2. Unicorns are earthbound and do not have wings.

3. If a Unicorn and a Pegasus mate, the babies may become flying Unicorns.

4. Unicorn horns were used in pharmacies in the 1700’s.

5. An underwater creature called a Narwhal, looks like a Unicorn horn.

6. Unicorn horns are called Alicorns.

Alicorn isn’t just the name for a unicorn’s horn. It’s also the name for a horse with wings and one horn.

7. When two unicorn families meet, they express great joy and travel together for weeks.

8. Unicorns live in groups of four or five.

9. A Unicorn is mentioned in many of the Asian and European myths.

10. The head of the family is an elder Unicorn who is hundreds of years old.

11. Unicorn families spend their lives alone, living in peace deep in the forest.

12. The Unicorn’s eyes are Sky Blue or Purple.

13. The Unicorn eats grass and hay.

14. Unicorn absorbs its energy through their horn.

15. Unicorns can be of any color, from Jet-Black, Brown to a dazzling Gold.

16. According to mythology, whoever touches a pure White Unicorn, will find happiness and joy in his entire life.

17. According to the Jewish legend, the Unicorn can easily kill an elephant.

18. The Unicorn is thought to hold the power to divine truth and will pierce the heart of a liar with its horn.

19. Muffinhumps is the world’s oldest Unicorn.

20. A baby unicorn is called a sparkle.

21. The ancient Greeks wrote about Unicorns, not as part of their mythology, but in accounts of natural history.

22. The Indus Valley civilization sealed clay tablets with a Unicorn emblem.

23. There are six references to Unicorns in the King James Bible.

24. In the middle ages, a Unicorn became seen as a symbol of purity and grace.

25. A US patent was granted for a surgical procedure to create Unicorns in 1980.

26. Unicorns are born with both male and female genitalia.

27. There are a total of nine unicorns in King James’s version of the Old Testament.

28. German dealers even sold a Unicorn ‘horn’ to the pope for a huge amount of money in 1560.

29. There were pharmacies in London selling powdered Unicorn horn in 1741.

30. Chinese believed a Chi-Lin had a very long life and lived up to 1000 years.

31. Some Unicorns are depicted with large wings and were able to fly.

32. The Flying Unicorn species is called the Pegasi.

33. Some believe that by seeing a Unicorn will bring them good luck.

34. Pegasus is a mythical winged divine stallion, and one of the most recognised unicorn in Greek mythology.

35. There is also a myth, if the horn of a Unicorn was placed on a wound, it would heal.

36. Queen Elizabeth was presented with a Narwhal Tusk in 1577. Alicorn (the horn, not the winged unicorn) myths remained popular long after medieval times. Queen Elizabeth I received a unicorn horn as a gift from the explorer Martin Frobisher. It became known as “The Horn of Windsor.”

37.  A “Unicorn Horn” was auctioned at Christie’s in London for half million pounds.

38. In France, it was a tradition to carry a cup made from Unicorn horn to test whether the food and drinks were poisoned or not.

39. Unicorns are mentioned in the folklore of the medieval period.

40. In Chinese mythology, a Unicorn is known as a Ki-Lin or Chi-Lin.

41. but hunting for them can be a lot of fun. To do that you will need an official “Unicorn Hunting License”. You can get your own Unicorn Hunting License for free at the Lake Superior University. This license is good for a lifetime (and beyond) and can be used anywhere on earth.

While Nessie may still be the Highlands’ most notable mythical creature, the Unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.

Scots celebrate the majestic equine on National Unicorn Day each April 9.

This love of the magnificent creature goes way back. Scotland’s King James III issued a number of coins depicting unicorns from 1460-1488.

Scotland isn’t the only country that gets to celebrate; WhatNationalDayIsIt.com first recognized April 9 as National Unicorn Day in the United States in 2015.

