the supposed victory for the antagonist. Then the protagonist’s best friend sacrifices herself - which is partly heroic, but also partly because she’s lost hope in a better outcome, after the protagonist seems to have abandoned her resistance. Her best friend’s death then causes the protagonist to question the antagonist’s very framework of values, rather than just the antagonist’s brutal methods. In other words, this is the second disaster that actually leads the protagonist to her aha-moment. Simultaneously, it’s also a disaster for the antagonist, because she has mentioned multiple times before how she can’t allow the rebels to have another martyr - and the protagonist’s best friend just turned herself into one. Lastly, it’s a heavy hit for the reader, because given the gravity of the first disaster (one that doesn’t lead the protagonist to the aha-moment yet), the reader might think the worst had already happened yet - only to find out that even worse is to come. In a nutshell, this structure goes “fake disaster” (thing that would be terrible for anyone, even though it does have special significance for the protagonist) -> dark moment / temptation (protagonist ceases resistance, is willing to accept the antagonist’s world view) -> accepting the (antagonist’s) lie -> actual disaster -> aha moment.
Soo im my case my character STARTS at their lowest point. Should i completely destroy them like basically take everything from them in order to be ...compelling for example?
9:34 omg. I really, REALLY needed to hear that. I started to plot my story before even knowing the 3 act structure, but as soon as I was presented to this structure, I immediately fell in love with it. Now I'm triyng to "translate" my story to this structure, and I have been VERY obsessed with this. Thx Abbie!
Honestly I think I have mastered writing my character’s traumas. Especially after reading Heartstopper. As someone who didn’t get a lot of love growing up, Heartstopper made me realize that in order to build relationships, you need to build trust. There is a lot of emotion in making characters and making them have brand new relationships better than past ones. I realized that to be human you have to express emotion, and I’ve been known as perceptive because it’s easy for me to slip into someone else’s shoes. Since it is hard for me to express emotion and feel genuine love with another person who gives me the same amount of affection back, I have to put myself in another perspective then I am right now.
Hey Abbie! How are you doing today? I hope your writing projects are going well! I wanted to thank you so much for doing what you do! I wouldn’t have the writing knowledge I needed if it wasn’t for you! I’ve watched dozens of your videos, and I have learned so much! You even inspired me to take on the challenge of NaNoWriMo this year! I’m still very early in the process of developing my story--as I still need to figure out my main characters desire, fear, and misbelief---but I’m going to try and finish my outline before November rolls around so I can be completely prepared to write on November first 😁. And thanks to you, I look at story a completely different way than I used to! I now know it’s not about what happens---but how it effects and transforms the characters! Anyway this was a long comment. I hope you have a great day! Rock on! 😉
After watching a bunch of her character creation videos, I just realized that my antagonist is closer to being a protagonist than my protagonist. I’ve thought about him so much more than I have about my protagonist.
Why does this disaster matter to my protagonist? Because it confirms her fear/misbelief that she is not worthy of anything if she is not her mother's daughter. She THOUGHT she meant something in this new environment. She THOUGHT she got away from her fear, but nope. Here we are front and center baby!!!!
The Vietnamese used this psychological trick against American POWs. They’d tell them, “You have been released in a prisoner exchange. Your wife is here to greet you.” They’d give them soap and a shower, clean clothes. The POW entered the room to meet his loved ones and American embassy officials-only to see the torturer there. Word is, they broke many with this technique.
What does it mean if your characters are all ready dead before you meet them?? 😶😶 I've had that happen twice. Seriously...two dead bodies showed up on set. Ummmm...I'm not responsible if they arrive D.O.A. I just write out the incident report.
What if it's a long series that is being written? How can I teach my MC lessons without them learning things too early? There are events that need to break the character later on. How do I still give the readers an interesting story in the first book without the MC learning too much too quickly ? He is stubborn and stuck in his ways. One book isn't going to be enough to change him. #AskAbbie
I'm a bit confused on which story beat goes to which act, because I already googled the 3 act structure and wrote down the sections, but these are little bit different (especially act 2 and 3) and now I don't know what belongs to where 😭
Do you have an organized binder, of some sort with all these key elements in stories that you ✔️ mark as you write. What do you suggest as an organization of this things in a digital form.
