the moment of truth reflective essay

Moment of Truth

I was admitted at the hospital for organ failure; one of my kidneys was not functioning well. It was my third week in hospital since I was admitted. The doctors kept me on dialysis while I was on a waiting list.

No one in my family was a match and those who were a match were not prepared to give their kidney to the problematic child, who “had the black cloud hanging over her”. I did not understand what they meant by that. My parents were really heartbroken but they did all they can, they were always beside me. The doctors said I needed a donor quickly otherwise I wouldn’t survive.

One day, the whole family came to visit me. I was asleep since the doctor gave me a sedative but I could feel their presence. Most of them left but my parents and grandmother stayed. They did not notice that I was awake. I heard my grandmother telling my parents to tell me the truth because my survival depended on that. My mother began to cry.

“I can’t tell her, not when she is like this,” my mother said.

My grandmother told her that I deserved to know the truth. I coughed and they all looked at me.

“Oh honey, you are awake,” my mother said.

I could see they wondered if I had heard them talking and I pretended as if I heard nothing. The whole night I could not sleep, thinking about the truth that I was supposed to be told. I thought maybe my parents were getting a divorce but why would they do that, they were happy. There were so many thoughts racing in my head.

In the morning I asked the nurse to give me my phone and I called my boyfriend, Reabetswe. He was the only one who knew how to make me feel better. We talked over the phone for about three hours; we talked about our future, made a lot of promises to each other. I did not want him to visit me at the hospital because I did not want him to see me like that, it was heart-breaking.

Days went by and I was not getting any better. My father came to visit me and he was talking in riddles. He told me how much he loved me regardless of the situation. Now I was really confused. I called my grandmother immediately after my father left.

“Grandmother, I know that the family is keeping a secret from me so I want to know what it is. The curiosity is killing me,” I said.

My grandmother told me in a calm voice, regardless of the tone I spoke to her with, that my mother should be the one to tell me. My condition deteriorated, I was on the verge of death. One day after my dialysis, my mother came to see me and I could see she was upset. She told me that she needed to tell me something important. We sat on a couch in the doctor’s waiting room.

“Keabetswe, you know that we love you so much. I always wanted to tell you but I couldn’t. This is very painful for me,” my mother said in a very distraught voice. She began to cry.

“Mom, what’s wrong,” I asked her not knowing what to do.

She told me that the man I thought was my father is not my biological father. I asked her if she cheated on my father and where my real father was. She cried until there were no tears left.

“Honey, when I was seventeen years old I was raped,” she said.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing right now. I was a child of rape?

I remembered the time when my aunt said that I was a curse to the family; I’m the one who brings bad luck to their family. So this is what she meant by that. I could feel tears boiling in my eyes. I began to cry, my mother tried to comfort me.

“Don’t you dare touch me,” I yelled at her.

I called the nurse to take me to my room. I asked her to not let anyone into the room. I cried the whole night. I was angry at my mother for not telling me the truth sooner. I also felt sorry for her. She had to go through all that at such a young age. I had all these mixed emotions.

I was facing quite a predicament. I asked the nurse to not let anyone in for the whole week. I only allowed Reabetswe in. I told him everything.

He advised me not to write my family off because they did what they did only to protect me. My mother was also the victim so I should meet her halfway. I understood him very well. I did not know whether to forgive my mother or not but I had to forgive her because she gave me love and support since I was born, even though I was the constant reminder of her pain and suffering. It would be unfair to hold it against her. After a week my parents came to see me and I allowed them in. They talked and talked.

“Guys, Can I please talk? You’ve been talking since you got here,” I said.

“Yes honey, you can talk,” my mother said.

“I know that you love me, you kept this from me because you wanted to protect me. Mom, I know this is hard for you too so I’m not going to prolong your pain. I forgive you for not telling me the truth but please, next time, don’t keep any secrets from me,” I said.

They were so happy that I forgave them. They all hugged me.

I felt much better. I don’t know why but I felt like something was lifted off my shoulders. I asked my mother if the person who did that to her was ever found. She told me that it was her close male friend, the person she trusted and loved. She said that she forgave him. I knew that my mother was kind and forgiving but this was being too kind. Forgiving someone who ruined her life, it was something I would never do.

She explained that forgiving someone was like forgiving yourself, setting yourself free from pain. My Dad said that he heard that he was out of prison and living in the nearby town. So they arranged for me to see him.

I was just lying on my bed when my father came with a strange man.

“Keabetswe, this is your father,” my father said.

“No, he is not my father, you are. He might be my biological father but he is nothing to me,” I replied furiously.

“Keabetswe, you are justified to be angry. I know I hurt you and your mother so bad and I’m sorry. I wish you find it in your heart to forgive me,” the strange guy said humbly. And as a token of my apology I’m willing to donate my kidney to you if you will accept it,” he continued.

“Kea, he is a match!” my father exclaimed.

“Your kidney won’t heal the pain you’ve caused to me and mother. It will only remind me every day that I have a kidney from my rapist father,” I said really upset.

There was silence for a while. My father broke the silence when he said that I should think about it and they left. I did not want to accept the guy’s kidney let alone forgive him.

Later that night he came to see me, alone this time. We talked, well he did all the talking while I listened. He told me that he served his time in jail and all he thought about in prison was me and my mother.

He seemed sincere, like a good guy who just made huge mistakes. I forgave him since my mother taught me a lot about forgiveness. I also accepted his kidney, I didn’t have much of a choice since I was dying.

My life was never the same again.

I mean knowing how I was conceived was heart-breaking. I thought maybe my illness was a blessing in disguise. I learnt the truth about how I was conceived, met my biological father and got a healthy kidney. Instead of feeling sorry for myself because I was a child of rape, I used it to my advantage.

I joined We Are The Survivors , a non-governmental organisation for rape victims and children of rape like me called. We talked about challenges we faced on daily basis as rape victims.

It was how it was meant to be, all according to God’s plan. God will never give us challenges without solutions. It was who I was, the child of rape. I learnt to embrace it by inspiring others and motivating them.

Tell us: Do you believe in forgiveness? Why? Why not?

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8 Tips For Writing A Great Reflective Essay (With Examples)

By writing a reflective essay, you can capture some of these ephemeral emotions and make sense of who you are. Below, I share eight tips (and a few examples) that will help you do it in a better way. You may have to write a reflective essay as a part of an academic assignment or a college paper. Or perhaps you want to create it for yourself and never show it to anyone. Regardless of the reason, after reading this article, you will hopefully become better at it. They helped a lot of students over the years, so you may check them out.

Here’s how to write a great reflective essay:

1. first, what is a reflective essay, 2. the power of writing introspectively.

Many great men and women (like Charles Darwin or Frida Kahlo ) had a habit of keeping a journal. This seems to be forgotten these days as we record everything through our mobile devices. But the habit of introspective writing and journaling helps you get in touch with your inner self and even improves your mental health. The reflective essay serves a similar purpose. It lets you search for meaning in your life and lets you discover the underlying causes of your actions.

“Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard

3. How do you start your essay?

This beginning has certain elements that make it effective:.

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” – Ralph Ellison

4. Learn how to structure your essay

In terms of length, it all depends on your assignment, but usually, the reflective essay has between 300 and 700 words . It has a rather informal structure and the use of language. After all, you’re drilling into your personal experiences, and often, this requires a poetic turn of the phrase. You’re more than welcome to use a wide range of advanced vocabulary .

Introduction

5. create an outline for your essay.

As with most writing assignments , the work begins with ideation and then creating some sort of outline . Here’s a simple process you can use to get everything ready before you start writing: a) Scan your mind in search of powerful experiences, meaningful memories, and thoughts about your past. This will serve as a raw material from which you’ll sculpt a piece of prose. b) Consider the attractiveness of your topic from the reader’s point of view. You certainly don’t want to bore anyone, so pick something interesting, but important. c) Organize your essay and divide it into a couple of paragraphs. Each paragraph should contain one important idea. d) Decide in which sequence you would like to share your ideas. Put some logic and chronology behind it. e) Jot down any side notes included in the essay. It’s always better to have an overabundance of material.

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – C.G. Jung

6. The essay-writing process

Once you have the idea, you can follow a simple process:, 7. how to pick the right topic for your essay.

If you’re writing an assignment, you’ll probably receive the prompt from your professor. If that’s the case, follow it diligently. This may be something like: a) Reflect on what you learned during your first year of high school. b) Think about your favorite book and how it changed your life . c) How did your writing skills change over the years? And why? Or it might be something really specific like Write a two-page reflection paper on the Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Here, it’s not only about your personal experience, but about your interaction with a specific text, event, play, or movie and the effect it had on you. But what if you want to write an essay on your own? Which topic would you choose then? First, pick something meaningful to you. Second, pick something that you know well. Third, pick something that you want to explore and get deep into.

Here’s some more inspiration in the area of topics:

Personal reflection:, reflection on life and meaning:, reflection on events:.

“Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens

8. Learn from the masters

Montaigne was the father of the essay as a literary form. He was the first writer to use informal tone, colloquial language, and rather prosaic themes to get to the deeper truth about human nature.

I recommend you check his essays for inspiration, along with other masterworks:

And here are a few books filled with great reflective essays:.

And here you may find a huge list of 450+ essay books on Goodreads.

“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” – Albert Einstein

Example #1 of a reflective essay:

The misgivings about the high school football, here’s a second, shorter sample of a reflective essay:, the sources of love for instrumental music., looking backward, moving forward.

There are certain milestones in your life: finishing high school, falling in love for the first time, your first journey abroad, the first kiss, the first psychedelic trip, graduating from the university, getting your first job, getting married, having children… Each of these brings something new and unexpected and makes you grow as an individual. But you can run through life and never reflect on how it all changed , how silly and incompetent you were just a few years ago. And how you’ll think the same thing about the present in a few years. Perhaps you should compose a reflective essay and think about all of this, and about what’s coming. Next up, you may want to explore a list of the best essays of all time .

