HOW THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL CAN LIGHT THE PATH TO THE FINAL CONFRONTATION IN YOUR NOVEL.
What is the “Dark Night of the Soul? “ and why is it important in the development of your story. This was a term popularized by Blake Snyder in his classic book on writing screenplays entitled “Save the Cat.” . It provided an important step and provided a crucial plot point in the development of your screenplay or novel .
The idea of “ Dark Night of the Soul.” has been incorporated into the world of novel writing by Jessica Brody in her classic book on novel writing called appropriately “Saves the Cat Writes a Novel.” Whether you are writing a screenplay or a novel, this stage in the plot should be considered an important moment in your script.
Which to use : The Three or Four Act Structure?
Several months ago I joined a local writers group. Every week, members of the group would read a few pages of their soon to be published best- selling novel . Many of the newer writers would scoff at the concept of story points or structure as “Formula” or a Cliché to be avoided, or even worse as “ by the numbers to tell a story. “
However, the beginning writer must consider that most events or things need structure in order to function. Imagine if a builder wanted to ignore established structure and decided to put the basement on the top floor instead of where it belongs. Of course, this is not realistic, but structure in buildings was established for very logical reasons. Another example would be almost any sporting even such as football. There are strict rules in football for how teams score. Imagine if the team decided to kick the ball like in a Soccer gam instead of coming out of a huddle and. run the ball or score without running into the end zone. In short, structure is necessary in most endeavours in life.
The three act structure was popularized by Syd Field in his classic book called “Screenplay”. It was quickly adopted by many other script writing gurus. For years, the Three Act structure was the sacred path not to be deviate. Many writing teachers are now telling their students to expand the three act structure into a Four Act Structure.
One of the problems with the classic three act structure is that it is broken down into a Beginning, Middle and End of the story. Each segment of a story has a distinct page count and function. The first portion of the story established the main character, his flaws and personal struggles . It ends with the main character moving forced to move out of the comfortable world that they have at the beginning of the story. This takes up the first sixty or so pages of a screenplay. This sixty page middle can be daunting foce for even the most knowledgeable writer. It can provides a writers stumbling block situation to try and expand your plot into sixty pages until you get to the midpoint. By incorporating a four act structure, the middle of your story is easier to formulate and implement.
Writers are faced with developing their middle of the story, but makes it easier by breaking it into four acts. The third act ends with a series of scene or plot developments called the Dark Night of the Soul. This is the lowest point of the story for your main character and provides a conveieint signpost on their way to the climax.
One of my favorite movies is An Officer and a Gentlemen released in 1981 and starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger. It deals with a young working class man who decided to join the Naval Aviator program in Washington State. He is opposed by A drill saregent played by Louis Gossett who is determined to force Zack to quit the program. Zak’s Dark Night is occurs when his friend Sid commits suicide . Zak is forced to reevaluate his plans to quit the program.
This is where the main protagonist suffers an enormous defeat of his plans. They crash and burn and the protagonist must face the fact that their struggle might have come crashing down or even come to a standstill. They might have to give up their desire to pursue the antagonist t or abandon the9r struggle It should be a life changing event or situati8on that makes it appear impossible for the protagonist to move forward and even consider giving up the struggle.
It is a moment of despair. A life threatening event. The protagonist suffers the death of a friend, or a tremendous setback . In a mystery story, it could be the death or a source or threat of jail by the police or a job loss for pursuing the events of the story.
The hero must find the courage to reengage in the story and find the strength to reignite his quest for a solution
So in Summary, the Dark Night of the Soul and why is it crucial in a story? The writer can use this story point to end the third plot point with a life changing event or defeat for your protagonist.it can be the end point of the four act structure. They must feel the agony of defeat and hit rock bottom when their plan comes crashing down in disaster. The hero loses all hopes of winning or defeating the antagonist
The protagonist needs to find must find the inner strength to overcome fear and doubt to continue the struggle. They must find the inner strength and resolve to continue its battle. Lowest emotional point in story for protagonist. They cannot rely on another character to provide this, they must find the strength to resolve their own self doubt They realize that their strategy is not working and must fmake new plans or strategies to overcome the antgagonist
They force the protagonist to confront their feelings about themselves and their destiny and force the final battle or confrontation with their antagonist enemy.
In a mystery novel or script, it might be the moment when they discover that they have been totally fooled by a suspect or character’s alibi or ability to commit the crime proved not to be false.??
It would be cheating if the protagonist suddenly developed some special skill or ability that did not have at the beginning of the story. Any special skill must have been introduced earlier in the story and maybe lay dormant or doubted until the hero musters the strength to use the skill. Perhaps, they had the ability to read minds or some skill in a poker game. get introduced earlier in the story. They can’t suddenly learn how to read minds or fly an airplane.
By overcoming the problem, dilemma of the Dark Night, the protagonist discovers the strength ot continue their quest and creates a new plan or strategy to thwart erhantagonist.
When this story point is reached, the protagonist musters the courage to try an new plan and try an new strategy to defeat the antagonist. This is an important pot in story and could be the end of the third act and lead into the fourth and final act of your story.