Mirror, mirror

matching your beginning and ending for satisfying storytelling

Writing is hard. I am always looking for cheat codes to help me create better art without the stress and heartbreak of rewriting. So here’s something that I’ve learned: creating mirrors delivers a satisfying set up and payoff. This is true in every genre and how you will parse out your emotional thruline and drive the story.

In romance, you begin with a single or soon to be single woman who is unhappy. She will go on a journey to the other side of the coin: relationship and happiness. Every step of the book is about moving the needle to get there. Her state at the beginning of the book must be a match to the place she ends up. (Think every RomCom ever)

In the hero's journey you start with a whiny, barely capable farm boy and see them learn and transform into a hero who is capable and confident. (Think Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Eragon)

In the heroine's journey, you start with a woman broken and separated from herself and others to a woman connected to her community and realizing her strength is within herself. (Think Mulan, Wizard of OZ, Frozen)

Horror is a bit more complicated because it's about eliciting an emotion, since the horror experience is often an externalization of an internal problem, you see the character go from a victim of that horror to either emerging victorious or succumbing, but there is transformation. (Think The Conjuring, Exorcist, Hush, Carrie)

Contemporary and historical fiction will cross the same paths with your character starting from a point of weakness and moving to a point of strength to achieve what they want. (Titanic, Indiana Jones, Do Revenge, etc)

This is all to say, think about where your character starts and where you want them to end. Most of my major rewrites have been a misstep of this. I'm very good at starting a character where I want them to end and having to wheel them back to a point of wanting and weakness so I can move them into strength. Your readers are here for that journey.

Happy writing!

Photo by Joyce Hankins on Unsplash