Rafal Reyzer

Hey there, welcome to my blog! I'm a full-time entrepreneur building two companies, a digital marketer, and a content creator with 10+ years of experience. I started RafalReyzer.com to provide you with great tools and strategies you can use to become a proficient digital marketer and achieve freedom through online creativity. My site is a one-stop shop for digital marketers, and content enthusiasts who want to be independent, earn more money, and create beautiful things. Explore my journey here , and don't miss out on my AI Marketing Mastery online course.

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The Moment Of Truth Essay Examples

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: United States , Government , Reforms , Nation , Taxes , Debt , Economics , Crisis

Words: 1600

Published: 03/15/2020

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Members of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform of the United States of America have studied the economic downturn experienced by American families for a long time. They defined the reality of the problem and proposed a solution. They noted that the solution would be difficult and painful. The members consist of people with diverse backgrounds and signify diverse areas sharing a united principle that America’s long-standing financial fissure is indefensible. If the problem continues, the future generation will suffer inevitable poverty in a weak nation. The moment of truth is a document that tackles the economic challenges faced by the nation. The document contains an insistent, reasonable, bipartisan and impartial scheme. The solutions include toleration of some of previously-unwanted provisions to achieve an upright concession. The proposed solution does not contain all the answers but it would involve a dynamic participation of all citizens as the beginning of tackling national issues.

The Debt Crisis

The foremost problem faced by the country is the debt crisis that brings the nation to an indefensible economic trail. There exists an imbalance relationship between spending and revenue creation that sways the country to have a huge loan every year just to balance the problem. There is an overwhelming shortfall. There was a twenty-four percent federal spending of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2010. The GDP include the cost of the entire goods and services created inside the financial system of the country. Also, in 2010 the tax revenues rested at fifteen percent of GDP. It was the lowest recorded level from 1950 A bigger fraction of the financial system was allotted to the federal spending throughout the World War II. Moreover, there is less than nine percent budget discrepancy of GDP. The national debt increased from thirty-three percent to sixty-two percent of the GDP in the year 2010, and it has been almost a decade since the financial status of the country was balanced. The war, some economically reckless strategies and a profound fiscal recession influenced the overwhelming discrepancy as the years go by. However the economy improves, the federal expenditure is anticipated to amplify more rapidly than revenues. This denotes that the country needs loans continuously. The continuity of the existing condition will mean that the shortage will stay elevated all through and past the decade. The money owing will coil progressively, getting ninety percent of the GDP in the year 2020 as projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Economic revitalization will only allow a recovery of the deficit circumstances for a while as the revenues rise. The federal debt height is untenable. As a result of making it more costly for private sectors and businesses to innovate, lift capital, and generate employments, the mounting debt might decrease per person in the GDP. Every American citizen’s part of the national economy will be decreased to fifteen percent in 2030. It will compel interest rates to go up for the entire borrowers and restrain economic expansion by swarming out private ventures. The debt will deprive the government of the resources required to take action to upcoming emergencies and provide in other precedence. The growing debt will further constrain the government, and the spending is repeatedly exploited to answer to immediate monetary needs like during wars or depressions. The national government may perhaps acquire complexity loaning funds at a reasonably priced interest rate that will further avoid the nation from successful counters to the problems if the national debt increases. The debt crises will also situate the nation in jeopardy because it exposes America to overseas creditors. The foreign creditors presently possess the large part of the communal liability. The interest that the nation is paying the foreign creditors diminishes the nations’ quality of life. China holds the largest part of America’s debt and unfortunately, it does not have similar desires and tactical schemes as America. The inventors have the possibility to mislay assurance to America about its ability to return the borrowed money. This situation calls for the implementation of the most rigorous of austerity procedures. The major concern about the debt crisis is its tendency to be stabilized as just a part of the national economy if it remains rising as the projection of the debts’ exact level that would prompt the crisis is hard. A stable debt is more preferable than a rising debt as far as investors are concerned. The CBO stated that it is not distinguishable for a debt to be identified as impending but it is clear that higher debts means bigger possibility of crisis. Procrastination will only lead to an inevitable booming of the crisis and the possibility of giving the cure will be smaller. Responsible governance requires immediate actions for the debt crisis.

The Proposed Solution

The Moment of truth proposed solutions for the debt crisis. It consists of six parts that will hopefully guide the nation to recovery. The plan intends to recover the nations’ economic health, uphold profitable growth, and defend the most susceptible part of the nation. The plan’s objectives were to attain a debt reduction of about $4 trillion in 2020. This is more than anything compared to whichever endeavor in American history. By 2015, the discrepancy must be reduced to 2.3% of GDP or 2.4% of GDP without the Social Security reform. Moreover, the plan also aims to reduce tax rates instantaneously and put an end to the AMT as well as incise the backdoor tax code expenditures. The plan would also restrict the proceeds at 21% of GDP to acquire expenses fewer than 22%, and in due course restrict the expenditure up to 21%. Stabilization of the debt in 2014 is also an objective of the proposal along with the reduction of debt to sixty percent of GDP in 2023 and forty percent in 2035. The plan consists of six components. These components are discretionary spending cuts, comprehensive tax reform, health care cost containment, mandatory savings, social security reforms to ensure long-term solvency and reduce poverty, and lastly the process changes. The discretionary spending cuts endorse hard-hitting unrestricted expenditure caps to oblige financial plan regulation in legislature. They comprise implementation methods to provide the restrictions emphasis. The cuts on discretionary spending will create noteworthy cuts in both non-security and security expenditures by means of cutting non-prioritized agenda and reforming government procedures. The expenditure trail suggested by the Commission is not just numbers but rather visualization the future that reflects the priorities and values of the American populace. Investing to the future must be constant but must not weaken investments by means of leaving the next generation forthcoming liabilities they cannot pay back. The spending cuts will require a more organized administration that spends intelligently, expends people’s valuable income tax dollars soundly, and is apparent and responsible for every value of the money. Comprehensive Tax Reform immediately widen the foundation, decreases rates, decrease the shortage and abridge the tax code by diminishing the countless tax spending. This reform would make the country more aggressive, and limit income to evade extreme taxation. The present individual income tax arrangement is completely perplexing and problematical. The Commission concluded that the taxpayers knew the present income tax is essentially inequitable, excessively multifaceted, and needs reform. Health Care Cost Containment gives genuine and practical reforms to medical expenditures. Federal health care expenditure is the principal fiscal dispute in many years. The health insurance substitution subventions will cultivate from six percent of GDP to ten percent from 2010 to 2035. The mandatory savings programs are not the major factors of the booming debt crisis but still needs to be in an appropriate path. The goal of the commission for reforming these policies are to defend the disadvantaged, stop extravagant expenditures and search for private sectors. Social Security is the baseline of economic protection and it is more than a retirement plan; it ought to be protected. Social Security Reforms ensures long-standing solvency and decrease scarcity. The sixth component of the plan is the process changes which are about the reformation of the budget procedure to guarantee the stability of debts and control expenditures.

Under the tax reform was the proposed chained consumer price index (CPI). This indexing government benefits aims to guarantee the reflection of transformations in cost of living. But t he present law is not successful in monitoring the inflation. The chained CPI is a closer estimation of cost of living. Approving it for indexation will signify a more precise and efficient action to preserve the value of expenditure programs and tax reforms. If the lawmakers are not able to agree regarding the technical changes to improve the estimation of inflation, the attempt to achieve goals is depressing. The Simpson-Bowles proposals were not lay to a vote in Congress. The failure to control the debt crisis is robbing the people the capability to invest for upcoming needs and challenges. It is critical that leaders from different parties help each other to arrange the fiscal house to aim for unified goals. Parties should move out from comfort zones and embrace changes even if it would be painful in some parts. Stabilization of the debt crisis must be the priority.

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How to Transform Your Story With a Moment of Truth

“How can I fix the saggy middle of my story?”

I  love it when writers ask me that.

Why? Because the answer is so incredibly juicy–and it all revolves around the Moment of Truth that needs to occur at every story’s Midpoint.

The Second Act—that longest of all the acts, spanning a full 50% from the 25% to the 75% marks—is largely misunderstood. The setup of the First Act and the Climax of the Third Act are pretty self-explanatory. But what’s supposed to happen in between? How can you come up with enough story to entertainingly fill up such a huge chunk of the book?

The short answer is: structure.

There are more important structural moments in the Second Act than anywhere else in the story. If you’re aware of how to use the First Plot Point, First Pinch Point, Midpoint, Second Pinch Point, and Third Plot Point, you’ll never lack for forward impetus in your story’s hard-working Second Act.

Today, we’re going to take a look at what is, arguably, the most important of these structural turning points—the Midpoint and its Moment of Truth. (Click here for more info on structure in general , here for more info on the Second Act in general , and here for more info on the pinch points .)

The #1 Reason  Thor  Works Despite Its Problems

Welcome to Part 4 of our ongoing series exploring what Marvel has done right (and sometimes wrong) in their cinematic universe. I debated whether or not to focus  Thor ‘s post on a “do” or a “don’t” of storytelling.

This is far from a perfect movie.

• The pacing is wonky: sometimes rushed, sometimes lagging.
• The antagonist—the ever-charismatic Loki—is relatively absent from the protagonist’s main conflict for most of the story, and he fails to provide solid pinch points.
• The parallel worlds of Asgard and Earth are never balanced well in the presentation of scenes.

Thor (2011), Paramount Pictures.

In a lot of ways, it feels like a “small” movie, despite its obviously epic and interstellar stakes. Some people complained that the romance between Thor and scientist Jane Foster was given too much emphasis. Personally, I  loved Natalie Portman in this role and thought she was a highlight of the entire movie— but I don’t disagree because, ultimately, the greatest problem with both this movie and its sequel  Dark World is that it has a muddy thematic focus. What these movies are  really about is family, and Jane, however adorable she may be, keeps getting in the way of that.

In short, we’d have to objectively say the script and its execution are pretty choppy. And yet I still really like this movie. For one thing, it was the movie where the whole cinematic vision of the  Avengers throughline really gelled for me and started getting exciting. I thought the Earthside humor was charming. And, of course, it gets full credit for introducing the single most loved and interesting villain in the entire series.

However, at the end of the day, the reason I like this movie—and the reason I decided to focus on its good qualities instead of its weaknesses—is because I love its  heart . I love its character arc (however rushed). I love the transformation of the protagonist from arrogant, self-centered war-monger to humbled, self-sacrificing, crown-worthy hero.

And most of all I love the Moment of Truth at the story’s center.

What Is the Moment of Truth?

The Midpoint is your story’s second major plot point. It occurs, as its name suggests, smack in the middle of the story. It divides both the Second Act and the entire book into two distinct halves. The first half of the book is all about the character’s reaction to the conflict ; the second half is all about his ability to  take action in light of a revelation he experienced.

That revelation is the single most important job of your story’s Midpoint. It is the Moment of Truth, and it is comprised of two different layers—one pertaining to the plot and the other pertaining to the character arc.

Layer #1: The Plot Revelation

Within the exterior conflict of your story’s plot, your protagonist is going to reach a game-changing revelation at the Midpoint. This revelation pertains directly to his exterior conflict with the antagonist. He desires a goal, and the antagonist has been throwing up obstacle after obstacle throughout the first half of the story. The antagonist has been squarely in control of the conflict, and the protagonist has had little choice but to remain in a reactive role.

Now, thanks to this Midpoint revelation, the protagonist suddenly sees the nature of the conflict much more clearly. He learns the true nature of both the conflict and the antagonistic force. He gains important info that will allow him to finally start taking control of the external conflict—thus allowing him to phase out of reaction and into action in the second half of the story. ( Captain America: The Winter Soldier offers a great plot-based Moment of Truth, which I talked about in this article .)

Layer #2: The Character Revelation

Even as your character has been navigating the story’s external conflict throughout the first half of the story, his internal conflict has been closely mirroring, affecting, and being affected  by the external plot. When he reaches the plot-centric Moment of Truth at the Midpoint (which grants him important new information about the nature of the external conflict), he also reaches an all-important personal Moment of Truth.

Remember, character arcs are founded on the protagonist’s inner battle between the story’s Lie and Truth . Throughout the first half of the story, he has been learning to see, more and more clearly, the nature of his Lie and that, indeed, it  is a Lie.

The Midpoint is where he finally sees the Truth. He still has a long way to go until he’ll be able to fully claim that Truth by surrendering to it and acting upon it. But the Midpoint is where something happens to him that’s so dramatic, it prompts a shift in his personal allegiance—away from the Lie and toward the Truth.

How a Good Moment of Truth Transforms Your Story

Some stories will require a different Moment of Truth for both aspects of the Midpoint mentioned above. Often, one aspect’s revelation will lead right into the other. Other stories, however, will be able to harmonize plot and character into a single Moment of Truth.

Thor is such a story.

Thor’s Lie is that he is a worthy leader simply by right of birth and personal power.

His story is that of growing into an awareness that true worthiness is instead based on personal merit—humility, foresight, love, and self-sacrifice. Worthiness is something that must be earned. Despite getting boxed around by his Lie (in essence, “punished” for believing in it) throughout the first half of the story, he does not come face to face with that Truth until the Midpoint.

After using his old Lie-based methods to batter his way through SHIELD’s defenses on his way to reclaim his hammer Mjolnir and his Asgardian powers, he discovers he can’t so much as much lift his own hammer. He doesn’t know his father enchanted the hammer so that only “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”

Thor is  not worthy. That realization changes everything. It rocks his world. It undermines everything he has believed about himself, about others, and indeed about the universe. It forces him to reconsider his old belief—the Lie—in exchange for a new paradigm. As Dr. Selvig tells him after rescuing him from SHIELD, “It’s not a bad thing finding out that you don’t have all the answers. You start asking the right questions.”

Boom. Moment of Truth. Right between da eyes.

3 Questions for Planning Your Story’s Moment of Truth

What should your story’s Moment of Truth be? The answer depends on three factors:

1. What’s Your Protagonist’s Truth?

Can’t have a Moment of Truth without first knowing what that Truth is, right?

Naturally, the Moment of Truth  cannot live in isolation. It is a product of everything that has come before it in the first half of the story, just as it is the catalyst for everything to follow. You can’t just shoehorn in any ol’ Truth. It has to be  the Truth your protagonist requires in order to overcome  the Lie he’s been carrying around since Page 1.

So take a look at Page 1. What’s the Lie Your Character Believes ? What Truth will he need to overcome that Lie?

2. What Is the Key to Overcoming the Antagonist?

Now consider the plot. What is the one bit of information the protagonist requires in order to transform his understanding of the external conflict and allow him to shift from  reacting to the antagonist into  taking action ?

(Note that Thor’s external conflict is not  defeating Loki , but rather  returning home . In reaching his Moment of Truth he  becomes worthy of the hammer—and thus his ride back to Asgard—even though he doesn’t yet realize it.)

Ideally, both the plot and character revelations should be the same or at least lead organically one into the other. If they’re too disparate from one another, then you need to consider whether or not your plot and theme may be too different from one another to belong in the same story.

3. What Is the Best Visual Representation of Plot and Theme?

Once you understand the Truths your character will come to understand at your Midpoint, you must then create a scene to represent them. Your Midpoint will usually be one of your story’s biggest scenes (in Thor , the fight in SHIELD’s compound is one of the the biggest action setpieces in the movie).

Even though the Moment of Truth will probably be a quiet moment of personal introspection, it should be featured within a huge plot catalyst—one that visually and symbolically represents the Lie and the Truth.

James Scott Bell talks about a “mirror moment,” in which the character must metaphorically look at his own reflection and confront what he sees. In some stories, you can portray this outright, either by having the character literally look at himself in a mirror (e.g., Thor sees his battered appearance in a reflective door after he’s imprisoned by SHIELD), or by providing some other visual reflection of his inner battle (e.g., in Iron Man II , a drunken Tony who is using his suit for dangerous party tricks is confronted by his best friend Rhodey , also in a suit, telling him he’s a disgrace).

Note: this visualization of the “mirror moment” isn’t a must; don’t shoehorn it in. But it can present a nice symbolism if handled well.

Once you understand your story’s Moment of Truth at the Midpoint, you already have your single most powerful tool for crafting, not just an interesting Second Act, but a powerful and resonant character arc, story structure, and theme. Think you’re worthy?

Stay Tuned: Next week, we’ll talk about one of my all-time favorite examples of subtext-rich dialogue from  Captain America: The First Avenger .

Previous Posts in This Series:

• Iron Man :  Grab Readers With a Multi-Faceted Characteristic Moment
• The Incredible Hulk :  How (Not) to Write Satisfying Action Scenes
• Iron Man II :  Use Minor Characters to Flesh Out Your Protagonist

Wordplayers, tell me your opinion! What’s your protagonist’s Moment of Truth at the Midpoint? Tell me in the comments!

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K.M. Weiland is the award-winning and internationally-published author of the acclaimed writing guides Outlining Your Novel , Structuring Your Novel , and Creating Character Arcs . A native of western Nebraska, she writes historical and fantasy novels and mentors authors on her award-winning website Helping Writers Become Authors.

This is an awesome article (and series! I’m enjoying them all!). I was thinking about my WIP while reading through this, and at first, I didn’t think I had a lie/truth to tell, but my MC definitely does. This just made it clear. Thank you!

If the character is experiencing any kind of change, then you can bet there’s a Lie/Truth at the heart of it. Identifying them and boosting them can really bring the theme to life.

YES. I love this. And it’s so applicable right now. I’m ironing out the plot-points in my WIP as I go through editing, and this really confirmed the order I set them in to impact the theme. Thanks so much for an awesome article.

Good for you! Getting the order of the plot points right is so important. I’m reading a book right now that placed what should have been its Third Plot Point way too early, and the subsequent story really suffers as a result.

Another fantastico and fun article to read! I’m just getting started (for the last year, eh- hem) writing my own story, and, yes, one can apply this at any point in the process as other readers comment, and in my case, I’m just getting my protagonist and antagonist to begin to think!

Truth! It’s never too late in the revisions to wrangle plot structure and boost theme.

A spectacularly great post! This has truly helped me ‘see’ my WIP character’s Lies and Moments of Truth more clearly. To the point where I believe I’m realizing my MC is NOT the one I thought I was writing as the main protagonist (gasp!).

I may or may not go with this flow and see what happens with this MC change. Or continue to fight it…this post has de-fogged several areas I was apparently having this struggle with, now that I’m seeing the storyline unfold more clearly at the Midpoint with your help.

A true ‘AHA’ moment! Thank you for this, Katie!

One thought: It’s totally possible that the character you originally intended to be the protagonist *is* the protagonist, even if he’s not following a strong change arc and undergoing a strong Moment of Truth at the Midpoint. Rather, it’s possible he’s a flat-arc character –already in possession of the Truth and “offering” it to the other character, who is undergoing a change arc. Just something to consider.

You really make us think these things out, huh?

I’ve mentioned here earlier about how the MC starts out believing he’ll never find a girl, and later it’s that this is the only girl – but there’s a more pwerful theme as well.

Susie defends casual hook-ups with “I don’t have to be in love with someone to have a good time with them. It’s just…sx.”

The MC counters with, “I was waiting for the right person, someone who wanted me as much as I wanted her, so that it would be something special we’d remember the rest of our lives.”

But there’s something I deliberately left out for later. Romance and marriage shouldn’t be about finding the person who makes us the most happy, because true love is putting the other person above yourself. It’s about giving, not getting. Physical intimacy without relationships are all about self gratification.

The song lyrics I put at the very beginning tease that the MC has a very deep wound such that “my apology pales.” My moment of truth will come somewhat after the 50% mark, leading into the climax. It’s then that reality will slap him in the face, realizing the damage his actions have done to her – that it never should have been about him.

There are similarities to “Men, Women and Children.” (I swear, I started my story more than a year before I ever heard of it.) I saw the movie, then read the book (which I thought was very poorly written.) The movie is pretty faithful to the book. Anyway, in one of the multiple story lines Jennifer Garner is a way over protective mother of her daughter Kaitlyn Dever, and won’t let her engage in normal teenage relationships. She finally realizes how badly she messed up when her daughter’s boyfriend tries to kill himself. It was the part of the movie that strayed the furthest from the book, and probably the part I enjoyed the most.

