The Epiphany

“Suddenly I realized.” The amateur storyteller likes to use this as the turning point for almost any tale. What it really means in real life is that the solution or right thing to do about the situation was right there all along, but either denial or dramatic irony kept the main character from deciding. Things suddenly realized for real are things like finding out the actual temperature of a tasty-looking drink. Your tongue had no inkling that your morning latte, though it had been sitting on your desk for ten minutes, was still in excess of 120 degrees Fahrenheit. You don’t, however, suddenly realize that your boyfriend must be cheating on you – you’ve gotten the hang-up phone calls, the late-night-at-the-office schtick. You don’t realize when you already know. Unless you’re writing for TV, dramatic irony will make an editor cringe.