In November of 2012, a story circulated that the North Korean government’s official news outlet had released a claim that scientists had “reconfirmed” the location of the final resting place of the unicorn ridden by King Tongmyong, founder of the ancient Goguryeo kingdom. Sadly, there was no unicorn, and the story was in part due to a mistranslation. The Korean Central News Agency’s report referred to the mythical kirin (or qilin), sometimes called a Chinese unicorn, though the kirin is often depicted with two horns.

The first-ever depiction of one-horned creatures is often cited as appearing in 15,000 BCE paintings found in the Lascaux Caves in France. It’s likely the paintings are actually of some sort of bovine, with its horns drawn a bit too close together.

The first-ever depiction of one-horned creatures is often cited as appearing in 15,000 BCE paintings found in the Lascaux Caves in France. It’s likely the paintings are actually of some sort of bovine, with its horns drawn a bit too close together. But it’s likely that the good doctor never actually saw the famed horned horse. He heard tales of a “wild ass” from fellow travelers and described it as having a white body, red head, multi-colored horn (a foot and a half long!), and dark blue eyes.

In fact, the earliest unicorn tales were likely stories of encounters with the greater one-horned rhino (rhinoceros unicornis…yes, really!).

The legend of the unicorn was primarily spread by word of mouth, possibly explaining how a rhino sighting eventually became magical horse beast lore. Purple monkey dishwasher.

It’s possible that at least one famed unicorn sighting (if by unicorn you mean rhinoceros) did actually happen. Explorer Marco Polo reportedly encountered rhinos on his travels and he described them as “ugly brutes.”

Roman scholar Pliny the Elder also claimed to have seen a unicorn, but it’s unclear whether he was describing a rhino, or just making things up. Pliny’s become known for writing fable misinterpreted as natural history, failing to fact check, and embellishing the truth.

Genghis Khan’s reported run-in with a horn-endowed stallion is said to have prevented the invasion of India. The story goes that the unicorn bowed to Khan, who took it as a sign he should turn back his forces.

While these sightings are now considered ancient history, the first known unicorn-like animal sightings might have happened in prehistoric times. New evidence suggests that Elasmotherium sibiricum, aka the Siberian rhinoceros, may have lived until around 27,000 BCE.

The Siberian rhino, sometimes even referred to as the “Siberian unicorn,” was six feet tall, 15 feet long, and weight around 9,000 pounds. Its name, of course, comes from its single massive horn.

Our perception of unicorns changed over time, from angry, ugly monsters to beautiful, noble equine. By the Middle Ages, bestiaries–books chronicling wildlife–included our hoofed and horned friends.

Bestiaries often mashed fact and fantasy into complicated collections. Unicorns shared the pages with dog-faced apes, horned serpents, and the infamous manticore.

One bit of famous folklore, popularized by medieval tomes, is attributed to Saint Isidore, scholar and Archbishop of Seville. He insisted that one could capture a unicorn by luring it out using a female virgin. All she’d have to do is bare her breast to it, and it would rest its head on her lap–making it an easy catch.

Isidore of Seville didn’t stop there. He claimed that the unicorn was the strongest and fiercest of all wild beasts. In “fact” according to the future saint, “[The Unicorn] fights with elephants and kills them by wounding them in the belly.”

The unicorn horn trade also got its start during the Middle Ages, likely thanks to Vikings and other Northern traders selling narwhal horns.These exquisite horns were thought to have magical healing properties. Some even believed that ingesting powdered horn or stirring a soon-to-be consumed liquid with a unicorn horn worked as an antidote to poisoning.

The Throne of Denmark, constructed in the late 1600s, features spiraling white spokes and legs said to be made of, you guessed it, unicorn horn. You can also probably guess where  these “horns” actually originated: our arctic friend, the narwhal.

The King James Bible, completed in 1611, mentions unicorns nine times. However, these references are likely another case of mistranslation. (The Hebrew word translated, re’em, was probably meant to mean “wild ox.” Almost as cool, right?)

Through the Renaissance, unicorns were often depicted in Christian art. They symbolized love and chastity, and were even used as metaphors for Christ.

