Hey Wit!
How’s your week been? I’d love to know what questions you have about your writing, the industry, or motivation. Just shoot me an email if you’d like to know something, and I’ll do my best to give you a helpful answer. 😊
Have you ever stood at the precipice of a great life change? What did you do? Did you back away? Or did you take the leap?
My favorite example of this beat is the moment Harry Potter watches his new acquaintances disappear into a load-bearing brick column.
AND CHOOSES TO FOLLOW THEM.
What might have happened to Harry if he was wrong, and crashed into the brick wall? Probably not a lot—embarrassment, disappointment, etc.
The choice to TRY is far more interesting and it’s that choice that takes the reader into the real story you’ve shown up to tell.
When your hero has made their choice, they feel clear. Motivated. Maybe even a little proud.
"I’ve got this,” they probably think.
But here’s the kicker…
They’re usually wrong.
Welcome to Into the Fire. 🔥
Too often we undervalue this beat. It seems like it’s just a line in the sand, making the moment we begin Act 2. But it’s far more powerful and meaningful than that.
If you’ve done your job, your MC has had a good long debate/embers beat to figure things out, and made the decision to step onto the story path. And it feels right.
But the truth is, they’re still operating from their old mindset. Their old wounds. Their old coping strategies.
They haven’t learned anything yet—they’ve just started moving.
(Which, to be fair, is still better than sitting on the couch under the Comfort Veil. We celebrate movement around here. No couch potatoes allowed!)
But movement ≠ alignment.
This is where a lot of stories—and a lot of writers—get stuck.
Because action feels like progress.
But not all progress is actually… progress.
Sometimes it’s just a really confident step in the wrong direction.
And we need that.
Because a hero who gets it right the first time is a boring hero. If your reader can’t relate to them, they won’t care about what happens. So we give them a hero who’s the victim of their own hubris.
Because Act 2 is about learning why it was wrong.
Once, I left my family in Canada and got on a plane bound for Pocatello, Idaho, my wedding dress as my carry-on. I knew it was the right thing to do, but no one in my life agreed. My sister begged me to promise that if I got there and things were weird, I’d have the guts to come back home.
And not, yano, get married just because that’s what everyone expected me to do.
If you want to hear the whole story, shoot me an email.
But I want you to see that that’s a real “break into 2” or “into the fire” moment. The moment the hero steps from one world into another, believing they’re completely prepared for what’s to come. 😳
David and I are in our 37th year of marriage, so getting on that plane was totally the right thing for me to do. But boy howdy did I have a lot to learn!
Sure does make for a great story, though. Imagine what you can do with imagination.
Like life, but so much cooler.
Happy writing!
