Carl's Moment Of Realization

Poul Anderson, Vault Of The Ages, Chapter 12.

Carl, Tom and Owl are prisoners in the Lann camp, tied up and guarded at night. How to escape?

"The idea came all at once. A thin and desperate plan, but - Go ahead! Do it now, at once, before its hopelessness chilled the limbs with fear." (p. 121)

Here we have all the elements of an Andersonian moment of realization. Anderson's heroes are excellent role models: practical, proactive problem-solvers.

The elements:

our hero is faced with a life-or-death problem;

he sudden realizes a long-shot possible solution (the hero often freezes, goes rigid etc but Carl can't do that tied up);

we are not yet told what the solution is - we can damned well work it out for ourselves or wait to be told when the solution is actioned!