Unfortunately this form can also be trivialized by accepting the notion that a recognition is a solution. A sullen girl realizes that her haughty mother loved her all the time, and the haughty mother realizes that she must express her love for her sullen daughter more openly, and now all their problems are solved and they go shopping together. That simplistic psychology suits genres that require optimistic endings for problems. But serious fiction is expected to deal with complex human emotions more deeply and perceptively.

Another clichéd device in popular fiction is having the realization depend on some sort of coincidence, like a chance eavesdropping. That’s not only overused, but it depends on so many coincidences that it seems contrived by the writer rather than a natural development of personality and situation.

The texture of experience is extremely important for the Aha! story—readers need to feel the experience, the emotions, and the insight with the character. If this story is all external detail, the realization seems to come from nowhere. If the story is all internal thoughts, the character seems to be nowhere.