The Podcast

Every week I post an episode of Women Creating Writerly Lives with Scribbling Woman Nancy Rue, available on Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube.

In these chats, I (sometimes in the company of a fellow Scribblie) open up your concept of the writerly life. We explore the four strands – Dream Discovery, Story Shaping, Career Crafting and Life Living – not as a how-to. There is no prescription. No hack. I simply want every woman who writes to embrace her creative life as a whole that is unique to her in every way.

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The Latest Episode

In our sixth episode of the Craft and the Writerly Life series, we finally bring our protagonists to their feet and lead them into the ultimate battle, their chance to make things right. So satisfying! You’ll find suggestions for (1) what to include in that third act; (2) how to empower the protagonist; and (3) how to show the hidden need has been met. Intuitive and Intentional writers can apply all this whenever and however they want. And leave the reader changed in some small way. (Or maybe a big one!)
Steps for Act III:
o Refuse to stage a rescue that does not involve the protagonist in some way.

o Instead, think about help—not rescue—coming from an unexpected source.
 A piece of information, inspiration, incentive
 comes from outside the protagonist that allows him or her to take the necessary action

o Suggested unexpected sources:
 A minor character
 An ally who was lost but has returned
 A symbol that’s been there all along but takes on new meaning
 An antagonist who unwittingly gives something away
 A piece of knowledge the protagonist already had that someone else unknowingly reminds him of

o Allow the protagonist to use that information and move this thing to its conclusion
 Provide the big fight, the final battle, the ultimate confrontation
 Give the protagonist an opportunity to right the wrong, perhaps in a big way

o In the process, whether the original goal is reached or not, the hidden need is met
 This doesn’t mean tying everything up in a neat bow
 Even in an ending where that original goal and maybe even subsequent goals have not been met at all, there should be some satisfaction in what the protagonist has learned, some hope that it can be used in the future.

Ways to reveal the hidden need:
o Do not
 Make it sappy or cheesy
 Preach it like a sermon so the reader feels spiritually mugged
 State it like a moral at the end of a fable

o Give the reader credit for being able to see it without having it completely spelled out. Resist the urge to explain!

o Possible techniques:
 Near the end, put the protagonist in the same setting as in the first scene. Let them see it in a whole new way.
 Create a scene in which the protagonist would have handled it the old way, and show them doing things differently
 Bring in a symbol that was formerly used to support their old way of being, and allow the protagonist to dispose of it, or see it for what it is.

YOUR goal: To nudge the reader to look at herself and ponder how she too needs to change, or simply have a sense that some small thing is different now.
• Recommended Reading:
o Chapter 27 of the Scribbling Woman Interactive Companion
o The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass
• Suggested episodes related to this one: #20, 35, and 36

Episode 63 Developing the Third Act

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