Hi, Abbie! I am writing my first fantasy fiction for ages 8-12 years old. I want to have a supporting character go through their Disaster, Dark Moment, and Aha Moment early on. I tried to search for this idea online but haven't found any answers. What do you think? I reason it could be done because it's not the main character. I'm thinking it would start after the inciting incident, when they and the main character are in the "new world."
I need tips on my disaster In my story, what my character fears the most is loss. The loss of family and friends, the loss of time and of happiness, he fears that if he loses his battle with the antagonist, he’ll lose everything. This causes him to be ever anxious and overprotective of his love interest. Skip forward to the disaster, he’s battling the antagonist know to him only as “the Illusionist”. He’s fighting on the edge of a cliff, he fights for a few pages, and when he finally beats the Illusionist, he burns him with his blue flame power. Reality then begins to swirl and shift, changing to reveal that he is actually standing in the forest, trees set ablaze with blue fire and a corpse on the ground. And as he takes a closer look at the corpse, he realizes that it’s the body of his girlfriend instead of the Illusionist. This shakes him to the core and makes him doubt reality for the majority of the book, also traumatizing him giving him another weakness that the antagonist can use against him. This disaster causes him such pain that he is never the same throughout the entire book. What do you think? Good? Bad? Please be honest, criticism is good for improvement.
Sure, now i have watched this and now have a better idea for execution of my book and this has changed the back story of my main character. how dare you come along and make so much sense. 🤣. on to reworking this draft.
Also! Just realized that the disaster I'm currently working on is totally perfect for the protagonist its happening to, because, among other reasons, if it happened to another of my characters, that would actually be the greatest thing that happened to him. (Too bad he gets the exact opposite >:3)
My disaster moment is the protagonist trying to help a side character get over their fear but in the process they accidentally hurt them so they think there desire for a friend will never happen.
My character thought they got rock bottom early on and has been crawling out and growing stronger. Then the one thing that has kept her going is ripped away
I face this problem all the time, feeling sorry for my characters who are about to die next and thus, not killing them at the end and also this serious second lead syndrome kicking in....it's so funny to think about it lmaooo
Me: How could I even think about doing that? Also Me: *kills the main characters boyfriend without her saying i love you* Also Also me: *rewrites it so that the boyfriend dies in a crash WITH the protagonist*
yeppers. The mc of a book I'm writing is terrified of loss and betrayal. Needless to say her mom died and it turns out her boyfriend had been manipulating her literally since before they met
Thank you for making these videos. You have saved my writing. I used to give up on a story idea the moment I hit a roadblock. Now whenever I get writers block I watch one of your videos and know where to take my story next. I am currently working on the second draft of my current project. I have never written a second draft before so this is all very exciting.
I think Game of Thrones (book) does this perfectly, when Ned Stark faces Joffrey, thinking he's already won, but is betrayed by littlefinger and incarcerated. Not only does this put the character at risk, but proves that his way of seeing the world, his morals, were wrong all along or rather that they don't apply in a world devoid of it. His naiveté and his sense of honor led him to ruin, and no one else.
I think "never talk over a 9" could be a serious "dark moment" depending on how important what they are trying to say is. Being talked over in regular conversation, maybe not. But knowing something that would change EVERYTHING for them or someone they love, and not being able to get anyone to listen, forcing them to literally risk their life to assert themselves and be heard whereas Enneagram 9's are usually very conflict-averse ... wow, I think you may have just given me a piece of the puzzle I needed for the NaNoWriMo project I'm planning.
I am currently writing a musical drama and this is my first time to write for film. I am having a hard time but thanks to you I’m learning from your content. I’m from the Philippines by the way. Thank you so much, Abbie!
Ahhh this is such a great video! Most of yours are! I really love how in depth you are with the advice. I don't think it was too much or too confusing at all. I loved it!
When writing a romance subplot, should it's arc follow this structure exactly too? Is it weird to have the main plot disaster at the same time as the romance disaster, like is it too much?
It is really important to have a twist in our story. All the books that I have read, including yours ,had properly done it! I becomes tough if you're not used to it. I'm thinking to do the same! Thank you so much.
HAAA oh man…. I have 4 main characters in my current WIP and they are a 7, a 5, a 1, and a 4 in the enneagram. ALL of them have your “nevers” as catalysts for them to do soemthing huge, except that for the 4 it’s more like, never tell a 4 what how to think
As I am binge-watching your videos by playlist, I now FULLY grasp the importance of the scene cards. Every moment is a question of what happens, why it matters, and how it affects our characters !!!
