"The Black Moment" is a phrase that is used a lot in romances.
This is the scene where the conflict between the hero and heroine causes their budding romance to crash in a spectacular fashion. At that point it seems like the love they've been enjoying along the way can never overcome their issues and firmly-held beliefs, and the only solution is for them to walk away from each other, sad and hurting.
The whole book has been leading towards this particular moment, and even though the characters hope it won't get to this point, the readers are actually looking forward to it. It's not that readers are sadistic. They just want to know how the hero and heroine will get over their fears and let their love overcome the differences that should normally keep them apart.
This is a very essential step before they can get to the Happily Ever After ending—kind of like having to eat your Brussels sprouts before you get to have crème brulee.
I've always struggled with this particular aspect, and not just because I hate Brussels sprouts and love crème brulee. I really love my characters and I don't want them to suffer. I want them to be happy, and I would prefer it if they could just skip, hand in hand, to the marriage chapel, with a beautifully scrolled "The End" appearing over their joyful faces.
But to get to that point of unending bliss, the characters need to go through growing pains, and that pretty much includes well, PAIN. It's not called "growing fun".
And this is what The Black Moment is all about—growing and changing and maturing. As with most of us, characters won't volunteer to go through a change process that's guaranteed to be uncomfortable or painful. They'll only do it if there is a pretty darn good result waiting at the end of it (i.e., a great life with this person they love).
So what do the characters do when the person they love seems to be the person they should hate?
I mean, here's a man and here's a woman, two completely different people—physically, emotionally—in every way possible. They can manage to find an accommodation when it comes to physical love, because their bodies are designed to have an area of common ground, so to speak.
Now they just have to find this area of common ground emotionally, in order to get through this black moment. Each character has very firmly-held beliefs, and a particular worldview, that headbutts the beliefs and worldview of the person who makes them crazy with lust and love and longing.
I typically refer to this as "The Bleak Moment", because my characters aren't necessarily battling each other, they certainly don't hate each other, and they aren't filled with complete despair. So it's not so dark that it should be considered "black". But they are at an impasse. They can't go forward, and it's too late to go back.
Since they have been building to this point throughout the story, rushing through it would be like a premature. . .release. (Cue Peggy Lee's classic song about disappointment, "Is That All There Is?")
I recently re-read one of my manuscripts and I realized I'd rushed through this moment, all because I didn't want the characters to go through an extended period of anguish. But it was a letdown. For me. And I'm the one who wrote it.
It felt like the characters just kind of threw their hands in the air and said, "Okay. Whatever. Where do you want to go for the honeymoon?"
I finally—FINALLY—understood why my characters need to suffer. They need to struggle, so they can feel good at making it through something impossibly difficult.
It's the same exact way I feel when I make it through a revision that seems daunting. It's too hard, I say. I don't think I can do it.
But somehow I do. And then it's not as hard as I first thought, because I'm thinking about it differently, considering diverse possibilities, looking at it with fresh eyes, and all of a sudden, I've finished it, I've made it through. And I feel fantabulous, like I've just won a marathon when at first I couldn't even get off the couch.
Our characters benefit in the same way. For example, I have a character that thinks, "I can't possibly let go of my belief that commitment is a trap that will make me want to gnaw off my arm." Every encounter with their love interest challenges that belief. Soon they are in a committed relationship AND both arms are intact, and they haven't once contemplated sharpening their incisors.
Even more importantly, they've jettisoned their old belief system, through a lot of struggle and hard work. As much as we admired the characters before The Bleak Moment, we're lifelong fans AFTER they've gone through the effort to change for the better.
So now I'm a convert to the importance of The Bleak Moment. I may still struggle with it—which is what happens when you get rid of a firmly-held belief, after all. But now that I understand the payoff, I'm gonna be making my characters squirm.
Not only are they gonna love it, they're gonna thank me for it.
