Day 16: The Attack for Your Novel

Hey there, Igniter! Monica Leonelle from theworldneedsyourbook.com. Today is day 16 of the challenge, and we are talking about the attack, which is one of the middle sections of your novel. This is day 16, the attack. So this is part 3 of the 4-part structure, or it's Act 2, the second half of Act 2 if you're following a 3-act structure. So this is roughly the middle 50 to 75% of your book if you're, you know, if you have those condensed— the condensed setup and the condensed resolution. Then 50 to 90% of your book, this part includes a tentpole moment. I call it the cards on the table moment. Other books call it something different, but basically I think it's— I'm trying to think of what the main phrase for it is. Yeah, I'm not sure, like maybe it's, you know, like an inflection point or whatever people call it. I can't think of anything specific. Specific there. All right, so with the attack, you know, the basics of it is that, um, your character is no longer someone else's pawn. They're not simply reacting to their— to the storyline. They are actively creating the storyline through their own decision-making. So they're taking action. Because of this, things start to speed up. So they're accumulating information quickly. Things are things have accelerated in pace and they are in many ways kind of racing to the end of the story. Um, and so a big part of this is the reversal. So that's why the reversal, which is something I talked about on day 14, that reversal moment is so critical. It's got to be something big that gets the character moving from passive to active, and that takes a lot, especially for some characters, to be able to do that. So like in The Hunger Games, Katniss, she moves from passive to active, but the whole reason is because of this reversal moment. And it takes a lot because she has to go against her core values. She has— she's like dealing with this whole drama with Peeta from— who's another— who's this guy from her district that she came to the games with. So she's, she's got a lot that happened in that reversal moment. And because of that, it really springs her into action. But it really— it took a lot to get her there. The only, you know, the reason she wants to attack is because she does not think that those characters— the characters, basically the characters had attacked her. She's got a target on her back from them anyway, so she decides she wants to attack them, and she thinks that their weakest spot is their food supply. So she, you know, sees an opening there basically. But it takes a lot for her to get to that point. And I really encourage you to read that first book. It's called The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's a very, you know, huge bestseller. You could also just watch the movie if you prefer. I don't know how closely it follows, but probably decently closely. But yeah, it's, you know, that reversal moment really can teach you a lot. So anyway, this is a different moment. It's the cards on the table moment. What that moment is, is it's basically a point of no return. And so this is like the trigger for the final battle. And the final battle is where the character either succeeds or fails. And so most likely your character is going to succeed. You know, most genres, it's a success story at the end. And so, you know, the cards on the table moment is kind of that last thing that that character needs in order to go into the final battle. And I don't mean this from their perspective, like they don't realize that this is this is a moment for them. It's actually from the reader's perspective. So like the author— this is a communication the author has with the reader, uh, where it's like, look, like, here's the last clue, or here's the last like, um, thing I'm gonna give this character. And now they are ready for that final battle, and you're— and they're ready to have that final battle play out. Um, so there— it's basically like no new information can enter the story for the finale. It's got to be seated in the first 3 parts. Um, the cards on the table moment, it, it's interesting because it's usually— you're usually learning something that is going to be used in the final battle, usually. Like, it doesn't have to be that, but it is usually something that can be used there because if it wasn't, then what would be the purpose of it, I guess? Like, why would the character need it at all if they're not going to use it in the final battle? Because, you know, 75% of the book is already over, so it's like, you know, like in the warrior— or sorry, in the response section and then the setup sections like you can collect something or collect an object or collect a skill or knowledge or, you know, piece of information. You can collect that and you can use it, you know, later in the book, but before the final battle. Well, in this section, the attack, and with this moment, like, this is the last thing before they go into the final battle. So it's usually something that needs to be in place before they go, but the character might not know that. So Just, you know, just kind of be aware of that. This is, you know, to some extent, every moment, every one of these temple moments is a communication to the reader. But this one, I think specifically, there's an energy about this moment that it is signaling to the reader like, "All right, buckle in, the last, you know, the last, uh, last climb of the roller coaster is, you know, is gonna start. Um, so, so yeah, like a roller coaster is a great example. Like, you, you always know, like, the very last part of the roller coaster, you're going to, you know, go up the longest, um, the longest whatever hill or longest crest before you drop down into, like, the most exciting part of the roller coaster. And you know it's gonna finish on, like, finale. Um, it's, it's really the same thing. Uh, it's another example would be like fireworks. So you always know like when the biggest fireworks are going to come at the end because there's this energy about it, there's a signal. And so that's what you're creating with this cards on the table moment. Okay, so, um, this you're going to do similarly to what we did on day 14 with the response. So this is all about collecting items, people, information, and so on. So what I wanted to do— so, so the content looks very similar: assets, people, skills, knowledge that they're going to collect. So I wanted to talk about the differences, though, between the attack and the