Today, one unicorn is actually used as a symbol of religious skepticism. The Invisible Pink Unicorn, that is. The IPU is the goddess “worshiped” by the Church of the Invisible Pink Unicorn, a parody religion.

Another notable unicorn is Lancelot, though this one-horned fella wasn’t really a horse. He was a goat. And there were four of him. Sound suspicious? That’s because “The Living Unicorn” was a hoax perpetrated by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in the 1980s.

While Lancelot was the result of surgical manipulation, single-horned (well, technically antlered) deer have been discovered in nature. In 2008, and Italian deer was born with one antler, thanks to a genetic mutation. In 2014, a roe deer with one horn was shot by a Slovenian hunter. This deer’s so-called deformity was likely caused by an injury early in its development.

Oberon Zell, a cryptozoologist and self-proclaimed wizard, was responsible for the breeding–and horn alteration–of one-horned goats. He developed his interest in unicorns after reading Peter S. Beagle’s 1968 classic fantasy novel, The Last Unicorn.

The Last Unicorn was turned into an animated film, starring big name celebrity voice talent, in 1982. It continues to be one of the most popular unicorn films of all time.

Other noteworthy unicorn moments in pop culture include Deckard’s dream in Blade Runner, Legend’s pair of guardian unicorns, and the birth of the unicorn meme.

Music also had its shining unicorn. A Montreal-based rock band calling themselves The Unicorns formed in 2000 and gained a cult following. Much to fans’ dismay, they broke up in 2004 after releasing only one album.

Unicorns have become a pop culture powerhouse. The rainbow-maned version is having a serious moment, but the multi-hued, bedazzled version gallops back to Lisa Frank’s colorful creation, Markie the Unicorn.

A few of these rainbow-rific unicorn goodies include unicorn toast, unicorn poop, and unicorn hair and makeup tutorials. (Of course, we’re partial to Elwood the Rainbow Unicorn.)

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A few years ago, an independently published author received a strange letter – from someone she’d never met before. It was strange for a couple of reasons, both of them obvious as soon as she read the letter.

Strange thing number 1: Someone she’d never met sent her the letter.

We all get letters in the mail from people and entities we’ve never met. That’s the nature of the world we live in. However, this letter was different. It was a very personal letter that went over things not very many people could have known.

Things about the books she’d published.

The existence of the letter was creepy enough. But the tone was even worse. Whoever had sent the letter went above-and-beyond to make sure this author felt like trash – felt like she was worth absolutely nothing.

And that is strange thing number 2.

Strange thing number 2: The letter said that this author was in violation of copyright law and that she needed to immediately pull her books from the market, or face legal ramifications.

The author of the letter made some pretty serious claims, but the big takeaway for this unfortunate author was this: somebody was claiming ownership of her stories.

The only issue was, this author was undisputedly the sole-owner of the book series and the sole owner of the idea. She’d penned the idea many years before. So, the idea that somebody else could come in and claim that the books were copied was completely ludicrous. Something had to be done, and fortunately, this author had the pockets to take care of the problem.

How copyright law works … generally

It might help if I break down the word itself – “copy” and “right.” Copy is generally thought of as the written word. Right is someone’s ownership. Keep in mind these are generalizations. We could go on for hours about what the words mean.

Putting them together, copyright literally means ownership of the written word.

More specifically, your written words.

This country was founded on the idea that people are entitled to the fruits of their labor. So, when it comes to copyright, at least in America, it has always been known that whoever writes something owns that thing.

There are obvious exceptions, like when a writer sells her rights to a written work or signs a contract giving rights to someone else.

But, generally, you own the rights to what you’ve written as soon as you write it.

It’s that simple. 

In order to get the rights afforded to you by American copyright law, all you need to do is write something down and it’s yours – by law.

So why would you register your book with the US Copyright Office?

Here’s the deal, and you’d be surprised how often this happens. Your work is only protected from the date you wrote it. So, if someone else can prove that they wrote the same thing you did, only they did it before you, then you’re out of luck.

