How does one write Moments of Awesome?

So we talk quite a lot about Moments of Awesome on this site. So what exactly is this vaguely-defined, innately subjective concept called "Awesome" to you, personally? And how does one go about writing something that meets that criteria, in your mind?

In my view a moment of awesome is, in literal terms, something that awes the audience, that makes them impressed and excited. It can be anything, really, a specially well-written passage of a book, great SFX in a movie, an excellent theme song (in which case it branches onto Crowning Music Of Awesome), e.t.c. The most common form is of course, a character doing something awe-inspiring, which again can be anything (a warrior mowing down an entire battalion, a nerd cracking a hard math problem with skill, a prisioner telling his warden to go fuck himself, or even a character's description being so mighty that causes this).

So the most unhelpful thing ever: It can be anything.

Good point. Perhaps a better question, then, is what would impress a fairly jaded audience. When you've seen all kinds of awesome in all different sorts of media — as we all have — what can still make you excited?

I imagine that the answer to that will vary from audience member to audience member: what seems awesome to one person may not to another, and vice versa.

Ultimately, to adapt a truism from game design, I'm inclined to suggest writing the story that seems awesome to you: not only does it mean that you'll likely be more passionate about it than about a story that you find less affecting, but it's also plausible that there will be others who feel the same as you about at least some of those awesome elements. To elaborate on the latter, my argument is that the fact that you find it awesome is evidence for someone finding it awesome, and, since I feel that it's unlikely that only one person in all of humanity will find a given thing awesome, it supports the idea that someone else will find it awesome.

I sincerely doubt that you'll find many things that are universally awesome; some things might be commonly awesome, however.

edited 9th Aug '14 4:19:03 PM by ArsThaumaturgis

A CMOA has to grow organically from the story.

All too often, things happen because the plot depends on it ®.

There has to be real stakes. A Boring Invincible Hero is boring because Shooting Superman gets to be silly.

Some ideas for a CMOA:

• The unexpected: the Woobie is found with several koncked out Mooks, she/he has beaten.

• The heroes journey: From weak or pushover to a fighter and then to the hero, each gets a MOA that is bigger than the last. From beating the bully, to running off a band of mooks to finally confronting the Big Bad and saying "Bring it on."

• the team up: the main characters each add their skills and the result is pure awesome, alone the Big Bad thought they were worthless, together and he goes down.

Or, as I love to write, a fearsome villain's Establishing Character Moment causing havoc, fear, destruction and misery with his very presence, which can count as a Crowning Moment Of Awesome on its own.

The best way to look at a memorable moment is that it's a payoff. Throughout the story, you should be setting up events, themes, hints, that wouldn't be recognizable as foreshadowing unless you knew to look for it on the second run through. (I hold the view that it's not a truly great story unless it's as rewarding to read for the second or the third time as it is for the first, and part of that is working in subtle foreshadowing which readers know to look for on their second pass through.) That way, when the moment hits and you trigger the events that you've prepared, it's both surprising and satisfying, and it doesn't seem like it's coming out of nowhere.

Of course, that's mainly for the climax of the story. Otherwise, there's the Establishing Character Moment: done correctly, that can leave a tremendous impression on the reader's mind. Not just for villains, either.

edited 10th Aug '14 8:40:22 PM by SabresEdge

What can turn a cool moment into a CMOA, for me, depends on it being unexpected within the context of its genre.

Hero beats the arc's villain? It's to be expected. Hero kills the Big Bad while he's gloating, halfway through the story? CMOA material.

Action Survivor and Implacable Villain both live to see another day? Standard operating procedure. Action Survivor notices the Implacable Villain limping away to regenerate, beats them to a pulp and throws them into a fire? CMOA.

Love Interest or Ensemble Dark Horse beats a Quirky Miniboss? Throw the Dog a Bone at its finest. Love Interest or Ensemble Dark Horse beats The Rival so that he doesn't get in the hero's way? CMOA.

edited 11th Aug '14 8:17:44 AM by DoctorDiabolical

I disagree with this. While being unexpected and out-of-the-nowhere can turn it in a moment of awesome, it can also be very disappointing or even Dethroning Moment Of Suck for some readers. Such as the Implacable Man example. What if he's a beloved villain people wanted to see get a proper send off? Killing him anti-climatically has a chance to be awesome, but it has equal chances of making readers throw the book away.

Don't get me wrong, being unexpected alone is not a qualifier, but it is usually a necessary component, at least for me. Characters also matter, as does plot and Willing Suspension of Disbelief.

To give more appropriate clarification to the second hypothetical CMOA, for example, I feel it would work best in a Slasher Movie type of scenario.

In those cases, even after the bad guy is already properly defeated, they are more often than not shown to survive as nothing more than a Sequel Hook. While slasher villains can be quite beloved by their fanbases, it is often a very pleasant surprise to find a protag who can hold their own by the end, and go against the cliche to thwart the bad guy outright (so long as it is earned).

The Collection had an ending that used a similar subversion of the cliche, and earned cheers from the group I viewed it with, while being certainly regarded as a CMOA among its modest fanbase.

edited 11th Aug '14 12:09:55 PM by DoctorDiabolical

In other words: it's all down to execution. Whatever you've set the audience up to expect, you have to deliver—preferably in a way that's clever and witty.

There have to be real stakes, the boring invincible hero is hard to write a moment of awesome. If they can't be hurt, who cares if they win or lose?

"No one likes to see their favorite heroine killed off, but if she gets away scot-free every time, your fights will quickly lose the element of danger that makes them interesting. The same goes for characters that are essentially invincible." fantasyfaction.com, Writing Fight Scenes

edited 11th Aug '14 7:34:50 PM by TairaMai