How To Write The Dark Night Of The Soul In Any Novel

The Dark Night Of The Soul is where the protagonist responds emotionally to the Disaster that occurs at the End of Act Two of a novel. It starts immediately after the Disaster, and is a crucial moment in any novel, representing the protagonist's lowest point. This is the time when hope that the Quest will prevail seems lost. Understanding and effectively utilizing this beat can add significant emotional depth and will create the moral and psychological starting point for the hero to go and (usually) triumph.

Pride And Prejudice has a particularly poignant Dark Night Of the Soul for Elizabeth. Wickham’s running away with, and refusal to marry, Lydia means social devastation in this rigid world, ruining not only Lydia’s prospects but those of any of her unmarried sisters – including Elizabeth. She has to tell Darcy what has happened, and they both understand that they will now not be able to be together because of those rigid social rules. It is a tragic, unfair moment: just as they see the possibility of their love, it is taken away. Pride and prejudice – which actually in the eighteenth century had an additional meaning of a conservative national identity of English society – will not allow it. The lovers’ dutiful despair is at its very core what the Dark Night must do to our characters.

The Dark Night Of The Soul always follows The Disaster at the end of Act Two. In fact, it can be useful to see them as two parts of the same process. The Disaster is the external beat, the narrative event itself, and the Dark Night Of the Soul’s the internal one, how the protagonist reacts to it emotionally. It is good to understand how they connect and how they are distinct.

The Dark Night Of The Soul’s deep purpose is to use emotional depth to set the stage – and motivation – for the Climax and Denouement later in Act Three. Remember to use this time for reflection and moral exploration, character transformation, heightened plot tension, and reflections on life’s unfairness and our own failings. Always remember the reader and their emotions and reflections too.

How To Maximize the Impact Of the Dark Night Of the Soul

1. Emotional Depth: It allows for deep emotional exploration, revealing the protagonist's vulnerabilities and fear of failing, making them more relatable and human.

2. Character Transformation: It is often a catalyst for significant character change as the protagonist has to confront their flaws and emotions, having either harmed or been harmed by those close to them/the Quest.

3. Plot Tension: This beat heightens the emotional stakes to also create tension. The protagonist is at their lowest point, failure of the Quest is apparently inevitable, and this has to bear down on both the protagonist and the reader.

Print this out/save it now and use it to test whether your novel's Dark Night Of The Soul is working well, or even if you really have one at all.

This is an excerpt from How To Write A Novel Chapter By Chapter available here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Novel-Chapter-Outlining-ebook/dp/B0DJ8TMVWL?ref_=ast_author_mpb

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