And this is exactly what the woman at the beginning of this post ran into.

The big claim is that the other person was claiming that this author wrote her stuff later (though like I said, she ended up keeping the rights to her work).

It can be a real big pain in your side.

So, in order to keep everything straight, and you want an extra layer of protection, register your book. What registration does is put your ownership of the book in question out there for EVERYONE to see.

It also acts like a timestamp. Here’s an example.

Let’s say I wrote a book in 1986 and published it myself (not the best way to do things back then, I know). Then, in 1994, I registered the book with the US Copyright Office.

Much to my surprise, I received a cease and desist letter in 1998 from a mysterious author, claiming to have written the same story, only with a slightly different title, way back in 1985. However, he never registered the book with the US Copyright Office.

Since I registered my book in 1994, four years before the nasty letter came in the mail, if this goes to Court, I would win the case.

Phew!

So, while it’s easy to get your work copyright protection, since it happens as soon as you begin writing – it’s even better, and safer, to register it with the copyright office.

If you liked this post, let me know what you liked the most!

Also, if you’re interested in learning about all the legal stuff you need to know when self-publishing your books, sign up for this free email course. It will show you what things you need to know, and even give you instructions on how to do some of them yourself.

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I’m just happy my life cleared up enough space for me to get this book pumped out. There were lots of early mornings (picture me in the front of my RV at 4 in the morning, trying to type without waking up the kids, spouse, and baby kittens.

Speaking of kittens, I actually had to take a few months off of waking up early to finish this book because I couldn’t keep the dang things off of my laptop keyboard. Apparently, they wanted food and affection, or something like that.

To get over the difficult early mornings, I started typing at night. I’d usually start between 9 and 10 in the evening, and go until one of three things happened:

1. I was able to write 3,000 words;
2. I was able to write two complete chapters;
3. The clock chimed 11:45 pm.

Generally speaking, I was able to nail number two. However, I found that 11:45 pm came quicker than expected on a regular basis. So, just to finish the draft, I stayed up last night until 12:38 am. I was completely exhausted this morning, but hey, no more rough draft typing tonight!

Next comes the task of editing the chapters, and then getting book 2 cleaned up for publishing next month.

When I finished typing last night, I was so excited I found it difficult to go to sleep. That excitement carried over to this morning. I have this urge to just publish the book as it is because it’s been bugging me for so long … but that’s probably not a good idea.

Instead, I’m giving you access to one of my more polished chapters. I think it’s a good one, and my kids, who are literary scholars I might add (at 6, 9, 10, and 11 years old), liked it.

Click here to get the sample chapter.

If you’re wondering what you might be getting with this chapter, think Jurassic Park with magical creatures.

So, go ahead and download the book!

Thanks, and I’ll be in touch soon with some other updates!

Randall

PS I’m hoping you really like the chapter. If you really like it, then I have some great news for you at the end of the week! Stay tuned!

The post My rough draft for book 2 in my Mythic Beasts series is complete! appeared first on Randall Floyd.

Here is Number 2

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The other day I set out to type at 55 words a minute, finish 4 chapters, and get 6600 words on the page … all in two hours.

I failed.

Now, before I get into all of my wonderful excuses for why I didn’t type, let me impart some knowledge that I picked up after my failure at typing faster than I have my entire life.

It matters what time you go to bed.

I wanted to spend some fun time with my wife at the movies last Tuesday night, so we went to Regal cinemas and saw a movie. It started at 7:20, so I thought I would be just fine on time.

I checked my watch after I walked into the front door and realized that it was after 10:00, my designated bedtime. It was definitely worth getting home a little after 10. It was a great movie (we saw Wonder) and I had an awesome time with my lovely wife.

When I finally got into my covers, however, the clock read 11:45 …

Nonplussed, I decided to keep my schedule and try to get up at 4:25 a.m. the next morning.

When I woke up at 7:45 I knew I’d been a little too ambitious for my own good.

At lunchtime for work that day I didn’t even want to start typing though and try to at least make up some of the time. It was too daunting. So, here is the first thing that threw me off my rather lofty goal.