It’s possible the moment of truth you’re referencing here is actually your Third Plot Point , which is the big “showdown,” so to speak, between the protagonist’s Lie and Truth–where he has to definitively pick one or the other. The Moment of Truth at the Midpoint is his big revelation of the Truth , but he doesn’t yet reject the Lie at this point. He spends the rest of the Second Act trying to juggle both, until he reaches the low moment at the Third Plot Point, which forces him to make a tremendously painful choice between the two. This then leads in the final climactic confrontation against the outer antagonistic force.

More to read up on.

Just don’t let the dog eat your homework. 😉

Oh Katie, what if I tell youe that Loki is the protagonist of the avengers? In the end he’s the one moving towards a goal and the superheroes are getting in his way

Ah, but that’s exactly what the antagonist is supposed to do. 😉 The antag and his goals control the conflict, as per this recent post .

My best writing friend and I were just talking about how hard Midpoints are. She said, “For the character arc, I need my MC to be hiding, but for my story, I need her to discover the dead bodies.” I said, “Hiding among dead bodies sounds pretty epic to me.” And voila! She got a great Midpoint and we learned how hard (but rewarding) it is to get both character arc and story arc to align at the Midpoint.

Thanks for this blog. 🙂

That actually does sound pretty epic!

I found your article very helpful. I’ve been on a writing hiatus for little over year as a I contemplated switching genres. I’ve gone from fantasy to women’s fiction. Quite a jump!

So, I struggle a bit with structure because there’s some deviation from formula for the book I just started. POT (Point of Telling) figures in strongly. But I love the food for thought here, and see how I can apply it to a less conventional storyline to make the character arc even stronger. I needed this structural reminder, so thanks for that!

My book opens with my main character finding her elderly mother dead in her bed in the middle of the night. She says she’s not grieving, which is a lie. She says she doesn’t care that her sister will think she’s responsible for their mother’s death. Another lie. I’m anxious for her to come to the realization of her truth, and now I have the tools to help her get there. Thank you!

Yes, the great thing about learning structure is that it provides such a strong base from which to jump into less formal and recognized storyforms. Have fun!

As always, your lessons point me in the right direction. Since my MC is his own pro- and antagonist, it’s a bit more difficult to flesh him and his problems out.

He’s his own greatest enemy after a horrific trauma and the only way he thinks he can cope with it (his lie! Thank you!) is for him to recreate and relive it whenever the stress of an undiagnosed PTSD becomes too much.

Now to word out how the female MC helps him see it’s not true – and for him to accept that. It will be difficult, but extremely satisfying, the clearer the way to the finish becomes.

Before I finished reading your comment, I was going to say that one of the best ways to un-complicate an arc is to figure out where you want the character to end up. But I see you’re already on that track!

So, K. M., you really liked Natalie as Jane? That’s the one thing I differ with you about in this insightful and prolific article. I feel like you are my personal guru (dating myself here) in assisting my evolution from writer to author. Now, I accept the challenge to wield the hammer Thor-like and forage through the bricks and mortar of my plot structure. I identified my MC’s LIE, but now I’m faced with the task of using a minor character and his “love” interest push the MC to step over and through the crumbled rumble to uncover his ultimate TRUTH. I can do it! Thanks for your help!

The Love Interest–in the archetypal sense–is extremely useful in character arcs, since they generally represent the Truth. The protag can’t have the Love Interest *until* he is transformed by the Truth. So the Love Interest alternately resists or supports the protagonist, depending on his alignment to that Truth in any given scene. Have fun!

I’ve been meaning to comment for a while, haha. I read about every blog post of yours when they come out, but I don’t believe I’ve ever commented.

I feel like such a weird writer. The middle is my strongpoint of the story. I tend to write weak beginnings and procrastinate on writing endings, but my middles tend to be packed with action and cascading conflicts.

I think my worry is that my story doesn’t really conform to the standard because what my protagonist discovers in the midpoint is only half of the truth. He basically coasts through battle after battle relying on his friends to win and doing the bare minimum to help them, until the midpoint where he faces the antagonist prematurely and gets his ass handed to him by a guy who should stand no chance. He’s dragged aside, and his strongest friend more or less addresses him as a damsel in distress, and then flies off to sacrifice himself to try and save everyone. The protagonist has a moment of realization where he accepts that he’s been lazy and useless, and his friends aren’t going to survive unless this changes. So he finally stands up to the antagonist, starts using his potential, turns the opinion of his allies completely around and shoots to the top of his antagonist’s threat list.

And they still lose. They’re forced to retreat again, and again somebody stronger takes up the fight to keep the antagonist from winning. Somebody still dies. The protagonist starts to doubt if what he learned was really the truth, or just another lie.

He’s allowed a moment to think on it before he’s forced to go into battle against the antagonist again, and during the finale fight he notices that what he realized wasn’t a lie, but it was only half of the truth. It’s not enough just to work hard–he also has to work smart. It doesn’t matter that he’s willing to use his potential if he doesn’t know what his potential is. The antagonist isn’t winning because he’s stronger, because he isn’t stronger. He’s winning because he’s smarter. So he starts to pay closer attention, figure out how the antagonist fights, what his motives are, what his weaknesses are, and he finally overcomes him in the finale.

I’d like your opinion; does this sound alright? Any advice, if you have time? I really like it, but I kind of oscillate between full of myself about my book and insanely self-conscious about it, haha.

No, no, half the Truth is good! It’s good in the sense that the character’s arc is far from over at this point (the book’s only half over, after all). The character *recognizes* the Truth at the Midpoint. He doesn’t, however, yet fully recognize the darkness of the Lie, much less reject it. You get the full second half the story to finish developing that. So I’d say you’re on the right track.

Thanks, K. M. Your blog is the best writing reference in the cyberspace and I can say that 101% sure. Never let it drop offline, please!

Your post built a query in my mind. My protag (love that word, learned from U =D) lives in an Abstract Reality, which is a reflex of his needs and desires, and then forces from the Real World start to exert pressure on him.

In his Moment of True, the protag will finally comprehend that the Abstract Reality is just a shelter he created to hide himself from Real World problems.

Can I make him react to the Revelation in his own way but keep the Revelation itself to the very Climax? (I don’t want to spoiler that he lives in an Abstract World yet).

Maybe I could handle this with some foreshadowing or symbolism or mirrors or it doesn’t even matter anyway (the story is about exoplanetary exploration) =D

Thanks again for your blog. You are an infinite source of help.

In the vast majority of situations, it’s risky to keep readers in the dark when your protagonist knows something. It feels like a cheat. Readers need to be right there with the protag, discovering what he discovers along the way. There are exceptions, of course, but you have to be aware of the end effect you’re creating in forcing a separation between reader and character.

Great to hear you’re enjoying the site!

Always seems like your articles pertain to exactly where I’m at in my WIP. Do you have telepathic powers?

My anti-hero protagonist is a serial killer who is discovered by my extortionist antagonist and he is blackmailed by her to kill. At midpoint in the story, my protagonist discovers the truth that his split personality serial killer self and he are one in the same and his belief that he is condemed to hell may not be true as he has the opportunity to save the target/victim and defeat the antagonist. He believes that by doing this one good deed at the cost of “losing everything”, some level of forgiveness is possible.

The initial draft sort of just glossed over these “truths” and now I realize that if I flesh this out I can add yet another layer to this story which will up the ante to the plot twist that follows. That’s awesome, yay!

Thanks, K. M.!

PS. I miss your video episodes!

Sounds excellent! Split personality stories are always fun and have the ability to say interesting things about humanity’s dual nature. And, yes, I’ve taken a break from the vids for the being–but all the same info is still showing up here on the blog every Friday!

To answer your question, she’s definitely telepathic. Could be part of some government project. Area 51 maybe?

Why do you think I like superhero stories so much? 😉

Holy batmobile Batman, we’ve just discovered the secret.

Everything hangs on the moment of truth in the middle of the second act. This is great structurally speaking to realize this. Although, I haven’t fully realized it for my protagonist yet. But *this* is the missing piece of the puzzle after which all other dominoes will fall into place.

One word that kept sticking out was *learn*. The protagonist is learning to see clearly the nature of the lie from the first page until he reaches the moment of truth. This is also where he learns the true nature of conflict, the antagonistic force and the info necessary to start taking control in the action-phase.

So does the internal and exterior conflict lead to the plot and character revelation at the midpoint? It would certainly seem so. Well, at least in my limited understanding. It seems that both conflicts work in tandem on the character until he reaches a breaking point. I would think the exterior conflict would force him to begin learning and dealing with the lie leading to the mirror moment. Wow that great! The conflict from the antagonist and anyone in the story would be a catalyst for change then.

Your understanding is exactly right. The external plot is about the character pursuing the Thing He Wants via his Lie, while the internal development is about him learning to use the Truth to gain the Thing He Needs. He often won’t see the connection between these two conflicts until he slams into the Midpoint, where the Moment of Truth makes his internal conflict extremely relevant to the outer conflict.

Wow that’s amazing it’s almost like a conflict sandwhich! I like this intrinsic view of the character arc. I’m assuming this is one the most core elements of a story. Would you say this mirror moment is the most critical versus actually defeating the antagonist? Without it he couldn’t defeat him.

Yes and no. Yes, in that it’s one of the biggest revelations in the story. But, no, in the sense, that every piece of puzzle is equally important. Remove any piece, and the overall pattern doesn’t work.

I think this gives all conflict a nice target. Not to mention significance and a barometer by which we can measure if something is working.

Any conflict that doesn’t work towards the protagonist moment of truth is pretty much useless isn’t it? Or it won’t bear much weighton the story.

Does every arc have a moment of truth?

Yes, every arc has a Moment of Truth, although the person to whom it is offered will vary, depending on the protag’s arc. In a positive change arc, the protagonist will see the Moment of Truth and be transformed by accepting it. In a flat arc, the protag will already be in possession of the Truth and will offer it to the other characters around him. In a negative arc, the protagonist will encounter the Moment of Truth and ultimately reject what he is offered here, leading to his eventual destruction.

