Payload Moments
What Is a payload moment, you ask?
It is the moment when the readers get their payoff for the effort they put into reading the story by telling them something they really want to know or by broadening the horizons of the current canvas, hinting at something greater than they had been expecting.
It is the thing that makes reading the story worthwhile.
When you sit down to write a payload moment, what you have to ask yourself is: what can go in this scene that will take what has already been established and build on it?
What action, revelation, or interpretation will make the reader go “ah!” or “oh, of course!” or even “oh, no!”
The payload moment is the thing that lazy writers leave out. If you read a book and its premise is interesting but the actual story is merely okay, meh, it is probably short on payload moments.
Types of Payloads
Payload falls into two categories: scene payload and character payload.
Scene payload is the moment in the scene that has this quality: A revelation, an answer to a plot question, a new way of looking at the situation, a glimpse of something greater, something beyond the current experience.
Character payload is usually revelation—motives, secrets, that sort of thing. The secret reasons behind what the character is doing. The true motive that is pushing them to act as they act.
If you suddenly discover that the villain is committing his heinous acts because the man the hero killed in chapter one was the villain’s father—that is a character payload moment.
Wanted: Payload Moments
Every short story needs at least one payload moment…something that turns some premise on its head and gives the reader a new appreciation of what is being told.
Every novel should have a small payload moment in every chapter or major scene—the thing that makes the scene come alive and drive the reader to keep going—tying the current scene into the ongoing plot or even into the very nature of the universe itself.
This is also true of fight scenes and sex scenes. Each one should have some moment that lifts the reader out of the immediate scene for just a moment, something that moves the plot along or heightens awareness, drawing the reader into something greater.
Villains should reveal something important during a fight, and romantic partners should learn more about each other or reveal secrets.
Ideally, every character should have at least one paragraph/scene where they reveal their inner motivation.
Revelation of motive makes a great payload moment. That is an example of character payload.
Greater things? What’s that?
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Art and Craft of Writing to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.