#1 – Falling behind early can kill your chances of getting started

You’ve probably read this somewhere, and if that’s the case, you probably should have sent me an email that my goal was too big.

You didn’t, and I blame you for all of my problems.

Especially the ones that don’t have anything to do with getting six books finished up … but I digress.

What killed me this morning was the fact that I had to type for 2 hours, which meant I had to do some serious planning for my chapters, which meant I probably needed like 3 hours of time to do my typing.

Waking up at 4:25 gives me roughly 2 and a half hours. I get the third hour in during my lunchtime at work.

By the time my lunch time came around, I’d already given up the ghost for the day on trying to get some typing done. My brain, body, heart, and desire all told me, in roughly the same way, that typing for the day was a lost cause.

So, guess what I did … I listened to them. (There is a silver lining to this that I’ll bring up at the end.)

All told, since my goals looked impossible, I didn’t even want to start once I’d gotten off to a late beginning.

#2 Your ability to function at a high level could get impacted … and not in a positive way

The second day, this morning, I tried the same goals, but this time I actually got to start typing before the sun was even thinking about coming up.

I put on my headphones, turned on the tunes, got my timer out, pulled up the old word-processor, and took a deep breath. I was ready to go, or so I thought.

I briefly thought about my goal of 55 words per minute, and as I did so, I felt my heart rate pick up. Then I felt a tingling in my fingers, and a small voice in the back of my head started saying things to me.

It took me a moment, but I realized that I was completely stressed out.

I hit the start button on my timer and took off typing. But, just before my typing sprint, I decided to change my tactics. Actually, I decided to stop doing the writing sprints completely.

Instead, I decided to type until my chapter was completed.

The result was a really quick start and a really slow finish. I wasn’t able to keep my momentum up, and I could actually feel myself dragging about halfway through the chapter.

I wouldn’t be surprised if I had actually been typing 55 words per minute at some point, but my stress had caused me to change my tactics (because of a serious amount of self-doubt) and caused me to burn out.

So, does that mean you should never set out unachievable goals?

Probably not.

If I hadn’t set out to type those words so fast, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am in my story right now. It’s probable I wouldn’t have even started writing yet.

If you’re going to shoot for the moon, then I say go for it.

Just understand that getting discouraged stressed, and feeling some anxiety are going to happen. But guess what?

It’s normal. So acknowledge those facts, and then move on with shooting for the moon!

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For eons, there have been two sides of a debate. This debate centers on how someone should take on a creative endeavor. The sides of this debate have gone by various names throughout the years, and I’m not going to go into the names. For this article, I’ll just call the two sides of this debate the plotters and the pansters.

It has been said that plotters will meticulously plot out every intricate detail of their creative endeavor, sometimes having every single word plotted out before they even begin … if that’s even possible. The thought of writing, drawing, or even speaking makes plotters short of breath, gives them clammy hands, and makes doing even the most benign and routine tasks nearly impossible.

Pantsers, on the other hand, loathe the idea of plotting out their creative endeavor. In fact, the very mention of the word “plotter” causes a series of involuntary reactions that range from small convulsive fits to hot flashes, loss of breath, and frequent blackouts.

Both conditions are serious.

Fortunately, there might be a way to overcome the need to declare oneself a pantser or a plotter, and thus suffer the resulting symptoms.

But more on that in a minute.

I made a discovery this morning that just bolstered my belief that doing one simple thing when taking on any creative endeavor, in my case, it was writing a non-action scene that involved two of the main characters speaking on the phone.

This process has probably been hashed out millions of times before I discovered it, and there are probably a million different ways to get what I wanted to do done. However, my method works best for me, since I took what I’d learned from those who went before me and applied it to my life and my circumstances.

My solution is simple: Outline your endeavor.

Outlining is not plotting, at least not in the literal sense …

Well, okay, maybe it is plotting. But that’s okay. Honestly, for you pantsers out there, while I respect your creative journey, I also am of the opinion that you are also on the grief spectrum.

