Craft Focus: False Highs & Hard Falls
This week’s craft focus in Page Turner Planning is about one of the most emotionally potent moments in storytelling: the false high followed by the hard fall.
These are the scenes readers remember because they mirror real life so precisely. The moment when everything seems to click…only to unravel. The win that isn’t a win. The relief that lasts just long enough to hurt when it disappears.
In fiction, this is where momentum deepens instead of stalls.
The first exercise in Page Turner Planning is to write the heart-drop moment. Draft a scene where your protagonist genuinely believes they’ve succeeded. Let them celebrate. Let them breathe. Let them imagine the future they think they’ve secured. And then—take it away. The setback should be personal, not abstract. It should cost them something that matters emotionally, not just plot-wise. This is where hope sharpens the pain.
The second exercise is to write a short regrouping scene where your character reassesses. This is where they stop chasing what they wanted and begin moving toward what they need.
These two beats together are what turn motion into meaning. And if I’m being honest, I’m living inside this craft focus right now.
I’m reassessing my goals very early in 2026. My Jem Johnson books aren’t breaking even anymore. Not because they failed. Because I started advertising them. The ROAS (return on ad spend) is hovering below where I want it, and I recognize this phase. I’ve seen it before with both Shanae and Ines when I first pushed their direct stores.
I know what comes next: tweaking the sales page, adjusting the ad, refining the offer—one variable at a time. Heat maps. Spreadsheets. Patience.
I also know myself well enough to admit that I don’t want to do that work right now.
I brazenly assumed I’d crack this genre immediately because of past success. But the truth is, my “overnight” success with Ines took six years. Shanae was faster—but still not instant. Jem was never going to be different just because I wished it so.
I loved writing those later in life love stories. I just don’t feel like marketing them at the moment. So I’m pausing the experiment.
I’ve considered moving Jem under Shanae, but the open-door sex scenes are integral to the books. That would require a full rewrite, and that’s not the work this season is asking of me. I’ve also considered folding Jem into Ines. That might work—Ines does have contemporary titles—but I’m not forcing a decision yet.
Instead, I’m regrouping with purpose.
Right now, that means focusing on two clear directions for Ines Johnson. She’s writing two longer, darker books—and at the same time launching a new fantasy series that’s shorter, lighter, fun, and spicy.
This is what the exercise looks like in real life. False highs. Hard falls. Honest reassessment. A shift toward what actually fits right now.
So this week, I invite you to do the same on the page.
Where does your protagonist think they’ve won—only to lose something vital?
What truth does that loss force them to confront?
And how does that realization change the direction of the story?
These moments aren’t detours. They’re the turning points that make the ending earned.
And if your own writing life is echoing this pattern right now, you’re not behind.
You’re right on time.
I’ll be putting these on Amazon and the other retailers soon. Just gotta get through the rest of my To Do List first 😆