My epiphany started with another attempt to go to bed ‘on time’, which is to say earlier than my brain wants to shut up and go to sleep.  I was attempting to wind the thing down with a few levels of Candy Crush–somewhere in the early 40s levels, I believe it was–and having a challenging time meeting the level requirement.  But, I tapped into my supreme Candy Crushing skills and managed to pull off what I call a Razzle Dazzle Wipeout.

Now, if you’re familiar with Candy Crush, I need say no more.  This is hands down the coolest move in the game.  If you don’t spend your spare time drooling over bright bits of electronic candy, let me just say that this move requires that you be both good and lucky, times infinity.  When the two ‘Razzle Dazzle Balls’ exchange places, the entire screen gets zapped in a truly spectacular showing of candy crushing.

But, it wasn’t enough.  The level requirements were such that even after pulling off this Razzle Dazzle Wipeout, I didn’t meet the score benchmark and got the little ‘you failed’ screen.  Needless to say, I was pretty bummed.

But, I am a writer after all, so as I sat stubbornly attempting again to pass the level I made lemonade out of my lemons and came up with this astounding insight:

Make sure that big wow story moment results in a big wow story payoff.

Very insightful, don’t you think?  The jist of my point being that when the ultimate happens and all the stops are pulled out, the reader should be rewarded with the appropriate payoff.  I had that level won.  I had done the coolest thing that can be done in the game, but still had failed.  And even though I did eventually beat the level on a subsequent try (I’m stubborn like that) I can’t remember how and I don’t care.  The effect didn’t match the cause, and Candy Crush as a satisfying story got a big fail.

So, make sure your book doesn’t piddle out, and the climax is timed so the payoff that follows feels appropriate.  And play lots of Candy Crush.  Unless of course, you consider it a big fat waste of time and prefer Cube, Rhino Ball, or Jelly Car.  In which case, I challenge you to turn them into a writing exercise and share your insights here!

Share, share away: