What is a “Hollow Victory”?
In writing, a “hollow victory” happens when the character gets what she wants, but ultimately isn’t thrilled about it. It’s as if the character feels “hollow”–empty, unfulfilled, unhappy.
Simplistically speaking, it works like this:
The protagonist has a goal.
She runs into antagonists, which creates escalating conflict.
At the peak of the conflict, she succeeds (at least seemingly).
And so everything should be amazing . . . right?
Only something seems to be missing . . . so the victory didn’t land how the character imagined.
This all breaks down more, and we can get more detailed. Let’s talk about this in relation to structure.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 