So as I have watched your videos I have come realize that I'm planning both a darkest moments and a temptation moment... The temptation falling right in the darketst moment offering an out for the MC. Is that a thing?
Some of my favorite disasters are the ones that are terrible for the protagonist, but normal, or even fun, for everyone else. In one of my WIPs the disaster is that my protagonist has to ride a rollercoaster.
@Millie Florence Yes! I love those “I know I should be happy, but I’m not” moments. The character usually ends up overthinking the whole thing and it ties in to their misbelief and BOOM they are crushed.
So I'm writing a feature film screenplay set in a dystopian world. My character's misbelief is that he has to be violent and selfish in order to survive which has come from the traumatic moment of not being able to save his brother in an event that occured long ago. This protagonist has to catch a space shuttle which is the last way off earth for him and his wife to survive. Yet my disastrous moment is (after finding the wife who has been captured) that she is exposed to all of the bad things the man has done to survive and get them money/food etc to be able to board this ship. This includes the man killing innocent people for bountys etc. Initially i was going to kill the wife off but I feel like this is linked more with the protagonist's misbelief. Is this a good "dark" moment?
@Henry W Yes. I can only imagine that the wife (who I assume may be one of the only people who loves him) will be very disappointed in him and it will cut him to the core of his being. Well, you know your story and characters the best, I was just making an assumption.
Oh Abbie, no *captions* available?! I’ve been following you since June and am so thankful for you enunciation and the captions (severely hard of hearing). Is it possible to correct this for this video?
The more of your videos I watch, the more I'm realizing that my secondary character is the one who the plot is being suited to, not my main. Like, I'm building my main character better, but...
Your videos are the most helpful writing videos on TH-cam. No contest. Every single time I watch one, it pushes my story forward and pushes my own growth as a writer. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with the community!
"Never talk over a 9". It's not about the "talking over". It's about them feeling ignored, being shown their contribution isn't important and being disrespected...Which is EASY to write as a disaster. They could literally know almost anything that is critical to the plot and are disrespected and ignored instead of taken seriously.
Yesterday I read Talus (really great book series by a German author idk if it is translated) and I think it has the best disaster moment I ever read. I CRIED SO MUCH😢 my book is a bit wavy now since my tears dried😅
My issue is I have many subplots that have a major moment where everything goes wrong but I don’t know where to place them. I couldn’t just put them up like dominos and knock them all one after another, could I?
Me a few months ago: I COULD NEVER TO THAT TO MY BRAIN CHILDREN.
Me now: let them blllleeeeeedddddd *evil laugh*
HAHJAKALACZOA S
"Why humans can't have super-powers"
@@SamekySantos 😂
Hahahahaha yes
Just found this... and I can't be any more in agreement.
You start thinking "I can't do that to my creation". Then you remember great stories come from conflict... and you start going sadistic on them.
Nobody:
Abbie: teaching me how to torture people I’ve created
Me: 📝
Characters going through literal hell: 😞😨😭
Us authors creating that hell: ☺💃🕺🎶😁
Us: WRITE THAT DOWN WRITE THAT DOWN
I love torturing....
My characters. Cuz...
Wait Hol' up FBI on my door I'll be right back
Guys I’m really worried about Abbie. She uploaded a vid without a Jane Austen reference. Like? I suppose she did promise examples in the next vid. I say if none of those are Jane Austen then we go to her house and collectively take her temperature.
lol 🤣
Lead the waaaayy!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂
YES SHE NEEDS OUR HELP
Yes 😂😂😂
Sending cakes?
finally, a part of the story where i can write what i know!
Are you good? I can talk to you if you need it💗
@@aanyachennupati771 I'm not being mean, they literally just said they know what it's like to be destroyed, I'm asking them if they need someone to talk to and if they're okay, because sometimes people don't have anyone to talk to, and I can step up and be that person if they need it. :)
L U don't worry! i was kidding, but thank you *so* much for the offer.
@@eliza3986 No problem! Glad to hear you're alright!💗💗💗
This is a really funny comment especially considering everything that happened in 2020
Abbie, you just need to make a mug or a bookmark that says, “WHY DOES IT MATTER?” In all caps.
Lol her merch says this now
@@baylee8659 where can i find the merch?
