The Foolscap Method Step 10 - The All is Lost Moment
Channel: Steven Pressfield
Date: 2023-06-07

So we're finally down to the last step - # 10. You may have guessed it by now, it's THE ALL IS LOST MOMENT. That moment, usually near the end of a book or movie, when everything the heroine has been working towards crashes. What is that moment in your story? And, how does your story react?

Have you seen or read "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey? (spoiler alert) Remember when Nurse Ratchet finally got tired of Jack Nicholson's character and had him lobotomized. He came back basically dead as the person he'd been. This was THE ALL OR LOST MOMENT for his friend, The Chief" the real protagonist of the story. What was The Chief going to do?

Do you remember - he quietly picked up a pillow and held it over Jack Nicholson's face not wanting his full of life friend to live this lobotomized life. Then he picked up something heavy, I forget what, and threw it through the wall. He went through the wall and escaped finally finding the strength, that his friend Jack Nicholson had always seen in him.

But the hero doesn't always win, doesn't always escape. Sometimes the hero accepts the circumstances and figures out how to live in this new world. Sometimes our heroine fails. 

Bottom line, THE ALL IS LOST MOMENT, reveals the true character of your protagonist in one way or another.

So, now that you. have all the steps what do you do with this. I'm going to do a couple more videos to try to bring everything together and wrap it up.

Thanks for your patience - a lot going on at the moment.

Also, if you've been working along while we've been going through this– and you don't mine sharing–consider posting your page with the #thefoolscapmethod

By the way, if you've got any interest in reading more about my lost years in the wilderness, I have a new book coming out. Signed copies available now at my website (see link in bio). You can also preorder from your local bookseller. Finally will and getting all versions up on Amazon to be preorder hopefully soon. It's called Govt Cheese: a memoir