Testing to see if I can subscribe to comments.

Like E. A. Anthony, this post is timely. My MC, a P.I., is asked to find a missing American naval officer who has not reported for duty at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Only not one seems to want him found, and the P.I. begins to think he’s a pawn being used by forces greater than himself. This is his ‘a-ha’ moment in the 2nd act – and it took me a while to sort that out. Angry that no one is telling him the truth, he sets out to find out what’s really going on.

Sounds like it also marks a great shift from reaction in the first half to action in the second. Good job!

Hello, I have an important question about my story I can’t seem to get answered. I am afraid that I don’t have enough unity because my book is made of six parts–like six stories. Although I have the same main character and over all villain there are many characters and villains that are only in one story. Also I do have a finale climax, but here are also a small climax in each story. Is this something to be worried about. Will the reader feel like they’re reading six mini stories or a complete novel? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

This certainly isn’t an unheard of technique (although I can’t think of any good examples off the top of my head right now). It’s a more complicated structure, to be sure, since you not only have to structure the individual stories, but also the stories within the overall novel. The same basic overarching structure applies to the book as a whole–with the First Plot Point happening in your second story, your Midpoint at the end of the third, and your Third Plot Point in your fifth story. The sixth, of course, would be climactic.

Hi Stephanie, I realize your post is two years in the past. Hope your story has gone well in the meantime. In Conquest Born, by CS Friedman, follows a similar structure. I believe it was published in 1986 and was nominated for the Campbell award, so obviously it was well received by readers. You might want to take a look at it.

This idea is busting my brain. You said: “Ideally, both the plot and character revelations should be the same or at least lead organically one into the other. If they’re too disparate from one another, then you need to consider whether or not your plot and theme may be too different from one another to belong in the same story.”

You’re saying that the wrong theme in a story can cause a mis-alignment of the plot revelation and MC’s Moment of Truth?

So, if my MC’s moment of truth, his internal revelation, doesn’t contribute toward his ultimate goal in the external conflict, then the theme is probably wonky; not appropriate for the story?

Exactly. If you think of plot as an external metaphor for the character’s inner journey, it becomes clear how closely related the two must be thematically. If they’re *not*, then you end up essentially telling two totally separate stories–and the results are obviously less than cohesive.

I just recently stumbled onto your website. This is a fantastic place. So insightful and helpful. I’m learning a lot. I’m a bit of a late bloomer with writing. For years I’ve had lots of ideas jotted down in my field notebooks, but they were basically a big pile of ideas. I was having trouble structuring them. I come from an animation background and I took a screenplay writing course that was very helpful, but your thoughts and ideas are just fantastic. I have learned so much in the last week reading everything on your site. Using films provides such strong easy to follow examples of how to dissect the process. Writing characters has always been the most intimidating part for me. Putting all this out there it is helping me get a handle on my weak spots. I appreciate you!!

Great stuff!!

Welcome aboard! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the site. Makes my day to hear it’s been useful!

Extremely useful! They way you present your information just works for me.

Thanks again and I look forward to reading your books!

LIke so many before me, you have brought clarity to my story and the structure to finish the final third which I hadn’t reached as of yet. This blog was my moment of truth in writing my bock and I’m working my way to fully understanding the truth in my story.

Thank you for being there for us writers. You are amazing.

I like Moments of Truth wherever they land. 🙂 Congrats on your story breakthrough!

Ohhhh, finally I understand Story! I’ve reached my own midpoint… Stories are the search for human Truths.

My protag’s Lie is a little nebulous at the moment, and I can see that this is messing with my plot development. It’s variously ‘everything loved gets lost’ or ‘all change is loss’ or ‘he can’t survive alone.’ I need to decide which and let it slam the little darling in the face.

Do you ever work with the antagonist’s Lies & Truth, create his own arc that twists with the protag’s?

Yes, definitely! The antagonist’s arc–whether a change or flat arc–can be a magnificent contrast and impact point for the protagonist’s arc. Often, I like to give the antagonist a slight variation of the same Lie the hero believes–and watch him succumb to it, even as he tries to tempt the hero into thinking it’s the best course.

Just saw the new Star Trek movie. Imperfect, but I enjoyed it.

Being a student of KMWU I tried to analyse the film as I watched. The theme could be described as a “Purpose Driven Life.” Kirk, Spock and the antag all touch on this same theme. What do they really want to do with the rest of their life? Where do they think they have the most to offer? What happens if you’re really good at what you do and it’s taken away? Kirk & Spock get the positive arc, and the bad guy goes negative. What the villain believes in I actually agree with, but he’s twisted it to a destructive end.

All I want to say with spoiling much!

I saw it the other day as well. My take on the theme was that it was about the importance of unity–which was the reason Kirk and Spock found purpose and made their end-of-movie decisions–and why the antag did not.

Yes, Kirk & Spock each decided their best destiny was together, as a team.

But related questions –

Do we need conflict to stay sharp, or will we become soft and complacent without it? (Kirk asks if Admirals still fly)

What if you do something you love that makes a difference, but it’s taken away and you’re retired to a corner office?

I found it interesting that the movie was co-written by Simon Pegg, the actor who plays Scotty, and see that he had previously written and starred in “Shaun of the Dead”

Yes, made me wonder if that’s why Scotty got more screentime this time around. Not that I’m complaining. 😉

Nice! For my next story I’ll try a similar Lie for antag and protag. Plenty to explore there.

I noticed that as I played with each of my Lie options, the plot wanted to go in quite different directions. This is helpful in doing some of the heavy lifting, I think, but also highlights the importance of having the right one.

Gawd, now it looks like I’ll have to watch Star Trek to compare notes. Simon Pegg is writing Star Trek? That’s so funny – we in UK know him for rather different stuff.

Whether it was due to Pegg or not, this installment was at least better than the last one!

I’m currently in my second round of editing of my novel, and I’m finding your website very helpful!! Just read this article and I’m still trying to identity all the different parts in my book. I think I know where my moment of truth could be, but it’s a little later in the book. Is that alright? Or does it always have to be in the middle?

It’s best if the Moment of Truth aligns with the Midpoint (or shortly after), because it’s what fuels the enlightened actions and growth in the second half. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t have *several* moments in which the Truth hits him between the eyes to varying degrees. For example, the Third Plot Point will be another turning point in which the character experiences a profound revelation that inspires him in the Climax.

Okay, that makes sense. In my novel, my heroine is constantly offered the truth throughout the book, but she refuses it until around 3/4 the way through.

I have one more question haha. This is for a totally different book I’m working on, and I’m kind of confused. So I definitely have a Moment of Truth in the book, and the MC is faced with the Truth, and the realization that the Lie he’s been believing is wrong. I’d say that occurs at around the 65% mark. Problem is….when I started plotting the Climax, I realized the character had already faced the Truth and couldn’t do so again in the climax, or it would have been a repeat scene. Then I realized he was believing another Lie that had been hiding all along. Is it alright for that to be the main focus of the climax and not the original Lie? I have my theme and message worked out, and they tie into the climax as well.

The important distinction here is that although the character recognizes the Truth at the Midpoint, she does not yet reject the Lie. She spends the rest of the Second Act trying to juggle the two, trying to keep them both in her life. Then, at the Third Plot Point (75% of the way through the story), she reaches a low point in which she categorically (and painfully) rejects the Lie. The remainder of the Third Act, then, is about her weighing the consequences of the choice she just made and then entering the Climax, where she finally proves (to herself more than anyone) her absolute devotion to the Truth and unwillingness to return to the Lie.

Amazing, fascinating article, as always!! Your insights into the writing process have been so helpful to me in ways that many other resources haven’t. Thank you! 🙂

The story I’m working on is a tragedy, and so I have a few questions about how the Midpoint might change if the story is a tragedy.

I think I read somewhere else on this site that, in a tragedy, the MC will reject the Truth that he/she discovers at the Midpoint, but what would that look like? After all, in a happy story, the discovery of the Truth enables the MC to take charge. So a rejection of the Truth seems like it fundamentally changes how the story can play out. How, for example, do you think the second half of “Thor” might have played out if he had rejected the Truth?

I’ve also heard that if the story has a happy ending, the Midpoint should be unhappy; and if it has an unhappy ending, the Midpoint should be happy. But it seems to me that I can think of more examples that don’t follow this rule than ones that do. Would you say it’s a rather flexible rule?

Thank you!! 🙂

In a Negative Change Arc, the character’s rejection of the Truth means that he instead grasps an even greater Lie, which even though ultimately destructive, will provide him with tools toward gaining his plot goal. More in this series: How to Write a Negative Character Arc .

Either my Moment of Truth is coming too early, or my protag is realizing only half of it. ‘m around 22k, so I probably have enough room to present Moments of Truth for both protags.

Then again, the supposed bad guy also has an arc, but since he’s supposed to be a minor character at the moment, his Moment of Truth might come in either the second or third book.

What an amazing post.

Ee-gads! No wonder it takes so long to write a novel! There’s always something new to learn, if not about your own characters and story, then about the craft of storytelling itself. When do I quit outlining and plotting and structuring and get down to finishing my first draft?

The right amount of outlining varies from author to author. Some authors (me) like to figure everything out in the outline; others prefer to do the bulk of figuring in the draft itself. Ultimately, the answer comes down to knowing yourself and your process–what will best optimize your creativity.

Phew. My main pov is so far away from this. I’m going to book mark this and comeback later first she needs to get to the midpoint… again I ended up scraping the first attempt as it was a jumbled mess. Definitely something to keep an eye on during future revisions. the moment of truth scenes n movies and books are some of teh best parts where the reader and the characters get their “Ah! Ha”, “Wow”, and “Of course moments” too.sometimes it’s “It’s about time!”

