Good morning, and welcome to Day 5. You made it! Five days in, and here we are at the big one.
So many of you have sent me a scene every single day this week, in the middle of work and life and everything else, and that is SO not an easy thing to do. If that’s you, stop and congratulate yourself properly.
And if you’ve fallen behind, send today’s scene anyway. Even if I missed your earlier days, I can still give you feedback on this one, and it might be exactly the nudge you need.
Today is the Ordeal… the big boss, the final confrontation, the scene your whole book has been walking toward.
What the Ordeal is
This is the final confrontation, and it’s the moment of maximum danger, loss, and exposure. The hardest, scariest thing your Hero has faced, the one that could make or break everything.
The want and the need finally split apart. You’ve carried them together all book, that tension between what your Hero wants and what they actually need. This is where you pull them apart and make your Hero choose, because now they can’t have both.
The villain (a person, a fear, a system, or a part of them) is at full strength, making its last stand. And the old self has to die here, stripped away so the true self can finally step forward.
It doesn’t have to be loud, by the way. Everyone hears “final boss” and pictures swords and explosions, but this can be a quiet, internal moment. It’s still a climax, because your Hero makes the choice.
Also: this isn’t quite the last scene of your book. There are a few important beats after it…and one of those is your surprise for tomorrow. More on that at the end.
The 180
The clearest way to show the change is the 180. Way back in the ordinary world, you planted a seed: one thing your Hero simply couldn’t do.
My favourite example is Mia in The Princess Diaries. At the start she’s terrified of speaking in public, she just can’t do it. By the end she stands up and gives the speech. It’s one small action, and it shows us that she’s completely changed.
So ask yourself: what couldn’t your Hero do at the beginning that they can do now? It can be tiny. Standing up to speak. Letting go of something. Walking towards the thing instead of running from it.
Show us two things: the one action that proves the shift, and the way they carry themselves differently now, that new confidence, that new way of being.
How other stories do it
The Hunger Games: Katniss and the berries. She’s wanted to survive this whole time, and instead she chooses the berries so the Games have no victor. Her 180 is choosing to make a statement over simply surviving.
The Matrix: Neo stops running and turns to face the agents. The one thing he couldn’t do at the start, dodge the bullets, he does now. We see the change as an action.
Toy Story: Woody stops trying to control everything and works with Buzz, choosing being a friend over being the favourite. A choice he could never have made at the beginning.
In every one, they get what they need, which is always better than what they thought they wanted.
How to write your Ordeal scene
1. Put the old flaw in the room, and make it tempting. Give them a real chance to just give in.
2. Split the want from the need, and force the choice. No more oscillating between them…they have to pick.
3. Have your Hero choose the need, and make them pay for it. There’s always a cost (think Mean Girls, where she tears up the crown and throws it away).
4. Show the 180. The one thing they couldn’t do before, they do now.
5. Test it: if they fought this the way they would have at the very start, they’d lose. The win only works because they’ve changed.
A few things to avoid
Don’t let the new power appear from nowhere. They’ve earned this through every test and trial. No gadgets, no lucky breaks, no deus ex machina.
Don’t let the world go easy on them. The villain should be stronger than ever, so we can see just how much your Hero has grown to win.
Don’t skip the temptation. There has to be a moment where giving in to the flaw is a real option (think “you could join us” in Star Wars). Let them fight it, and win.
Don’t make spectacle for its own sake. It doesn’t need explosions. Even Harry facing Voldemort is quiet and internal. Choose what truly fits your story.
Your homework
Write your Ordeal scene. Your Hero acts from the need, not the want. They fight the temptation, they make a clear choice, and they do the one thing they never could before. Loud or quiet, it just has to be clear.
Keep it rough. Get that messy clay on the wheel so we can shape it later. I’d far rather read something you’re not sure about than nothing at all.
To submit:
Write in a Google Doc and open the permissions (a few people have missed feedback because I couldn’t get in).
Hit the button below, fill in the form, and paste your link. In by midnight.
Comment on this post to tell me you’ve submitted.
Close your doc and don’t peek until I like your comment. That like means your feedback is ready.
In by midnight tonight, feedback back by 8am. This one is same-day only, so today’s the day for your Day 5 scene.
Before I go
I told you I always do a little more than I promise…so yes, there’s a Day 6.
Tomorrow’s bonus is an exercise I ran with my Academy of Story students on our last virtual retreat. They loved it, I loved it, and it’s the perfect way to keep this week’s momentum going. It’s another short piece of writing, and you’ll get to send it to me for feedback too.
It’s completely free, and it’s a lovely note to end the week on. Plus, I think it might just be your favourite day of all.
So come back tomorrow at 5am for your surprise lesson. I’ll be in the comments today until I head to bed, so ask me anything.
Can’t wait to read your Ordeal scenes.
See you in the comments,
Xx Shelly