@@user-ayala it’s under this video there’s an ad for it
@@baylee8659 so weird I can't find it 😕 can you maybe copy the link or something? You don't have to of course but if you don't mind I would appreciate it 😊
I'd buy that
Anyone else finding these videos are like a counseling session? I have started thinking, "Wait, am I making decisions out of fear and misbelief? What internal conflict is driving my actions right now?" 😮
YES SAME
And here I was debating on breaking my character and now you've convinced me!
i been watching a ton of counseling vids for my writing, so, fine line maybe
Very True
This is a quote from my book “your happiness isn’t going to knock at you door and Whisk you away , you have to pick up your discolored rucksack, and go find it” (random lol but proud of it)
Man, that's a good quote. You deserve to be proud of that:)
Marcus Haaksma aw thank you so much ! Means a lot to me :)
I want to read your book now XD
love it seriously🤍 now I’m curious lol
Omg wow this is going to be my yearbook quote now! You are amazing 💕👍🏻
"How To Write A DISASTER + DARK MOMENT"
aka the best moment of the book and the only thing we authors know😂😂
I'm afraid I'm destroying my MC so much he's becoming a villain himself. :3 Oops!
THAT would be a good plot twist to a sequel 😉
@@anasoares1043 It kinda is. XD He's a good guy in book one. But get effed up real bad in the end. (Throughout the book as well, but the final blows are hard).
Me too lol. She goes through a negative character arc 😅
@@akgwriting9481 Mine as well. XD
For my character, she'd been practicing trick riding, forming a strong bond with her horse and her teacher (not the disaster) and she's finally about to reach her goal by competing in a competition. Her sister, the antagonist, sabotaged the saddle by cutting one of the saddle straps enough for it to break under pressure and loosening the other one. The antagonist intended for her sister to get hurt, but instead, the horse gets spooked when one of the protagonist's tricks fails. It jumps a fence to escape as someone tries to calm it, lands wrong, and shatters its leg.
It's broken to the point that even if they fixed it, the horse would be in pain for the rest of its life, so they put it down. The mc (who refuses to believe shes the reason her dad died when she was little) believes she's the guilty party, and is crushed, and gives in to her sisters constant claim that she is responsible for her dad dying. She believes that she is the reason both of them are dead and its killing her from the inside out.
@B.V. Hale Wow, that sounds AMAZING! You should publish it. What’s it going to be called?
I would read this!
And the best sister award goes to...not her!
So good sounding!
I love horses. That would definitely crush me if my horse shattered it's leg like that. Especially if it was my negligence.
I would read!
Tell me when this book is published, I want to read it!
thank god because my story is all about breaking my characters, i needed this
Saaaaammeee
Abbie, you broke my heart in 100 days of sun light. I read it in a few hours. IT WAS AMAZING.
I agree that the disaster needs to have special significance to the character, like their personal primal fear. However, I'm not so sold on the idea yet that it has to be their own fault. It can still show them the flaw in their thinking, by disrupting their optimism bias. But when a character really only has themselves to blame for their own misery, that has repeatedly made me zone out and instinctively distance myself from the character: You disengage, think "they had it coming", and "I never would have done what they did". And just like that, the reader no longer suffers along with them.
I think what she's trying to say is that the character has to be at least active in what went down, instead of a passive character that allows everything, including the disaster, to unfold without doing much. In my book, the MC is warned not to trust this certain character but she defies them (mostly because she was desperate, she didnt really have any other choice) and just when she thought everyone was wrong about this character, she ends up getting hurt by them, very badly. While the responsibility ultimately falls on that character inflicting the damage onto her, the MC made the decisions that brought her to them to begin with. I hope that makes sense!
The disaster moment for both my main characters is when they were betrayed by the only people they thought they could trust. One spent the entire book learning not to trust anyone, while the other spent the book opening up more. I made the disasters mirror each other to differentiate between them. One character took the opportunity to realize their mistakes while the other sunk deeper into their lie.
Wowwww....
Can't wait to read it once it's published!!!!
Love 2 Learn- Its a story not a subject Thank you!
Trisha Reddy Ooh where are you going to publish it?
Just•096 • Just•096 I’m not sure! It’s still a work in progress but I’m hoping to start querying in a few months.
@@trishareddy2570 What's it called? So know what to look for?
You know, I never realised how much WORK and PLANNING writing is. Love watching your series even though I'm not an author at all. Thumbs up!
