Story Sorcery®

The Porch Scene | 14


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You read back through your big ending and it's... disappointing. Technically, it hits all the right beats, but it feels kinda meh. So you make it bigger. You add more dialogue, more stakes, more feelings. And somehow it gets worse. In episode 14, I'm walking you through why the scene that actually earns your hero's big moment isn't near the finale at all, and why you might have already cut it for "not moving the plot forward".

You'll learn:

  • Why making your ending bigger (more dialogue, more stakes, more feelings) only makes it feel more forced
  • What the "porch scene" is and why your reader will feel it even when your hero never acknowledges what's happening
  • How a hero uses their Augmentation to show (not tell) you they're actually changing
  • The one question to run on your mid-story scenes this week to tell whether your hero is really growing or just wearing a different emotional outfit

This 30-minute episode is for romance writers who can tell your ending isn't hitting the way the way you intended, and you've been trying to fix it by adding more. By the end, you'll know why that instinct backfires and where in your draft the real character-growth work needs to happen instead.

Resources from this episode:

  • Related article: Why some heroes wreck you (and others are forgettable)podcast.suebrownmoore.com/heroes-that-wreck-you
  • Related article: The four stages of a Turning Point momentpodcast.suebrownmoore.com/turning-point
  • Related article: The 5 stages of your hero's growth arcpodcast.suebrownmoore.com/5-phases
  • Related article: The 4 types of Augmentations (hero self-protections) → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/armor
  • Learn the timeline dot method: Cake, Not Chaos: The Moment To Moment Method workshop replay (live inside E2E) → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/expert
  • Community: Join Enemies to Experts → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/expert
  • More Resources: Learn from Sue at your own pace → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/learn

  • Why Some Heroes Wreck You (& Others Are Unforgettable)
  • The 4 stages of the Turning Point moment
  • Hero “Armor” (Augmentations CCV) - Free article: The 4 types of hero defenses that affect your story’s scenes → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/armor
  • Liar, Liar, Plot on Fire - Learn about my workshop course and the 5 questions to diagnose plot problems → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/liar-liar
  • Enemies To Experts™ - Learn more about the Enemies To Experts™ program with Sue Brown-Moore. Because falling in love with your manuscript starts with understanding it.
  • The 5 Growth Phases - Free article: The 5 stages of every character arc → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/5-phases

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Story Sorcery®By Sue Brown-Moore