Today’s prompt isn’t here to inspire a story but to inspire a conversation. Do you like the mirror moment in fiction? Since my theme is writing the middles of stories this month, I’m asking about the mirror moment because that’s where it occurs: in the middle. I learned about the plot point in James Scott Bell’s book Write Your Novel from the Middle, which I’ll review later this week.
The mirror moment is the point somewhere in the middle of the story where the main character reflects on what kind of person he or she is. The decision they make from that reflection fuels the rest of the plot. Once you know about it, you can pick it out of any movie or book that includes it. Of course, not every piece of fiction has a mirror moment. Not every story needs one. It depends on the story you’re telling.
So I’d like to hear from you. What’s your opinion of the mirror moment?
Sometimes it feels cliche to me, and I haven’t included a mirror moment in my stories so far, but I wouldn’t say it’s because I’m opposed to it, more that I haven’t had the need to include a mirror moment. So far I’ve used an important conversation or even the main character journaling to work as the lightbulb moment. I don’t dislike the mirror moment when I come across it in reading though.
Nice to know I’m not the only one!