I started heavily outlining my novel and it seemed coherent and seemed to respect my main characters misbelief and fear and I became so happy that I've got it all figured out. But then, usually looking back at your 3 act story structure template(which is amazing!!) I see a plot type hole. And how it doesn't match up and how it doesn't make sense. I seem to be switching my MC misbelief every two seconds because it doesn't line up with her actions or even the side plots. And every time this happens, you release a new video on the topic. Which is so helpful!!!! But it makes me torn because I have to 'rewrite the stars' again for my characters. Something productive to do today then !! Thank you for making these videos as they bring a lot of perspective and useful tips !!
One of the most helpful channels...
Thank you for your wisdom!)
In my book i gave my MC a serious fear of boats & water (due to a specific childhood trauma), then made it so she HAD to get on a boat in order to get home...
*and then I sank it* 😃
"and then i sank it" 😂 Sounds great
Rekt
your hair is so pretty, today, abs😍 the best brows in the booktube community, hands down.
noooooo not the eyebrows.
Ayy she made another video 😆 I can’t wait to watch how to break my characters *cue evil laughter*
Can I have a disaster AND a temptation moment? Or, alternatively, two disasters? With one of them being a red herring?
In my story, the most traumatic disaster arises as a natural consequence of the protagonist resisting the antagonist - the antagonist tries to break the protagonist’s resistance this way. But because the antagonist has all rational arguments on her side, as long as the protagonist accepts her framework of values, this first “red herring” disaster causes the protagonist to wonder whether the antagonist might be right.
Thus, the protagonist ceases her resistance (dark moment), which becomes the supposed victory for the antagonist. Then the protagonist’s best friend sacrifices herself - which is partly heroic, but also partly because she’s lost hope in a better outcome, after the protagonist seems to have abandoned her resistance. Her best friend’s death then causes the protagonist to question the antagonist’s very framework of values, rather than just the antagonist’s brutal methods. In other words, this is the second disaster that actually leads the protagonist to her aha-moment.
Simultaneously, it’s also a disaster for the antagonist, because she has mentioned multiple times before how she can’t allow the rebels to have another martyr - and the protagonist’s best friend just turned herself into one. Lastly, it’s a heavy hit for the reader, because given the gravity of the first disaster (one that doesn’t lead the protagonist to the aha-moment yet), the reader might think the worst had already happened yet - only to find out that even worse is to come.
In a nutshell, this structure goes “fake disaster” (thing that would be terrible for anyone, even though it does have special significance for the protagonist) -> dark moment / temptation (protagonist ceases resistance, is willing to accept the antagonist’s world view) -> accepting the (antagonist’s) lie -> actual disaster -> aha moment.
Yay, i cant wait to destroy my characters!!😂😂😂
Soo im my case my character STARTS at their lowest point. Should i completely destroy them like basically take everything from them in order to be ...compelling for example?
9:34 omg. I really, REALLY needed to hear that. I started to plot my story before even knowing the 3 act structure, but as soon as I was presented to this structure, I immediately fell in love with it. Now I'm triyng to "translate" my story to this structure, and I have been VERY obsessed with this. Thx Abbie!
Honestly I think I have mastered writing my character’s traumas. Especially after reading Heartstopper.
As someone who didn’t get a lot of love growing up, Heartstopper made me realize that in order to build relationships, you need to build trust. There is a lot of emotion in making characters and making them have brand new relationships better than past ones. I realized that to be human you have to express emotion, and I’ve been known as perceptive because it’s easy for me to slip into someone else’s shoes. Since it is hard for me to express emotion and feel genuine love with another person who gives me the same amount of affection back, I have to put myself in another perspective then I am right now.
Hey Abbie! How are you doing today? I hope your writing projects are going well!
I wanted to thank you so much for doing what you do! I wouldn’t have the writing knowledge I needed if it wasn’t for you! I’ve watched dozens of your videos, and I have learned so much! You even inspired me to take on the challenge of NaNoWriMo this year! I’m still very early in the process of developing my story--as I still need to figure out my main characters desire, fear, and misbelief---but I’m going to try and finish my outline before November rolls around so I can be completely prepared to write on November first 😁. And thanks to you, I look at story a completely different way than I used to! I now know it’s not about what happens---but how it effects and transforms the characters!