[…] Getting the structural elements of our story correct can go a long way to making revisions easier. Angela Ackerman explains why choosing your setting is so important, Roz Morris discusses whether you really need conflict in every scene and disaster in every act, and K.M. Weiland shows how to transform your story with a moment of truth. […]

[…] How to fix the saggy middle? Check out How to Transform Your Story With a Moment of Truth by K.M. […]

[…] How to Transform Your Story With a Moment of Truth, K.M. Weiland, Helping Writers Become […]

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Moment Of Truth Essay: The Moment Of Truth

Chapter 3 The Moment Of Truth… We’ve gone through the stages of preparing and taking a test and you may be asking yourself, what else is there? Now we come to the stage of the post test. This is the moment of truth: the moment your score is revealed. The test taking process is not complete until you have the results in your hand. Your score is the culmination of all the hard work and effort you’ve put into preparing and taking the test . Once you see you your results, you may think the test is over and done with, but don’t resign yourself to your score just yet! Even if you’re satisfied with the result, or you think it’s “okay”, don’t miss a chance to improve it. Recount, recount, recount Count the number of items you got right, the number …show more content…

This may mean that you’ve misunderstood the concept and doing nothing about it will cause you to get wrong answers again in the future. Save it! Save your old tests. They can be very good study material for future tests and exams. They can be especially useful reviewing material for cumulative tests. And not only does it give you an idea on what to study for, it also provides a little insight into the possible style of future tests and can contribute significantly to your preparation. And there you have it! We’ve gone through the three stages of the test taking process: the preparation, the test proper, and the post test. You are now ready and equipped to face the world of test taking! Be confident in your skills and what you’ve learned in this book, and stay positive. Don’t stress. Tests are undoubtedly important but when we get down to it, it’s just a paper with questions, and with the help of this book, you’ve got all the answers! Conclusion Thank you again for downloading this book! I hope this book was able to help you to improve your performance and scores on examinations, as well as give you a fresh perspective on the whole test taking experience

Pt1420 Unit 4

Once the time is over you cannot access the quiz. It will give you the summary of questions you have attempted and questions you have not answered. You have to click on submit quiz. 9. I had marked few questions for review, but due to lack of time I was not able to review it.

A Brief Analysis Of Joy Alonso's Two Cheers For Examinations

By using humor and impartial words, she does not alienate either of her audiences. In addition to her language, Alonso’s argument does not attempt to claim that all aspects of examinations are not without flaws. She also does not dismiss any frustrations that come with examinations; rather, Alonso asks that students and teachers connect examinations to a larger meaning. Alonso wants students and teachers to understand that examinations are a learning process for both students and teachers: a gauge of a student’s academic performance and a gauge of how well a professor taught a topic. Her positive outlooks on examinations often persuade the audience to overlook the negatives.

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A test was design for each required lab and it was repeated until students achieved mastery as students were tested on these four labs in the exam. This was done as the item analysis revealed that the students were weak in these

Glg 101 Week 1 Assignment

I could recall nearly every detail from those questions, and the answer choices they provided. When I look them over after the test, I can answer all of the questions without hesitation. But when it comes to figuring out how to move on and ultimately become content, I draw a blank, just like on that day of the test. The pattern stays static, and though I do well on tests, I desire perfection, that cherry on top to cement that I know the material in and out. That has been my mentality to as far back as I can remember.

Summary Of No The SAT Is Not Required By Justin Peligri

Justin Peligri, in his article, “No, the SAT Is Not Required. More Colleges Join Test-Optional Train,” published in USA Today on July 7, 2014, writes that students spend great deals of time studying for what many believe is the most important test of their life, the SAT. The SAT test is a standardized test used by colleges in the college admissions process. Students are overly stressed for the SAT, hurting their health and wellbeing, even though the usefulness of this test is questionable. In nearly all colleges across the country, SAT scores are a major part of the admissions process, but the major flaws of this test are going unacknowledged by these schools, therefore keeping many qualified students out of colleges, and all but destroying

Thomas Jefferson's Greatest Accomplishments

This goes to show that since you didn't do something each day to prepare for the test, your results were low. To accomplish something does mean you have to put in extra work, it will not just come to you without always doing something to achieve it. Bill Gates is a very successful man, he started his business in his garage. He worked every day on creating the perfect computer, it didn't happen over night in fact it took him years till he got it right. Bill gates was always doing something to accomplish his goal, if he just sat around everyday not acting on his vision our world would have never even knew what a computer was.

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So I did it… The test was as hard as I thought it would be. But I had every book fresh in my mind, and I aced it.

Persuasive Essay On The Electoral College

Test content varies greatly from greatly from nation to nation, and in some cases from test to test. In the U.S. in particular, individual tests differ exceedingly since applicants will be asked ten questions from a list of one hundred by an interviewer and there is no specified process for how the interviewer selects questions. As a result, some individuals may receive harder questions than others. For instance, “Who wrote the Federalist Papers,” one possible question, is much more difficult to answer than “Who is the current President?” The inherent difference between these questions raises concerns among some researchers and test takers.

Persuasive Essay On Texas School Testing

Texas School Testing Learning is an amazing, beautiful, and helpful process of the mind. It lets us recall things that we have come to understand; learn. We learn about the people, the world, the challenges humanity has faced, wars fought over time. Texas has many schools and the main goal for these school 's is that the student 's pass rather than anything else. The only thing is, without understandment and knowledge of what we are supposed to be learning, how are we going to pass these test.

What Are The Benefits Of Standardized Testing

Many students are smart and understand the content, but it doesn't show on test scores (Gregory J. Cizek, 2001). In essence, testing brings out stress in even the brightest of students, messing with their heads come test day. The facts show that from the 50 states, 700 school districts claim that standardardized tests are causing greater anxiety than the average everyday assessments (Joseph Spector, 2015). In conclusion, student achievement

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It is generally accepted that testing encourages and gauges students’ learning, although most students would agree that education would be a little bit more enjoyable if they took fewer tests, given that the tests contain a lot of marks at stake (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Hence, the idea of self-testing as a form of practice testing is a reasonable idea. When students do self-testing, they test their memory, what they have learned, what have they revised; anything they can recall from memory. Through this, they can gauge their own performance and where they stand in terms of comprehension and understanding, much like how teachers do when testing students. Hartwig and Dunlosky (2012) believe that “self-testing by recalling the target information boosts performance on subsequent recall and multiple-choice tests of the target information, and it also boosts performance on tests of comprehension” (p. 131).

Nt1310 Unit 3 Assignment 1 Language Analysis

・Describe what you did. This does not mean that you copy and paste from what you have posted or the assignments you have prepared. You need to describe what you did and how you did it. I read all lectures and understand the basic system of this class, it adopts because this is the first class, I should prepare for composing the program. I ・Describe

Is Standardized Testing Worst

Teachers are giving you pratice test after practice test trying to get you ready for the real one when they should be trying to teach you what you need to know for those tests. In the classroom,there are more opportunities for people to learn at their own pace and in their own way,but when taking all of the test they are required to take,it makes it harder and harder for that to happen,”It has been suggested that performance assessments, popularized as an important component in educational reform movements, will reduce differences among groups because they provide students with hands-on opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of how to solve problems rather than requiring students to simply recall facts” (Shavelson 4). When people are in any classroom setting they would much rather learn things to help them in their future they just recall facts that have no relevance to their lives or career choices. Preparing and studying for a test that revolve around topics that have no purdance in your life as well as a waste of time and money,yes in school you have to learn some things that you most likely will never use but that comes with being in school,but having a whole test revolve around things you will not need is just a waste. So why waste all that when you could use all that time and money for things that

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It's been said if you want to check yourself, explain the information to a fellow student. This help you know if you have understood the information. write down the important material to review it

Reflection Of A College Course

I was wrong. After not doing so well on the first two exams, I could not figure out what was wrong. I reached out to my professor who agreed to meet me and go over my exams. She told me that I must use the text book rather than the lecture notes. Ever since I have used the text book my exam score had increased by thirty percent.

More about Moment Of Truth Essay: The Moment Of Truth

Related topics.

• Psychometrics
• Educational psychology

Reflective Writing

“Reflection is a mode of inquiry: a deliberate way of systematically recalling writing experiences to reframe the current writing situation. It allows writers to recognize what they are doing in that particular moment (cognition), as well as to consider why they made the rhetorical choices they did (metacognition). The combination of cognition and metacognition, accessed through reflection, helps writers begin assessing themselves as writers, recognizing and building on their prior knowledge about writing.” —Kara Taczak, “Reflection is Critical for Writers’ Development” (78) Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies

Reflective writing assignments are common across the university. You may be asked to reflect on your learning, your writing, your personal experiences in relation to a theory or text, or your personal experiences in an internship or other type of experience in relation to course readings. These are assignments, as Kara Taczak notes, that offer opportunities to solidify knowledge about our experiences and how they might relate to others’ experiences and existing research. Moreso, reflection can lead to more informed understandings of our own experiences and course content in ways that may make that knowledge more useful in future classes and practice. However, often  reflective writing  is not taught as an explicit writing skill and can be problematically treated as a less rigorous form of writing. Below are some broad writing tips that can help not only your reflective writing to be stronger, but also the reflective inquiry to be more meaningful.

Collect relevant evidence before you start writing.

Yes–we recommend using  evidence  in reflective writing! When connecting personal experiences to the readings, that means selecting quotes from the readings and then coming up with specific moments in your life that relate to those quotes. When reflecting on learning or growth, that might mean locating evidence (quotes) from your previous papers that showcase growth.

Be specific.

It’s really easy to see reflective writing as more informal or casual, and thus, as requiring less attention to details; however, strong reflective writing is very precise and specific. Some examples of statements that are too vague and meaningless include, “I learned a lot about writing this semester.” Or, “I feel like my experiences are exactly as Author B says in this quote.” Neither of these statements tells us much–they are a bit devoid of content. Instead, try to name exactly what you learned about writing or exactly how your experiences are related to the quote. For example, you might reflect, “At the beginning of the semester, unsure of how to summarize a text well, I was just describing the main the idea of the text. However, after learning about Harris’ concept of capturing a writer’s “project,” I believe I have become better at really explaining a text as a whole. Specifically, in my last essay, I was able to provide a fully developed explanation of Author A’s argument and purpose for the essay as well as their materials and methods (that is, how they made the argument). For example, in this quote from my last essay,...”

