Check the Undertow

There is an old screenwriter adage that says “every writer has ‘30 act one’s’ in their desk drawer”.

True. It’s easier to start than to finish. When you find yourself speeding through an opening that’s full of tension, drama, a real page turner, you may suddenly find yourself stuck at the start of act 2, unable to find the edge of the pool, treading water, directionless - and it all comes to a stop. Above all, it’s confusing. There was so much energy at the start! And…it goes into your act I drawer.

I’ve found myself there. I now call this checking the undertow. It means I missed something in orchestrating my structure. There isn't enough opposing force from my villain: (man, woman, force of nature), there isn't a sufficient clock working against my hero (death threat of someone, hero’s own impending death, a city's death - bomb, a terminal loved one, a loved on leaving town, etc). There must be forces pulling/pushing the hero to an inevitable end that is destructive and when the hero and their opponent collide - only one will survive. (This works in romance too, as the collision is betrayal, a secret agenda discovered invalidating love, a bet discovered starting the romance, etc. The confession or discovery is an ‘ego death’ and the question becomes - does love remain?)

Every story needs the undertow -

it’s that that force in a story pulling your hero through a series of events unseen, a primal, unbeatable and titanic force. It will force events beyond the hero’s control so that there is no other choice but confrontation at the ending. Just as an undertow pulls you out to sea regardless of how hard you swim, the hero will be pulled towards a nightmare showdown. They can’t beat it, can’t avoid it, and we will be on the edge of our seats anticipating it.

Your hero may think they’re in charge of swimming on the surface, but the undertow is the Jovian force that works on a cosmic scale - pulling them like a crashing tide that envelopes them - and it should delight you.

As much as the hero will try to toss, turn, run or bargain, Poseidon will make sure the hero will face his worst most crushing test.

Delight in orchestrating it.

And as you cross over into the rest of the story to the finale, you will have delight if you’ve checked the undertow.