The Comeback
By Donald Maass | August 3, 2011 |
We have a deal. Sweet words.
Unless you mean the U.S. debt ceiling. Anybody feel good about that one? What a bruising fight. What childish refusal to compromise. Everyone is sick and tired of our government, including our elected officials. Trip to Greece, anyone?
As the House of Representatives crawled through its vote on Monday night, the mood was sour and tense…until the final minutes. Then a miracle happened. Into the chamber, unannounced and unsteady, came Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who in January was shot in the head. She voted.
On Twitter she said, “The Capitol looks beautiful tonight. I am honored to be at work.”
The chamber erupted in applause as she arrived. The whole nation was lifted. It is beautiful, this big mess of ours, isn’t it? We can look forward in hope. The return of Rep. Giffords reminded us of what’s important. She inspires us. We can come back from anything.
The uplift of a moment like that gets to us extra hard because we previously sank so low. Fiction writers take note. Sink your characters low. Bring them back with high symbolism. Works every time. Let’s get it working for you.
In your WIP, what’s your protagonist’s biggest mistake? Make it bigger. Work backward. Build your protagonist’s commitment to do things right. Now line up what it will cost your protagonist to do something wrong.
Who will be crushed when your protagonist later screws up? Make that person’s high regard of your protagonist utterly important. What’s something your protagonist cannot afford to lose? Tie it in. What principle will your protagonist later violate? Make it foundational.
The screw up itself: Make it bigger, more public, more ill-timed. Make it so that even your protagonist’s closest friends look away, ashamed.
The comeback is not just a return but a redemption. Your protagonist must atone. Give him or her work to do. Impose humility. What’s the lesson? What’s the biggest thing he or she must do to show that he or she has changed?
Again work backward. Focus on the action that will demonstrate change…plant it, make it important in your story world, rehearse it in smaller ways-which is to say, build up its symbolic value.
Uplift is a sweet moment in any story. It fills us with hope, inspires us with its courage. But there’s work behind it, and that work belongs to you. But if you do it faithfully, your readers will love you.
Do we have a deal?
Photo courtesy Flickr’s peasap
Donald Maass (he/him) founded the Donald Maass Literary Agency. in New York in 1980. He is the author of The Career Novelist (1996), Writing the Breakout Novel (2001), Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook (2004), The Fire in Fiction (2009), The Breakout Novelist (2011), Writing 21st Century Fiction (2012) and The Emotional Craft of Fiction (2019). He has presented hundreds of workshops around the world and is a past president of the American Association of Literary Agents (formerly AAR).
Wow… just wow. This is so inspiring. Thank you for this brilliant idea! I might be posting this to my wall above my writing desk.
Deal! Donald, thank you for another great post. I’m working on a major rewrite of my WIP and I’ll definately be incorporating your words of wisdom. Here’s to mistakes and redemption.
Thank you. For making a daunting job seem doable. And also for reminding me that there’s work to be done, and that if I do it faithfully I can succeed. Having never been one to shy away from hard work, this is a welcome reminder. Working backward. Asking the right questions. Pushing characters to, and beyond, limits. Rolling up my sleeves. Doable. Brilliant!
Yes. We do.
Thanks for this.
My ears buzzed (just before my heart said a big “Yes!”) when I saw Congresswoman Giffords. You describe it beautifully.
Thanks for making the connection for me to a technique I intuitively knew, but had not fully incorporated into my WIP. Now, I “get” its power.
A twist that might be worth thinking about: what will it cost your protagonist to do something right?
Wow, really good food for thought as I work on the end of my book. You’ve given me some great ideas on how to make the climax more impactful, and how to layer in more details to ensure that the protagonist’s arc is clear. Thanks so much!
Very timely post for me. Thank you. :)
Excellent advise. Thanks for the reminder that behind every uplift there’s tremendous work. That’s a deal.
Inspirational. Thank you, Donald.
I’m working out my second WIP mystery and am asking myself, “What’s at stake? For my POV character, for her town, for the forests and wild animals that live near, what’s at stake?
Reading this I now know what she risks and what she must lose.
Thanks for the uplifting reminder to turn off my network – along with twitter, FB, and email – and get writing!
“The comeback is not just a return but a redemption….” A great post with a great advice.
What I love the most is the wonderful way you have presented it.
Thank you for the inspiration.
Here is another example of why I look forward to your posts and tips. Every writing suggestion you contribute sends my brain in a whirl of creative excitement. I know just the spot where I can enhance the vilification of my MC before he redeems himself. Thank you for posting such a thought-provoking post.
As always, fantastic advice, Donald. Thank you.
Fabulous! I’ve been concerned that my protagonist had sunk too low and how would I redeem her and should I change that about her. But redemption, that’s what i need to focus on. Love it!
As Ray points out (above), the reverse is true as well. When someone does the right thing all their life, the stakes of doing wrong set up the “comeback” dynamic. Add a repressive dystopian society and you get a generic social scifi, with a lovable rebel – and everybody loves a rebel.
How is it you know the exact thing I need to hear for my story, each and every time? Do you have a Birgitte-cam? Thank you for this! LOVE.
After reading this I asked myself, ‘what books have I ever read that followed this advice.’ The response: very few. But then I got it. The author states, “the comback is not just a return but a redemption.” So alright, we are talking about a very specific plot here, the “redemption” plot, ala Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Any other setting and this risks being cartoonish; I don’t care to pick up a fast paced thriller, for example, and read that agent 007 had an ovation worthy breakthrough.
But in the right set up yes, these are good points to remember. I”m not sure I agree with the heavy handedness, as it could be a turn off it not handled properly, but turning it up a notch never hurts.
“Work backwards.” I hadn’t thought of it that way before but it makes so much sense. If you want your character to end up at point C, what do A & B (and points between) have to look like?
Working backward is such a useful tip. Or working between. If you know where a character starts out and what they can’t lose and therefore must, you have points A and E, and you just need to figure out B, C, and D in the middle. (Of course, this approach might work better if you’re not an organic, “see-where-it-goes” sort of writer–but I’m not, I’m a stringent outliner, so I love this technique.)
Thanks for another inspiring post. You had me worried with the political mentions up front, but wrapped everything together in such a lovely and useful package.
This is what I’ve been looking for, I just didn’t know it until today. Thank you for posting.
This is so true, the power of the uplift. I especially love this: “Make it so that even your protagonist’s closest friends look away, ashamed.” Yes, that is perfect. Thank you for the inspiration, and for prompting writers with powerful questions.
I will never forget a workshop I took with you and you asked us to write the time when you forgave someone. Then apply the emotion to a character in your novel. What happened the day before he/she forgave that person? The day after?
Great advice to work backwards. Redemption here follows as well. The power of uplift. I like that.
You never fail to challenge and inspire me to peel back layers of story and characters and make them stronger, deeper, more compelling. I’m always thrilled to find your posts here. Thank you!
Working backwards is a method I find easily understandable, and one that has worked out in my novel writing many times. So often I intuitively know how a story will unfold, but why it should unfold that way (character motivation, back story, hidden secrets/sins, etc.) might not reveal itself in full until the second or tenth edit pass. I’ve come to have faith in that process.