Anyway this was a long comment. I hope you have a great day! Rock on! 😉
Thank you so much! Your kind words mean so much to me. I am so glad I can help you chase your dreams and make your story matter.
My hero will be confronted by the preserved brain of his son, admonishing him on his failure as a starship captain, and a father.
UH SPOILERS. lol
Are you writing about an acid trip?
Jesus christ are you okay 👀
I watch you from baghdad Iraq, and your videos helped me a lot, thank you very much
After watching a bunch of her character creation videos, I just realized that my antagonist is closer to being a protagonist than my protagonist. I’ve thought about him so much more than I have about my protagonist.
Muah ha hahaha!!!
Yesssss
Evil cackling
I've waited all my life for this moment!!!!!
Thanks Abbie!!!!
Better than killing real people I suppose...
@Love 2 Learn It’s a story not a subject...This is going to be fun Hehe (rubs hands)
@@alexandernorman5337 ....
The government probably suspects all of us though.
*Searches up how to enter a sword between the ribs*
Well, now they are definitely gonna suspect us!
OMG your videos are so good, they're distracting me from writing, lol.
Every time you say "To destroy them" a feel so much joy is it normal.
Yes
You're good!!! One of the perks of the job. 😉
It's weird. I feel all 'oh man, I am really screwing this novel up' to 'oh man, I'm actually doing things right.'
Thank you, Abbie.
You've inspired a catastrophe. Abbie! 👍
Why does this disaster matter to my protagonist?
Because it confirms her fear/misbelief that she is not worthy of anything if she is not her mother's daughter. She THOUGHT she meant something in this new environment. She THOUGHT she got away from her fear, but nope. Here we are front and center baby!!!!
6:02 I swear I thought this was "No Peace" by KMFDM for a second
The Vietnamese used this psychological trick against American POWs. They’d tell them, “You have been released in a prisoner exchange. Your wife is here to greet you.” They’d give them soap and a shower, clean clothes. The POW entered the room to meet his loved ones and American embassy officials-only to see the torturer there. Word is, they broke many with this technique.
Abbie is incredibly smart! Love these videos!
What does it mean if your characters are all ready dead before you meet them?? 😶😶 I've had that happen twice.
Seriously...two dead bodies showed up on set. Ummmm...I'm not responsible if they arrive D.O.A.
I just write out the incident report.
What if it's a long series that is being written? How can I teach my MC lessons without them learning things too early? There are events that need to break the character later on. How do I still give the readers an interesting story in the first book without the MC learning too much too quickly ? He is stubborn and stuck in his ways. One book isn't going to be enough to change him.
#AskAbbie
I'm a bit confused on which story beat goes to which act, because I already googled the 3 act structure and wrote down the sections, but these are little bit different (especially act 2 and 3) and now I don't know what belongs to where 😭
Do you have an organized binder, of some sort with all these key elements in stories that you ✔️ mark as you write.
What do you suggest as an organization of this things in a digital form.
Hi, Abbie! I am writing my first fantasy fiction for ages 8-12 years old. I want to have a supporting character go through their Disaster, Dark Moment, and Aha Moment early on. I tried to search for this idea online but haven't found any answers. What do you think? I reason it could be done because it's not the main character. I'm thinking it would start after the inciting incident, when they and the main character are in the "new world."
I need tips on my disaster
In my story, what my character fears the most is loss. The loss of family and friends, the loss of time and of happiness, he fears that if he loses his battle with the antagonist, he’ll lose everything. This causes him to be ever anxious and overprotective of his love interest. Skip forward to the disaster, he’s battling the antagonist know to him only as “the Illusionist”.
He’s fighting on the edge of a cliff, he fights for a few pages, and when he finally beats the Illusionist, he burns him with his blue flame power.
Reality then begins to swirl and shift, changing to reveal that he is actually standing in the forest, trees set ablaze with blue fire and a corpse on the ground.
And as he takes a closer look at the corpse, he realizes that it’s the body of his girlfriend instead of the Illusionist.
This shakes him to the core and makes him doubt reality for the majority of the book, also traumatizing him giving him another weakness that the antagonist can use against him.
This disaster causes him such pain that he is never the same throughout the entire book.
What do you think? Good? Bad? Please be honest, criticism is good for improvement.
Some one - why do I like writting
Me - I get to tourcher someone and get praised of it
Can you do one for how to write a satisfying villain’s downfall if you haven’t already done so?