You might have heard of these stages before:

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

I’d wager that every one of you is somewhere along this spectrum when it comes to your views on plotting your work. I won’t go into details … you know who you are.

However, what I call outlining, is probably going to sound insufficient to many of you plotters out there. In fact, what I am about to describe will probably put you in one of the same camps as those mean, nasty panters out there.

Fortunately, there is a way for every one of you to come to terms with your condition and to finally get to the fifth stage of grief.

The power of the number 7

There is a reason the number 7 is ubiquitously awesome. There are seven days in the week, seven deadly sins, seven virtues, seven ancient wonders, seven colors in the spectrum … the list goes on. For more useless “seven” facts, read this article.

In my attempts to try and outline my novels, lessons, speeches, nonfiction works, and lectures to my kids (yes … I outline those as well … but hey, during the day I’m an attorney …) I’ve tried tons of different methods. But every single one of them ends up using some iteration of the number seven.

So, to simplify things for myself, my outlines only ever contain seven bullet points. And my bullet points are never more than 7 words. (I understand you may think I’m taking this to the extreme, and who am I to deny it. However, I more or less only use three or four words to describe my bullet points and rarely get up to the mythical number seven … for reasons I’ll go over later.)

So when I outline my novel, I have seven bullets. When I outline my three acts, I have seven bullets. When I outline my sequences I have seven bullets. This seven goes all the way down to my chapters, scenes, and sometimes even the beats within my scenes.

Additionally, I always use my bullets in a specific order. Every. Single. Time.

The bullets look something like this:

• Inciting Incident
• Snag 1
• Snag 2
• Snag 3
• Crisis
• Climax
• Resolution

Count it if you like. There are seven bullets. No more. No less. And that is perfection.

When in doubt make a quick outline

Using this outline at every single juncture of my writing, but only as much as I need to. My outline serves three purposes.

First, it provides me with a roadmap. For my writing, it shows me the major cities I’m going to need to go through before I get to the end.

Second, it makes me feel good about myself. When I bust out an outline in less than a minute, I feel like I accomplished a whole lot, even though I only filled in seven lines.

Finally, it helps me get rid of writer’s block. Immediately. From my experience, writer’s block happens in two instances: (1) when I get lost and forget where I’m heading in my story and (2) when I need to write a scene in my story but I don’t know what to put into the scene.

To get over the first part, all I do is go back to my initial outline and figure out where I need to get to. Then I go back to the scene I’m struggling with and figure out if it helps me get there or not.

To get over the second part, I just make seven quick bullet points on the side of the page and fill them in real quick. Then I get back to writing. It’s beautiful. If anything, having my outline makes the creative process even more creative it.

Putting it together

If this outline formula is going to work for you, you’re going to need to know what those different parts of the outline mean. You’re going to need to know what the inciting incident, the climax, the crisis, the snags, and the resolutions are.

But once you nail them, outlining becomes easy. You know what you need, you just have to put your characters in a position to go through them.

So, the next time you think you’re lost, or you can’t figure out what to write, try bulleting the seven things you need to cover in your scene. Your work will look better, and you’ll be more productive …

I promise.

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Have you ever found yourself with a difficult decision to make? Now, think about how stressed out you were when you made that choice.

Why were you so stressed?

What kinds of pressures were you facing?

What made your decision so difficult?

Did you put off making a decision until the last possible moment?Remember how you felt at that moment, right before you made your decision. This point in your life, in the language of storytelling, is called the crisis.

We all have crisis points in our life, and they vary in degrees of severity. But usually, we can remember them with great clarity. It turns out that in your stories, fiction or non-fiction, the biggest parts, the most memorable scenes, revolve around these crisis points.

I’ve read a bunch of books on writing. In most of them, online and elsewhere, for whatever reason, the authors fail to drive home the importance of having crisis points.

This is a travesty.