Focus on a small moment from your experiences.

It’s hard to not want to recap our entire childhood or the full summer before something happened for context when sharing a personal story. However, it’s usually more effective to select a very specific moment in time and try to accurately describe what happened, who was involved, and how it made you feel and react. When writing about a moment, try to place readers there with you–help readers to understand what happened, who was involved, where it happened, why it happened, and what the results were. If this is a more creative assignment, you might even include some sensory descriptions to make the moment more of an experience for readers.

Fully explain the quote or focus of each point.

In reflective writing, you are usually asked to share your experiences in relation to something–a perspective in a text, learning about writing, the first-year experience, a summer internship, etc. When introducing this focal point, make sure you fully explain it. That is, explain what you think the quote means and provide a little summary for context. Or, if you’re reflecting on writing skills learned, before you jump to your learning and growth, stop to explain how you understand the writing skill itself–”what is analysis?,” for example. Usually, you want to fully explain the focus, explain your personal experiences with it, and then return to the significance of your experiences.

Use “I” when appropriate.

Often, in high schools, students are taught to abandon the first-person subject altogether in order to avoid over-use. However, reflective writing requires some use of “I.” You can’t talk about your experiences without using “I”! That being said, we’ve saved this advice for the bottom of the list because, as we hope the above tips suggest, there are a lot of important things that likely need explaining in addition to your personal experiences. That means you want to use “I” when appropriate, balancing your use of “I” with your explanation of the theory, quote, or situation you were in, for example.

Reflection conclusions can look forward to the future.

In the conclusion, you may want to ask and answer questions like:

• What is the significance of my experiences with X?
• What did I learn from reflecting on my experiences with Y?
• How might this reflective work inform future decisions?
• What specific tools or strategies did this activity use that might be employed in the future? When and why?

Write the reflection introduction last.

We always recommend writing introductions after you’ve drafted your entire essay–this allows you to actually introduce the specific essay you’ve already written (it’s easier to do and more likely to be strong). Reflective introductions have a little bit more flexibility. You do want to introduce the focus of your essay right away–and you might do that by naming it, by sharing a related anecdote, by naming a previously held idea/belief that has changed through learning happening during this course, or by explaining a reading or class discussion that make you curious about the focus you selected.

A Link to a PDF Handout of this Writing Guide

The Moment Of Truth For A Character

In this post, we look at the moment of truth for a character and how you should use it in your story.

The Spanish call it  el momento de la verdad . Hemingway made it famous. It is called the  Moment of Truth : the point in a bullfight at which the matador makes the final kill.

It is a breathlessly decisive moment and it is not easy to watch. It is the critical moment when the crowd—and the matador himself—find out if he really has what it takes to make the kill. It is the culmination of a deadly dance between the matador and the fighting bull.

In a story, the moment of truth is just as critical. It is the moment at which you pit your protagonist against his final and greatest challenge. It is the moment when your hero’s courage and skill is put to an extreme test. Will they achieve their story goal ? Do they—or don’t they—have what it takes to make the kill, either literally or metaphorically?

We need these moments in every genre . Here are some examples of a moment of truth for a character:

• Brutal choice.  A young princess must choose between the dashing but unpredictable man she loves and her role as monarch—to be queen, she must let her lover go and sever all ties with him and his family. This is a heart-breaking moment of truth in a historical romance .
• Family blood.  A grieving father realises that he loved the beautiful daughter who committed suicide more than his plain but resilient daughter and his only surviving child. When the father finds the honesty to share this with his daughter, it is cruel, yes, but ends their internecine war. A bleak moment of truth in a drama.
• To kill or not to kill?  A detective hell-bent on revenge tracks down the serial killer who has murdered several women—including the detective’s female partner—to a deserted warehouse. He has the killer at his mercy, a shard of glass to the killer’s throat. Will his rage consume him? Or will he let justice takes it course? This is a moment of truth in a thriller, a moment you could use to show the truth about your character’s morality and strength.

Choose  your moment of truth as a writer.

It doesn’t matter how you approach this moment in your story, screenplay, or novel, keep in mind the moment of truth must be extreme. It must be a critical test. Just like the cruel dance with a bull, it must be intimate, brutal, and deadly. It cuts through the heart. And it must reveal the truth, no matter how bloody or cruel.

• Getting Started – Seven Tips from Famous Writers
• The Locked Room – A simple way to test your plot
• Stamp out that cliché – How clichés and jargon can ruin your writing

TOP TIP: If you want to learn how to write a book, sign up for our  online course .

• Anthony Ehlers , Creating Characters

0 thoughts on “The Moment Of Truth For A Character”

Thanks for posting this. I caught myself at this exact moment in the story. I came to this forum hoping to find some kind of answer to my question and I got it right up top!

My problem now is that my character can (and has) handled the moment of truth, but I’m not so sure the author can.

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A complete guide to writing a reflective essay

(Last updated: 3 June 2024)

Since 2006, Oxbridge Essays has been the UK’s leading paid essay-writing and dissertation service

We have helped 10,000s of undergraduate, Masters and PhD students to maximise their grades in essays, dissertations, model-exam answers, applications and other materials. If you would like a free chat about your project with one of our UK staff, then please just reach out on one of the methods below.

“The overwhelming burden of writing my first ever reflective essay loomed over me as I sat as still as a statue, as my fingers nervously poised over the intimidating buttons on my laptop keyboard. Where would I begin? Where would I end? Nerve wracking thoughts filled my mind as I fretted over the seemingly impossible journey on which I was about to embark.”

Reflective essays may seem simple on the surface, but they can be a real stumbling block if you're not quite sure how to go about them. In simple terms, reflective essays constitute a critical examination of a life experience and, with the right guidance, they're not too challenging to put together. A reflective essay is similar to other essays in that it needs to be easily understood and well structured, but the content is more akin to something personal like a diary entry.

In this guide, we explore in detail how to write a great reflective essay , including what makes a good structure and some advice on the writing process. We’ve even thrown in an example reflective essay to inspire you too, making this the ultimate guide for anyone needing reflective essay help.

Types of Reflection Papers

There are several types of reflective papers, each serving a unique purpose. Educational reflection papers focus on your learning experiences, such as a course or a lecture, and how they have impacted your understanding. Professional reflection papers often relate to work experiences, discussing what you have learned in a professional setting and how it has shaped your skills and perspectives. Personal reflection papers delve into personal experiences and their influence on your personal growth and development.

Each of these requires a slightly different approach, but all aim to provide insight into your thoughts and experiences, demonstrating your ability to analyse and learn from them. Understanding the specific requirements of each type can help you tailor your writing to effectively convey your reflections.

Reflective Essay Format

In a reflective essay, a writer primarily examines his or her life experiences, hence the term ‘reflective’. The purpose of writing a reflective essay is to provide a platform for the author to not only recount a particular life experience, but to also explore how he or she has changed or learned from those experiences. Reflective writing can be presented in various formats, but you’ll most often see it in a learning log format or diary entry. Diary entries in particular are used to convey how the author’s thoughts have developed and evolved over the course of a particular period.

The format of a reflective essay may change depending on the target audience. Reflective essays can be academic, or may feature more broadly as a part of a general piece of writing for a magazine, for instance. For class assignments, while the presentation format can vary, the purpose generally remains the same: tutors aim to inspire students to think deeply and critically about a particular learning experience or set of experiences. Here are some typical examples of reflective essay formats that you may have to write:

A focus on personal growth:

A type of reflective essay often used by tutors as a strategy for helping students to learn how to analyse their personal life experiences to promote emotional growth and development. The essay gives the student a better understanding of both themselves and their behaviours.

A focus on the literature:

This kind of essay requires students to provide a summary of the literature, after which it is applied to the student’s own life experiences.

Pre-Writing Tips: How to Start Writing the Reflection Essay?

As you go about deciding on the content of your essay, you need to keep in mind that a reflective essay is highly personal and aimed at engaging the reader or target audience. And there’s much more to a reflective essay than just recounting a story. You need to be able to reflect (more on this later) on your experience by showing how it influenced your subsequent behaviours and how your life has been particularly changed as a result.

As a starting point, you might want to think about some important experiences in your life that have really impacted you, either positively, negatively, or both. Some typical reflection essay topics include: a real-life experience, an imagined experience, a special object or place, a person who had an influence on you, or something you have watched or read. If you are writing a reflective essay as part of an academic exercise, chances are your tutor will ask you to focus on a particular episode – such as a time when you had to make an important decision – and reflect on what the outcomes were. Note also, that the aftermath of the experience is especially important in a reflective essay; miss this out and you will simply be storytelling.

What Do You Mean By Reflection Essay?

It sounds obvious, but the reflective process forms the core of writing this type of essay, so it’s important you get it right from the outset. You need to really think about how the personal experience you have chosen to focus on impacted or changed you. Use your memories and feelings of the experience to determine the implications for you on a personal level.

Once you’ve chosen the topic of your essay, it’s really important you study it thoroughly and spend a lot of time trying to think about it vividly. Write down everything you can remember about it, describing it as clearly and fully as you can. Keep your five senses in mind as you do this, and be sure to use adjectives to describe your experience. At this stage, you can simply make notes using short phrases, but you need to ensure that you’re recording your responses, perceptions, and your experience of the event(s).

Once you’ve successfully emptied the contents of your memory, you need to start reflecting. A great way to do this is to pick out some reflection questions which will help you think deeper about the impact and lasting effects of your experience. Here are some useful questions that you can consider:

• What have you learned about yourself as a result of the experience?
• Have you developed because of it? How?
• Did it have any positive or negative bearing on your life?
• Looking back, what would you have done differently?
• Why do you think you made the particular choices that you did? Do you think these were the right choices?
• What are your thoughts on the experience in general? Was it a useful learning experience? What specific skills or perspectives did you acquire as a result?

These signpost questions should help kick-start your reflective process. Remember, asking yourself lots of questions is key to ensuring that you think deeply and critically about your experiences – a skill that is at the heart of writing a great reflective essay.