Sure, now i have watched this and now have a better idea for execution of my book and this has changed the back story of my main character. how dare you come along and make so much sense. 🤣. on to reworking this draft.
Also! Just realized that the disaster I'm currently working on is totally perfect for the protagonist its happening to, because, among other reasons, if it happened to another of my characters, that would actually be the greatest thing that happened to him. (Too bad he gets the exact opposite >:3)
My disaster moment is the protagonist trying to help a side character get over their fear but in the process they accidentally hurt them so they think there desire for a friend will never happen.
Idk why but I always destroy the best characters of my books😂😭😢😅💕
My character thought they got rock bottom early on and has been crawling out and growing stronger. Then the one thing that has kept her going is ripped away
Title: (Destroy you characters)
Me: "NOOOO I love my characters, I cant!!!! :(((
Me: I WOULD NEVER!
Me after the video: Okay, but only because Abbie told me to. I'll be VERY gentle.
I face this problem all the time, feeling sorry for my characters who are about to die next and thus, not killing them at the end and also this serious second lead syndrome kicking in....it's so funny to think about it lmaooo
@@sunitisingh6325 I've cried when I killed one of my characters.
Me: How could I even think about doing that?
Also Me: *kills the main characters boyfriend without her saying i love you*
Also Also me: *rewrites it so that the boyfriend dies in a crash WITH the protagonist*
@@ace_of_cups4096 Usually, I kill the main character because the boyfriend is to innocent.
yeppers. The mc of a book I'm writing is terrified of loss and betrayal. Needless to say her mom died and it turns out her boyfriend had been manipulating her literally since before they met
Thank you for making these videos. You have saved my writing. I used to give up on a story idea the moment I hit a roadblock. Now whenever I get writers block I watch one of your videos and know where to take my story next. I am currently working on the second draft of my current project. I have never written a second draft before so this is all very exciting.
I think Game of Thrones (book) does this perfectly, when Ned Stark faces Joffrey, thinking he's already won, but is betrayed by littlefinger and incarcerated. Not only does this put the character at risk, but proves that his way of seeing the world, his morals, were wrong all along or rather that they don't apply in a world devoid of it. His naiveté and his sense of honor led him to ruin, and no one else.
saving up the sadism, that's a thought. i certainly didn't wait so long
OMG I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS WHOLE SERIES
I think "never talk over a 9" could be a serious "dark moment" depending on how important what they are trying to say is. Being talked over in regular conversation, maybe not. But knowing something that would change EVERYTHING for them or someone they love, and not being able to get anyone to listen, forcing them to literally risk their life to assert themselves and be heard whereas Enneagram 9's are usually very conflict-averse ... wow, I think you may have just given me a piece of the puzzle I needed for the NaNoWriMo project I'm planning.
I love this ;)
"You saved all the sadism for this moment."
Nope, I like to make the main character suffer throughout. The disaster is just especially hurtful.
I am currently writing a musical drama and this is my first time to write for film. I am having a hard time but thanks to you I’m learning from your content. I’m from the Philippines by the way. Thank you so much, Abbie!
Ahhh this is such a great video! Most of yours are! I really love how in depth you are with the advice. I don't think it was too much or too confusing at all. I loved it!
YOU LOOK SO PRETTY HERE ABBIE❤
When writing a romance subplot, should it's arc follow this structure exactly too? Is it weird to have the main plot disaster at the same time as the romance disaster, like is it too much?
I'd say it would depend exactly why and how
You're so pretty! Thanks for the writing advice!
My book basically has two climaxes or thats how my beta reader described it. My low hurt just as bad as the climax
Happy 100th video Abbie!!! Love your videos and they've been helping me a lot!❤❤❤
Everytime I watched one of your video, those moments are my "aha moments". Love you 😘
It is really important to have a twist in our story. All the books that I have read, including yours ,had properly done it! I becomes tough if you're not used to it. I'm thinking to do the same! Thank you so much.
HAAA oh man…. I have 4 main characters in my current WIP and they are a 7, a 5, a 1, and a 4 in the enneagram. ALL of them have your “nevers” as catalysts for them to do soemthing huge, except that for the 4 it’s more like, never tell a 4 what how to think
Goodness! Writers love to destroy their characters will, bring about pain and suffering. It's wonderful!