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P.S. Speaking of The Black Moment, the characters in Ashley March's newest book, ROMANCING THE COUNTESS, have a lot to teach on that topic! I've got a post on the Heroes and Heartbreakers blog today about this book, so come by and check it out.
Donna, for me your analysis of the black/bleak moment highlights the differences of romance fiction and real life. A major black moment in real life often leads on to disaster. The guy marries someone else and the girl sinks into clinical depression or even worse!
It emphasises that romance fiction should be classed as a subset of fantasy or a special art form. Perhaps that's true of most fiction, at least the page turning kind.
Symmetry is at the root of all this. One has to walk through the depths of despair before one can appreciate the elation of strolling on the heights. Getting the balance right is the secret to writing a great book.
God knew all about this before he created Adam and Eve. The glory and symmetry of landscape flora and fauna. The fractal symmetry observable everywhere. The Fibonacci sequence is also evident everywhere in beautiful plants and objects.
Yes, symmetry is the secret of success.
Did you have to mention Brussel sprouts! *wink*
Posted by: Quantum | September 03, 2011 at 04:40 AM
Q, I agree that there are huge differences in fiction and real life. What's the quote? -- in fiction, things have to make sense. LOL So I would argue that fiction requires MORE symmetry than we actually experience in real life.
I think that's part of the comfort reading provides to us, and why we seek it out -- that feeling of "everything is going to be okay", an escape from the seeming randomness of life's events.
I love your descriptions, and your explanations. It's always a treat to see them.
And you KNOW I have to mention Brussels sprouts. LOL They are an abomination!
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 03, 2011 at 08:32 AM
Interesting! I think I also prefer to use "The Bleak Moment" over the "Black Moment" or maybe...and this is just coming to me...there are or can be both in a story -- with differences. It's all very complex. LOL
I hadn't thought of it this way before, but I think my stories lean toward being one long "Bleak Moment" with the hero/heroine expecting Disaster with a capital D (The Black Moment). Hmmm. Sounds like a depressing story with pessimistic characters. Lovely! LOL
But somehow they aren't just glass-half-full people being miserable. Thank goodness, right? My stories are like the guy who finds out he has months to live or the world ends next week. The situation is impossible. I know it, the characters know it, and the reader knows it. Yep, no big secret with my Black Moment. But during the Bleak Moment, while the clock ticks down to Disaster, there's still hope of beating the odds. And what do you know, they do. :)
Like you, I don't like to see my characters go through extended periods of anguish. That "anguish" needs a lot of justification! That's probably why, in the early ideas of a story, I start with the Big Problem(s) being external and out of the control of the main characters so there's no blame involved. Then I *think* I won't run into The Big Misunderstanding kind of Black Moment that makes me cringe. But, wouldn't you know it, the imperfections of characters start to show up and I can see they have a few more things to sort out before a HEA -- even if the world doesn't end!
Posted by: Melissa | September 03, 2011 at 11:11 AM
Melissa, I love this explanation. I think there should be that sense of foreboding, knowing that things won't be perfect for your characters--that something is trying to crush their happiness. (It makes us sound awful, doesn't it? LOL) I think there is plenty of room for Bleak Moments AND Black Moments in the same story.
And I can see where there's an external problem for them to deal with, until you have a chance to learn what their imperfections are. I think I do this too -- which is why I like being a pantser, because the characters reveal things to me in each scene, which helps me figure out future scenes.
It's great to see you here again. :) I always love your explanations of things!
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 03, 2011 at 09:35 PM
I never thought about it this way before:
"They just want to know how the hero and heroine will get over their fears and let their love overcome the differences that should normally keep them apart."
I'm too easy on my characters. I'm going to have to re-evaluate though. Thank you!
Posted by: Kari Marie White | September 04, 2011 at 09:06 PM
Kari Marie, it's tough to be hard on your characters. I'm not sure I'm as tough as I should be -- but after writing this blog post, they at least know that I *could* be. LOL
Posted by: Donna Cummings | September 05, 2011 at 12:09 AM