First, I have a gift for you, just for visiting my channel, my R.E.A.L. Method to Creating Unforgettable Characters.

Before a reader can care about a character's darkest moment, he or she must first form a strong connection with that character. This free PDF will show you how to make your characters three-dimensional and come to life on the page, in four easy steps.

And be sure to read to the end of this post, so you won't miss this week's Power-Up, a super practical action step you can use right now in the story you're working on.

So, what is this Dark Moment I'm talking about?

Sometimes, it's called the All-Is-Lost Moment or the Black Moment. When I was teaching a creative writing class to teen authors, I called it the We're Doomed Moment. Ironically, when C-3PO said those words in the original Star Wars: A New Hope, it wasn't the All-Is-Lost Moment. That was actually part of the inciting incident of the story, but that's a topic for another discussion.

In a dark moment, a revelation or defeat occurs, which makes the protagonist believe that there is no way to achieve his or her goal, overcome opposition, or perhaps even survive. The protagonist may feel any combination of the following: confused, utterly disappointed, broken, or alone. This is his or her lowest point in the story, but it will lead to a realization or a critical decision that propels him or her toward the climax.

The dark moment is one of the story events that I count among the seven most vital story beats. These are critical events that make your story a complete and cohesive, that will be satisfying to the reader.

Does every story need this dark moment? If so, why do we even need a scene like this? I mean, how depressing, right?

When crafted well and positioned correctly, this scene can deepen the reader's connection and empathy with the character to the greatest degree possible. Why is that? The All-Is-Lost or Dark moment is the biggest catalyst for growth and a vital part of the character's transformation or refusal to change, depending on which character arc your protagonist is following.

(For more on the three main character arcs you can use for your protagonist, check out this post.)

Even in real life, people often won't change until they're pushed to an unbearable point.

How does the dark moment or All-Is-Lost moment force your character to change, or at least push him or her toward the possibility of change? It does so by forcing him or her to face not only unpleasant truths or situations or difficult choices, but to face his or her greatest fear. It creates self-awareness that will cause radical shifts in the way he or she thinks and acts.

Often, this scene will bring about an epiphany or an aha moment, either at the end of the dark moment scene or in the next one, in which the character realizes something crucial or comes to a monumental decision that will propel him or her toward the climax in an irreversible way. This is what sets the character on the path to the face-off with the antagonist or with him- or herself, depending on what type of central conflict your story involves.

If you're writing a short story, keep in mind that the All-Is-Lost moment may not be a whole scene by itself. It may be a few lines or paragraphs in part of another scene that is combined with the epiphany and either the climax as a whole or the beginning of the climax. This was the case in my short story, "Tria," which is available for free on my website.

If you're writing a memoir, your All-Is-Lost moment will be your lowest point during whatever slice of life you're conveying in the memoir. Or, if you're using several different points in your life to illustrate a specific message or a specific transformation that you went through, then the All-Is-Lost moment is going to be the lowest point where that transformation seemed least possible, or at least reaching your goals seemed least possible.

Writers can often find it tricky to decide whether a certain part of the scene, or the scene as a whole, is an All-Is-Lost moment or is part of the climax. This is because the climax will, by definition, include the greatest stakes in the story. So, during the climax, when the protagonist reaches a low point, which often happens before the victory (if there is one), we might think that's the All-Is-Lost moment, because the protagonist seems to be on the verge of defeat. However, keep in mind that in the climax, most of the stakes are going to be external, whereas in the All-Is-Lost moment, the stakes are internal. This is an emotional low point for the protagonist, whereas the climax may be a physical one.

If none of these structures seem to fit your story very well, then don't stress. Just write the best story you can, and be sure to include the major moments. Chances are, the pieces will all fall into place where they belong, just by your writer's instinct. But you can also finish the story and look at these structural elements later to determine which one fits your story best, then revise accordingly.

Now, how can we craft that powerful All-Is-Lost moment for our protagonist specifically?

First, let's look at what happens in this scene.

That depends on your protagonist's greatest fear and/or misbelief (or the lie he or she believed at the beginning of the story), as well as what has come before it that led to this point.

Usually, some disastrous event, major failure, or poor decision by the protagonist triggers the dark moment. That event or decision may happen in a previous scene (one really close to this one) or at the very beginning of this scene. However, more than that single event will lead to the dark moment. It's usually a culmination of quite a few things that have happened throughout the story and is the proverbial straw that broke the main character's back.

The event that triggers the dark moment must be personal—something devastating, not just to anyone, but particularly to your main character. The protagonist is forced to face his or her greatest fear or must confront the lie he or she has believed since the story began.

Plus, the character realizes his or her own actions, inactions or decisions, have led to this point. And this will make the main character feel it's all his or her fault, which adds to the devastation.

This event leads the main character to believe that he or she has failed utterly. Everything she tried either didn't work, led to disaster, or made things worse. The character may think she has lost the ability to reach the goal, her allies, friends, love interest, family, all hope of survival or that of others, etc. In short, everything,

The All-Is-Lost moment often follows the scene type for a dramatic scene, in that it is slower paced and more introspective than most scenes and relies heavily on showing character emotion and helping the reader experience that emotion with the character.

For tips on how to write dramatic scenes and eleven other scene types, check out this post.

When writing the All-Is-Lost moment, focus on the character's internal conflicts, thoughts, and how she or he is wrestling with past decisions, actions, or failure.

Show your protagonist or viewpoint character's emotions spiraling downward. Convey these emotions in a strong way that helps the reader experience them with the character. For tips on how to do so, check out this post.

Another helpful resource for showing character emotion is a book called The Emotion Thesaurus. You can check out my full review of that resource here.

In the dark moment scene, you'll want to depict a certain amount of isolation for your main character. Whether that is literal isolation or just perceived isolation, this character feels utterly and completely alone, and no one can—or maybe will even try to—help. She has to solve this problem on her own.

And like all scenes, the dark moment must keep the story moving forward. So, be sure not to just get into your character's head and fail to show any interaction with the setting or action. Make sure something is happening in the scene. Show your character wallowing in despair while doingsomething, or at least in between doing things. Or maybe other people around the character are taking action, and your protagonist is in a state of paralysis. Some of the best dark moment scenes involve the character taking action while wrestling with all this.