Epiphany according to James Joyce is “a crisis action in the mind”, a moment when a person, an event or a thing us seen in a light, it hasn’t been seen before.
However Janet Burroway insists that this epiphany must be “shown” in action.
When the Prince found Cinderella, instead of recognising her right away, the shoe must fit for the dramatic action to play out on stage and not in the character’s mind.
Here is the writing exercise.
Pick a scene in your WIP where a character suddenly realises…
- They’re wrong after all.
- They love someone they thought they hated
- They figure out some secret of the past
- They come to terms with grief or anger.
- They accept their good luck or fortune without being guilty.
Now ”show it” in a scene. Make your character do something to show that they’re now seeing it in a different light.