Anatomy of a WHAM MOMENT! Part I (or, The Things that Change Everything)

So, there’s this awesome story.

I know a lot of awesome stories (or I try to, anyways), but this one will remain nameless for the purposes of this post because today’s subject deals with River Song’s favorite word:

(I've never actually seen an episode with River, but some of my best friends are Whovians, so I am well-informed.)

Bear with me here, though. I promise to try to keep this as vague as possible (not even going to tell you whether it’s a movie or TV show or novel or play or what), but if you’re still concerned that you might recognize it, jump past the outlined section below.

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In the awesome story in question, Character A is in disguise and using the alias “Character C”. While using this persona, A meets Character B, and the two become friends. However, the closer they get, the more C’s story starts to not add up in B’s mind. In particular, there are these occasional references made (by C and others) to a certain Character A who is somehow connected to C, though the exact nature of that relationship is unclear.

Over time, the clues pile up until B finally begins to suspect the truth. It becomes a matter of great importance, because if C is indeed not truly C, then their entire friendship is built upon a lie. B wants to be sure. B has to be sure.

One day, the two of them are talking, and B seems weirdly preoccupied. A can’t figure out what’s going on and finally calls B out on it. At which point, B takes a deep breath and says, “I need to know something. Can I trust you, A? Really trust you?”

“Of course you can,” A replies earnestly.

*B sighs, gets up, and walks out of the room*

*beat* *beat*

A: Oh shit.

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Seriously. If you click those links, I take no responsibility for excessive time spent on TVTropes. You've been warned.

Reveals like this are probably my favorite moments in fiction—that instant when one little thing drastically changes the relationships of the characters forever. They are sometimes referred to as ”Wham Lines” by TV Tropes, but they don’t have to be lines. Such moments can rest upon:

• the discovery of an object
• an observed moment of interaction
• the intentional revelation of new information
• or a “You Just Told Me” conversation (like the one above)

So for the purposes of this post, I’m going to call them Wham Moments.

But how exactly does one go about crafting a Wham Moment (WM)? While I can’t claim to be an expert, but I do have a few ideas to offer on the matter. In the next few posts, I’ll actually be discussing two different types of WMs. Many great WMs are ones that shock the reader as much as the characters, but some such moments happen in-universe only, creating instances where the reader may be aware of the secret in question and  is waiting anxiously to see if/when the reveal will happen. I’m going to call these WMs “Naïve” and “Savvy”, respectively. While Naïve WMs have the advantage of blowing the audience’s mind, you can still get a lot of plot mileage out of Savvy WMs because the dramatic irony can actually heighten the impact of the revelation, particularly if we know there’s a good chance it’ll happen and find ourselves desperately hoping that it will (or won’t, as the case may be).

Yeeaaah airports!

I’m going to leave it there for now because I have to go get on a plane (YAY WINTER BREAK!), but keep your eyes peeled: our post about Naïve Wham Moments will be coming up here soon!

And as always, a question for you, dear readers and raptors:

1. Are there any authors that stand out to you as being particularly talented where WMs are concerned? Which ones, and why (only tell us if you think you can articulate it without spoilers, though)?

Tags: advice and tips, books, creative writing, WHAM MOMENTS, writing, writing fiction, young adult fiction