At some point in every fairytale, there is a taste of death. Sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally.

Cinderella, in the Disney version, was locked away in the tower when the king’s men came looking for the dream girl who wore the slipper.

Snow White bit into the toxic apple prepared by her step monster and fell into a deep sleep that looked very much like death.

The dwarfs laid her out in a casket and mourned.

Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty, also looked to be dead.

Photogen and Nycteris lost their entire worlds when they realized they’d been manipulated and all but imprisoned by the witch, Watho.

At the taste of death, the story appears to be over. All is lost.

Hope is gone.

What about our modern love stories?

While You Were Sleeping. Lucy has to confess in front of the family she’s fallen in love with that lied and is in fact not Peter’s fiance. She left her make shift hospital wedding broken and ashamed.

The Proposal. Margaret does the same thing. (Are we noticing a trend with Sandra Bullock movies?) She confesses it’s all a shame and she cannot hurt the family after they’ve been so kind to her.

She leaves knowing when she arrives in NY, her world, her career, are over.

Sweet Home Alabama. Melanie has not signed the divorce papers. But neither has Jake. They battled their feelings and past with each other it until the “taste of death” moment when Jake signs the papers.

When he does, all harboring hope of returning to the marriage is over for Melanie.

You have to bring your hero and heroine to a point of no return. Everything they’ve been striving for, racing toward, comes crashing down on them.

All hope is gone.

The dream is dead.

In some fairytales, the heroine is seemingly dead. Or the hero.

This is why it is so critical for you to know what your story is about in the beginning and know what the character wants.

You can’t have a taste of death from the dream if you don’t know what the dream is!

See how that works. The end helps the beginning. The beginning helps the end.

Think of a book you recently read. Was there a taste of death? Was there a point when all “is lost?”

What about your own work?

Does your story have that dramatic black moment?

If not, get to work. You need it!

But after the taste of death, after the black moment, a light dawns…

There is hope. A new idea sparks.

The prince comes with the magical kiss for Snow White and Aurora.

The supporting cast of animals frees the locked-up heroine where she has the spare glass slipper.

The hero goes after the heroine. The heroine gets her senses about her and hunts down the hero.

In While You Were Sleeping, Lucy confesses she loves Jack, then he comes after her.

Drew chases Margaret all the way to NY to tell her he wants to marry her because “I’d like to date you.” in The Proposal.

Melanie can’t sign the divorce papers! So she leaves her own wedding and finds Jake setting up lightning rods in the rain. She confesses she’s never stopped loving him and the epilogue is of all their happy scenes together.

So, taste of death. All is lost.

But as you craft this part of your “fairytale” remember to keep in mind the glimmer of hope that death will be defeated, and hope restored.

The taste of death can happen to the romance as well as the individual journey of the protagonists.

Let’s say your hero wants to run a big ranch. In doing so, he messes up his relationship with his fiance and the wedding is called off. Meanwhile, she can’t get her old job back and has no place to go. And his ambition caused him to write checks his ranching business can’t cash.

What’s the taste of death?

No girl. No ranch. No future.

It’s a country song.

Same for her.

No man. No job. No future.

The light of hope gleaming through all the darkness is their true feelings for each other, their inner essence, which is who they really are and really want to be.

Next week, we’ll talk about “storming the castle” and the happily ever after.

Best-selling, award-winning author Rachel Hauck loves a great story. She excels in seeing the deeper layers of a story.

With a love for teaching and mentoring, Rachel comes alongside writers to help them craft their novel.

A worship leader, board member of ACFW and popular writing teacher, Rachel is the author of over 15 novels.

She lives in Florida with her husband and her dog, Lola. Contact her at: Rachel@mybooktherapy.com. Her next book, Once Upon A Prince, releases May 7!

Go forth and write!

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