As I am binge-watching your videos by playlist, I now FULLY grasp the importance of the scene cards. Every moment is a question of what happens, why it matters, and how it affects our characters !!!
So as I have watched your videos I have come realize that I'm planning both a darkest moments and a temptation moment... The temptation falling right in the darketst moment offering an out for the MC. Is that a thing?
I know this comment is from a long time ago, but that's a really cool idea!
Some of my favorite disasters are the ones that are terrible for the protagonist, but normal, or even fun, for everyone else. In one of my WIPs the disaster is that my protagonist has to ride a rollercoaster.
@Millie Florence Yes! I love those “I know I should be happy, but I’m not” moments. The character usually ends up overthinking the whole thing and it ties in to their misbelief and BOOM they are crushed.
Protagonist to blame for their own demise -- juicy. Lightbulb. Ding.
I’ve been waiting 3 weeks for this!! 🎉
The disaster is my favorite part... There's nothing wrong with me xD. I swear
So I'm writing a feature film screenplay set in a dystopian world. My character's misbelief is that he has to be violent and selfish in order to survive which has come from the traumatic moment of not being able to save his brother in an event that occured long ago. This protagonist has to catch a space shuttle which is the last way off earth for him and his wife to survive. Yet my disastrous moment is (after finding the wife who has been captured) that she is exposed to all of the bad things the man has done to survive and get them money/food etc to be able to board this ship. This includes the man killing innocent people for bountys etc. Initially i was going to kill the wife off but I feel like this is linked more with the protagonist's misbelief. Is this a good "dark" moment?
@Henry W Yes. I can only imagine that the wife (who I assume may be one of the only people who loves him) will be very disappointed in him and it will cut him to the core of his being. Well, you know your story and characters the best, I was just making an assumption.
I mean, tbh the real antagonist is the author. Like, think about it, they technically cause everything bad that happens to the character.
We're such bad people 😭😭
i think my favorite one of these moments is in simon vs the homosapiens agenda, also known as love simone. the disaster in that story is so good!!!!
Oh gosh I need to think through how that book followed this structure... that's such a great exampl.
And what if its not really the Protagonist fault, but they personally feel as it is?
Wait a minute... No bloopers!?
Something isn't right!
I whooped when you mentioned adding the Supposed Victory moment right before the Disaster moment, that's exactly what i did WHILE realising it XD
Oh Abbie, no *captions* available?! I’ve been following you since June and am so thankful for you enunciation and the captions (severely hard of hearing). Is it possible to correct this for this video?
Now my question is: how can we build the event that will lead to the character's dark moment?
Thank you for posting this; you're awesome!
But my character doesn't like you now. 😕
Thanks to this video, I successfully demolished all my characters
Question... what if your characters greatest fear just happens to be something terrible?
The more of your videos I watch, the more I'm realizing that my secondary character is the one who the plot is being suited to, not my main. Like, I'm building my main character better, but...
The anime "Midori" did this perfectly (please don't watch it if you're sensitive)
I LOVE stories that are like ahaha no happy ending allowed (my book) ;) 😳😁
Your videos are the most helpful writing videos on TH-cam. No contest. Every single time I watch one, it pushes my story forward and pushes my own growth as a writer.
Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with the community!
"Never talk over a 9". It's not about the "talking over". It's about them feeling ignored, being shown their contribution isn't important and being disrespected...Which is EASY to write as a disaster. They could literally know almost anything that is critical to the plot and are disrespected and ignored instead of taken seriously.
I'm a bond villian when planning this. How do I make it intricate? How do I make it personal? It's quite hard to play fate tbh.
I'm into the enneagram and agree with their kryptonite except for 4. Being unloved or feeling unlovable is their fear.
4:34 My MC's biggest fear is fear itself... how do I do this?
Yesterday I read Talus (really great book series by a German author idk if it is translated) and I think it has the best disaster moment I ever read. I CRIED SO MUCH😢 my book is a bit wavy now since my tears dried😅
I saw the thumbnail and was basically like, "Oh hey! A video about Re: Zero!"
My issue is I have many subplots that have a major moment where everything goes wrong but I don’t know where to place them. I couldn’t just put them up like dominos and knock them all one after another, could I?
Is the character's fear the same as their misbelief? How are they different? She uses them almost interchangeably...
I just got 100 Days of Sunlight! Thanks for all your advice and I can’t wait to read your book!