response. So first of all, Wanderer energy versus Warrior energy. We'll talk more about that tomorrow in day 17. But then this— there's a couple other things. So in the response, your character can also lose things. So this can be like mentors, this can be allies. Typically the mentor is going to either die— like, depending on your type of story, I guess they're going to die or they're going to be unreachable. Um, so typically that you have to strip away all the mentors so that the character can do the the ending on their own. So that's one thing to keep in mind. Allies is another. Like, typically the allies are kind of stripped away because if you have the ally around still, then that person could, you know, finish— that person could like kind of finish the villain for the protagonist. So you don't really want that. So, um, a great example is The Lord of the Rings where, uh, Frodo's mentor Gandalf had to die. And it kind of makes sense because he was like this super all-powerful wizard. And he does eventually come back and like, you know, it's a, it's kind of, it's a whole thing there. But yeah, like he had to disappear. Like that was what was needed. The character had to go on alone. And so then, you know, he's got other helpers and allies that end up going their separate ways as well. So he's got to do it on his own. And he does have, you know, he does have one last friend, basically, same way as Gamgee. But, you know, the ending is like Frodo has to do it, basically. All right, so, um, yeah, so this section should be self-explanatory. Um, So the character can lose things, you know, this is, and then again, this is kind of like the last chance to like get something in that they need for the finale. The cards on the table moment. So it's the goal, again, it's really this communication with the reader. It's the last piece of information that the reader needs so that they could figure out the ending or so that the ending doesn't come as a surprise. So you don't really want them to be able to figure out the ending, but you also want the ending to be like, oh, well, that's why that happened. And to a careful reader, to a reader who just knows story structure, they may be able to figure out some elements of the ending. So the other thing about this is that The character sometimes has that last false belief here. So what does the character believe, false or not, about how the battle will play out? So usually the character is a bit wrong. So in The Hunger Games, for example, Katniss believes that she and Peeta are going to take out a couple remaining tributes and then they are going to win the games together. That is what they believe. That is what Katniss believes the game is. And she finds out at the end that that is not what the game is. And it, you know, and this, this I think can be a part of this moment. So what false belief do they have? They are going to— they're going to go into the final battle believing that they are fully prepared, but the villain is going to throw like a curveball at them, basically. So what do they need for that? And typically, so in The Hunger Games, Katniss receives— she finds these poisonous berries that end up being the thing that helps her beat the villain. But she doesn't know at the time. So like, that's kind of like the cards on the table moment is when she gets these berries. She doesn't know at the time what she's gonna use them for. And it's this very like calm moment in the story. But she takes those berries and holds onto them. Even, you know, she doesn't know how she's gonna use them. She just thinks like, oh, they might be useful. And they end up being the weapon she needs at the very end. So, you know, there's that element of the cards on the table moment too. So there's like a weapon that that character needs. You know, I think any of these assets, people, skills, knowledge, anything that is like set in motion that the reader doesn't quite know what the purpose of it's gonna be, or doesn't, you know, so you see this in television shows a lot where the, you know, the character is like, get me a pen, I'm gonna send a message to some, you know, some, someone, like, and then, you know, they go to the battle and they're all by themselves, and at the very last second, like, this huge army comes up behind them, and it's like, and then they, they fight the battle, and then you know, the character's like, "Oh, I'm so glad you got my message." So it's kind of like that. So the cards on the table moment would be like the character sends a message to some, some like unknown person. Uh, yeah, so then the, the last thing to think about for this is what is a symbolic representation of moving from the warrior into the final battle? So You know, Suzanne Collins, she worked in television, and so she's very good at this. So in The Hunger Games, Katniss gets these berries, these poisonous berries, but it turns out that the poisonous berries are also the thing that, um, took, took out this character called Foxface. So there are 3, 3 tributes left when Katniss and Peeta are trying to— when they're getting close to winning. And one of those characters gets taken out by their main opponent, Cato, and then the other character gets taken out by them. And that's Foxface. And it's basically— she basically just accidentally eats poisonous berries. So it's symbolic of that as well. And then even like, even just poisonous berries is symbolic to the, you know, the goal of that or the theme of that story as well, which is that, you know, the whole, the whole thing is poison basically. The whole Hunger Games is poisoned and it's, it makes, well, you have to read the book. It makes a ton of sense. So Those berries do a lot of heavy lifting basically during this cards on the table moment. So I think, you know, coming up with an object or something clever and symbolic of that can be really useful here. So you can do this for 5 characters. Thank you so much for watching and listening. If you have any questions about day 16, the attack, you can leave them in the comments below. I would love to answer your questions about this content. Very fun for me. So definitely don't be shy, leave a comment below, and I'm happy to get back to you. If you haven't joined the challenge yet, then make sure you do so. There are links in the description, and it's never too late to join. Any amount that you can do is going to be great and is going to make your novel so much better. I hope this has been helpful to you. Have a wonderful day.