If every writer knew what the crisis was, and how every single person, EVER, can relate to a well-crafted crisis, and how to craft one in each scene of their book, his or her writing would be 100x better. Add to that the huge uptick in reader interest, and you have a very important tool in your belt.

Everything hinges on the crisis.

In theory, the crisis is a very simple thing: a question.

How your character responds to that question tells the reader a whole lot about the character.

However, not every question is a crisis. Let me lay it out for you.

The crisis is going to be one of two things. It’s either (1) a best-bad-choice scenario, or (2) an irreconcilable good situation.

In the best bad choice scenario, the main character is forced to choose between two bad situations. Neither situation will be good for the main character. She is forced to choose between two outcomes that are going to seriously hurt.

Taking a real-life example, think about a couple that’s been married for years. For whatever reason, I’m sure you could come up with one, things in their relationship aren’t going well.

They’ve tried counseling, job changes, more date nights, less time together, couple’s massage, but things aren’t getting better. Then they have an argument. It’s over something small, but it blew up in both their faces.

The husband goes to the bar, and the wife calls up her sister. After the dust settles, neither one of them can look at the other.

Let’s just add one more complication – they have 2 preschool-age children.

This is a crisis point. The couple has two choices – split up or stay together. How they split up, or how they stay together don’t really matter at this point. However, the stakes are clear. There is no good choice in this one.

If they stay together, each one of them is going to drown in discontent. Other things are going to happen that will drive the two of them even further apart.

If they separate, both of them will be able to go their own ways, but now they have to think about how they are going to split up time with the kids. They’re going to now have two separate households, and their expenses are going to increase … probably double.

No matter what the couple chooses, it’s a bad choice.

Now, this particular crisis point may not be all that compelling, but it really drives home the point that the couple is at a complete cross-roads. They have to make a choice … and not making a choice happens to be making a choice.

Show me the [irreconcilable] goods.

The other kind of crisis your characters will face involves two good outcomes. Each outcome is, shocker, good for someone. The kicker here is that these good things are at odds with each other.

The good things can’t both happen – it’s physically impossible.

One of those things is good for the hero, and bad for everyone else, while the other choice is bad for the hero, but good for everyone else.

In another real-life example, let’s look at a soldier in the middle of a firefight. His squad is surrounded, and their heads are down. The only thing keeping them from dying is a large rock giving them cover.

The team is quickly running out of ammunition, and things are looking dire. The squadron leader, looking for an escape route, can’t find anything that would help. He radios air support, and a bomber drops a small payload on the enemy, opening up a small gap in the attack.

If he goes, he’ll probably make it out alive, but there’s not enough time for the rest of the squad to get out. He thinks about his wife and kids at home. Suddenly, leaving his men to see his family again gets really tempting.

Then he looks back at his men. He’s hit with a realization – he might be able to save his men. The result, however, is that he’s going to die. The only way to get his men out of there is to distract the enemy with something big.

What’s the squad leader going to do?

It doesn’t really matter – not when it comes to the crisis. The point is that he has to make a choice.

The leader’s choice is between two good things. He can save his life, or he can save the lives of his men.

Now it’s your turn.

Let’s go to “The Son of Neptune,” and see how the crisis of the first scene plays out.

Cornered, Percy Jackson (a demi-god) has to choose between fighting two gorgons (Medusa’s sisters) in his weakened state or jumping down a mountainside.

<What kind of crisis is this?

If you chose irreconcilable goods, then you’re wrong.

This is a best-bad-choice scenario. Neither choice is good for Percy. Both of them could end up in death to the hero – one is death by monster, the other is death by falling a really long way and landing without a cushion.

As you can see, the crisis isn’t that long. But the length doesn’t matter. It’s the magnitude of your crisis that hooks your readers in.

Whatever your crisis is, all it takes is some time to give your reader clarity about what the two choices are. Once the crisis is all worked out, you can move on to the highest point of action in your scene – the climax.

This article is number three in a five-part series on writing great scenes. Here is part one, and here is part two.

The post Essential story element #3 – The Crisis appeared first on Randall Floyd.