Consider using models of reflection (like the Gibbs or Kolb cycles) before, during, and after the learning process to ensure that you maintain a high standard of analysis. For example, before you really get stuck into the process, consider questions such as: what might happen (regarding the experience)? Are there any possible challenges to keep in mind? What knowledge is needed to be best prepared to approach the experience? Then, as you’re planning and writing, these questions may be useful: what is happening within the learning process? Is the process working out as expected? Am I dealing with the accompanying challenges successfully? Is there anything that needs to be done additionally to ensure that the learning process is successful? What am I learning from this? By adopting such a framework, you’ll be ensuring that you are keeping tabs on the reflective process that should underpin your work.

How to Strategically Plan Out the Reflective Essay Structure?

Here’s a very useful tip: although you may feel well prepared with all that time spent reflecting in your arsenal, do not, start writing your essay until you have worked out a comprehensive, well-rounded plan . Your writing will be so much more coherent, your ideas conveyed with structure and clarity, and your essay will likely achieve higher marks.

This is an especially important step when you’re tackling a reflective essay – there can be a tendency for people to get a little ‘lost’ or disorganised as they recount their life experiences in an erratic and often unsystematic manner as it is a topic so close to their hearts. But if you develop a thorough outline (this is the same as a ‘plan’) and ensure you stick to it like Christopher Columbus to a map, you should do just fine as you embark on the ultimate step of writing your essay. If you need further convincing on how important planning is, we’ve summarised the key benefits of creating a detailed essay outline below:

An outline allows you to establish the basic details that you plan to incorporate into your paper – this is great for helping you pick out any superfluous information, which can be removed entirely to make your essay succinct and to the point.

Think of the outline as a map – you plan in advance the points you wish to navigate through and discuss in your writing. Your work will more likely have a clear through line of thought, making it easier for the reader to understand. It’ll also help you avoid missing out any key information, and having to go back at the end and try to fit it in.

It’s a real time-saver! Because the outline essentially serves as the essay’s ‘skeleton’, you’ll save a tremendous amount of time when writing as you’ll be really familiar with what you want to say. As such, you’ll be able to allocate more time to editing the paper and ensuring it’s of a high standard.

Now you’re familiar with the benefits of using an outline for your reflective essay, it is essential that you know how to craft one. It can be considerably different from other typical essay outlines, mostly because of the varying subjects. But what remains the same, is that you need to start your outline by drafting the introduction, body and conclusion. More on this below.

Introduction

As is the case with all essays, your reflective essay must begin within an introduction that contains both a hook and a thesis statement. The point of having a ‘hook’ is to grab the attention of your audience or reader from the very beginning. You must portray the exciting aspects of your story in the initial paragraph so that you stand the best chances of holding your reader’s interest. Refer back to the opening quote of this article – did it grab your attention and encourage you to read more? The thesis statement is a brief summary of the focus of the essay, which in this case is a particular experience that influenced you significantly. Remember to give a quick overview of your experience – don’t give too much information away or you risk your reader becoming disinterested.

Next up is planning the body of your essay. This can be the hardest part of the entire paper; it’s easy to waffle and repeat yourself both in the plan and in the actual writing. Have you ever tried recounting a story to a friend only for them to tell you to ‘cut the long story short’? They key here is to put plenty of time and effort into planning the body, and you can draw on the following tips to help you do this well:

Try adopting a chronological approach. This means working through everything you want to touch upon as it happened in time. This kind of approach will ensure that your work is systematic and coherent. Keep in mind that a reflective essay doesn’t necessarily have to be linear, but working chronologically will prevent you from providing a haphazard recollection of your experience. Lay out the important elements of your experience in a timeline – this will then help you clearly see how to piece your narrative together.

Ensure the body of your reflective essay is well focused and contains appropriate critique and reflection. The body should not only summarise your experience, it should explore the impact that the experience has had on your life, as well as the lessons that you have learned as a result. The emphasis should generally be on reflection as opposed to summation. A reflective posture will not only provide readers with insight on your experience, it’ll highlight your personality and your ability to deal with or adapt to particular situations.

In the conclusion of your reflective essay, you should focus on bringing your piece together by providing a summary of both the points made throughout, and what you have learned as a result. Try to include a few points on why and how your attitudes and behaviours have been changed. Consider also how your character and skills have been affected, for example: what conclusions can be drawn about your problem-solving skills? What can be concluded about your approach to specific situations? What might you do differently in similar situations in the future? What steps have you taken to consolidate everything that you have learned from your experience? Keep in mind that your tutor will be looking out for evidence of reflection at a very high standard.

Congratulations – you now have the tools to create a thorough and accurate plan which should put you in good stead for the ultimate phase indeed of any essay, the writing process.

Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Your Reflective Essay

As with all written assignments, sitting down to put pen to paper (or more likely fingers to keyboard) can be daunting. But if you have put in the time and effort fleshing out a thorough plan, you should be well prepared, which will make the writing process as smooth as possible. The following points should also help ease the writing process:

• To get a feel for the tone and format in which your writing should be, read other typically reflective pieces in magazines and newspapers, for instance.
• Don’t think too much about how to start your first sentence or paragraph; just start writing and you can always come back later to edit anything you’re not keen on. Your first draft won’t necessarily be your best essay writing work but it’s important to remember that the earlier you start writing, the more time you will have to keep reworking your paper until it’s perfect. Don’t shy away from using a free-flow method, writing and recording your thoughts and feelings on your experiences as and when they come to mind. But make sure you stick to your plan. Your plan is your roadmap which will ensure your writing doesn’t meander too far off course.
• For every point you make about an experience or event, support it by describing how you were directly impacted, using specific as opposed to vague words to convey exactly how you felt.
• Write using the first-person narrative, ensuring that the tone of your essay is very personal and reflective of your character.
• If you need to, refer back to our notes earlier on creating an outline. As you work through your essay, present your thoughts systematically, remembering to focus on your key learning outcomes.
• Consider starting your introduction with a short anecdote or quote to grasp your readers’ attention, or other engaging techniques such as flashbacks.
• Choose your vocabulary carefully to properly convey your feelings and emotions. Remember that reflective writing has a descriptive component and so must have a wide range of adjectives to draw from. Avoid vague adjectives such as ‘okay’ or ‘nice’ as they don’t really offer much insight into your feelings and personality. Be more specific – this will make your writing more engaging.
• Be honest with your feelings and opinions. Remember that this is a reflective task, and is the one place you can freely admit – without any repercussions – that you failed at a particular task. When assessing your essay, your tutor will expect a deep level of reflection, not a simple review of your experiences and emotion. Showing deep reflection requires you to move beyond the descriptive. Be extremely critical about your experience and your response to it. In your evaluation and analysis, ensure that you make value judgements, incorporating ideas from outside the experience you had to guide your analysis. Remember that you can be honest about your feelings without writing in a direct way. Use words that work for you and are aligned with your personality.
• Once you’ve finished learning about and reflecting on your experience, consider asking yourself these questions: what did I particularly value from the experience and why? Looking back, how successful has the process been? Think about your opinions immediately after the experience and how they differ now, so that you can evaluate the difference between your immediate and current perceptions. Asking yourself such questions will help you achieve reflective writing effectively and efficiently.
• Don’t shy away from using a variety of punctuation. It helps keeps your writing dynamic! Doesn’t it?
• If you really want to awaken your reader’s imagination, you can use imagery to create a vivid picture of your experiences.
• Ensure that you highlight your turning point, or what we like to call your “Aha!” moment. Without this moment, your resulting feelings and thoughts aren’t as valid and your argument not as strong.
• Don’t forget to keep reiterating the lessons you have learned from your experience.

Bonus Tip - Using Wider Sources

Although a reflective piece of writing is focused on personal experience, it’s important you draw on other sources to demonstrate your understanding of your experience from a theoretical perspective. It’ll show a level of analysis – and a standard of reliability in what you’re claiming – if you’re also able to validate your work against other perspectives that you find. Think about possible sources, like newspapers, surveys, books and even journal articles. Generally, the additional sources you decide to include in your work are highly dependent on your field of study. Analysing a wide range of sources, will show that you have read widely on your subject area, that you have nuanced insight into the available literature on the subject of your essay, and that you have considered the broader implications of the literature for your essay. The incorporation of other sources into your essay also helps to show that you are aware of the multi-dimensional nature of both the learning and problem-solving process.

Reflective Essay Example

If you want some inspiration for writing, take a look at our example of a short reflective essay , which can serve as a useful starting point for you when you set out to write your own.

Some Final Notes to Remember

To recap, the key to writing a reflective essay is demonstrating what lessons you have taken away from your experiences, and why and how you have been shaped by these lessons.

The reflective thinking process begins with you – you must consciously make an effort to identify and examine your own thoughts in relation to a particular experience. Don’t hesitate to explore any prior knowledge or experience of the topic, which will help you identify why you have formed certain opinions on the subject. Remember that central to reflective essay writing is the examination of your attitudes, assumptions and values, so be upfront about how you feel. Reflective writing can be quite therapeutic, helping you identify and clarify your strengths and weaknesses, particularly in terms of any knowledge gaps that you may have. It’s a pretty good way of improving your critical thinking skills, too. It enables you to adopt an introspective posture in analysing your experiences and how you learn/make sense of them.

If you are still having difficulties with starting the writing process, why not try mind-mapping which will help you to structure your thinking and ideas, enabling you to produce a coherent piece. Creating a mind map will ensure that your argument is written in a very systematic way that will be easy for your tutor to follow. Here’s a recap of the contents of this article, which also serves as a way to create a mind map:

1. Identify the topic you will be writing on.

2. Note down any ideas that are related to the topic and if you want to, try drawing a diagram to link together any topics, theories, and ideas.

3. Allow your ideas to flow freely, knowing that you will always have time to edit your reflective essay .

4. Consider how your ideas are connected to each other, then begin the writing process.

And finally, keep in mind that although there are descriptive elements in a reflective essay, we can’t emphasise enough how crucial it is that your work is critical, analytical, and adopts a reflective posture in terms of your experience and the lessons you have learned from it.

Essay exams: how to answer ‘To what extent…’

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