Day: October 31, 2025

Midpoints Are Powerful Moments

Lester

In my current project, I had planned a Midpoint where everything changes when the protagonist moves from being reactive and to being proactive. I’ve had several ideas for that moment, the first of which had been the baby dragon asking Hope to teach him how to read, which made Hope realize he wasn’t an animal, or a pet. He was as much a person as she was. After that, I bounced around a few times with other Midpoint ideas.

As an orphan child in a dystopian society, Hope’s survival is a daily struggle. She suffers anxiety, depression, and loneliness. She assumes she will always exist in daily despair. Every evening she cries. Furthermore, she dislikes change preferring her days to be predictable. After working so hard to learn what she needed to know to survive, and having built a decent existence for herself and the baby dragon, she didn’t want change to cause her to end up with less than what she had.

However, change in enviable. Two changes Hope faced were: She was growing and was no longer able to hide in the shadows, and the baby dragon she cared for was growing and would soon no longer fit in the lair where they hide. Their lives had to change, and Hope had to face that change.

Then, something happened that I had not planned. After Hope successfully moves the baby dragon to a new hiding place, the following words appeared on the page.

Yes, this change had been a good change, the right change. She embraced the change. For the first time in many nights, Hope didn’t cry. Hope smiled.

Oh my! Hope had changed in a way I had not anticipated. Hope no longer cries. She was truly becoming a new person beyond what I had planned. This magic writing moment brought me to tears, and it perfectly sets up the second half of the story.

Midpoints are powerful moments. I love Midpoints.

Story structure chart showing story plot point named Beginning, Inciting Incident, Plot Point 1, Pinch Point 1, Midpoint Plot Point 2, Pinch Point 2, Plot Point 3, and Climax. Under each are details about what happens. Quartile 1, Story opens with a killer hook, Setup and foreshadowing the core story, Introduce the main character and antagonist, Pre-core-story life and situation, Create empathy and emotional resonance, Set up the mechanics of the forthcoming First Plot Point, Place the whole thing in a vivid and vicarious story world environment, In this first part is the Instigating Incident that leads to Plot Point 1. The Hook has the Opening scene, First thing that happens, and Possibly the first line. Plot Point 1 is where Story experiences a reboot, a new direction, Ignite the core story from seeds planted in the opening quartile, Launches a mission, Most important moment in a story. Then Quartile 2 where Hero is responding to the situation, Further exposition, Elements of vicarious experience for reader. Then, Pinch Point 1 which is the Next important moment in a story, Can be more of these, as long as at least two appear: in middle of quartiles 2 and 3, Reminder about the source of antagonism in the story, A reminder of the magnitude of the hero's problem, then after Pinch Point 1, Continue responding to the story problem. The Midpoint Plot Point 2 is Second most important moment in a story, Change context of the hero's experience from response mode into active mode, Character arc perspective evolves from "wanderer" into "warrior", Leveraging new knowledge or change imparted at the Midpoint moment, Pace and dramatic tension of story increase palpably, The proximity of confrontation, danger, and salvation draws near, Midpoint is where the main character begins to get their hero on. Then, Quartile 3, New context of the hero as warrior/attacker of the main problem. Next is Pinch Point 2, Things go wrong as a reminder of what could go wrong, Hero has more risk and more work before core story problem/opportunity will be resolved. After Pinch Point 2, Continue to work, attack the problem with a new plan., Next is Quartile 4, Final chase scene, or push toward the moment of truth, or a confrontation, Aftermath, with Plot Point 3 being, All Is lost Darkest Moment, Utter upheaval, Hero Appears Beaten or Lost but Something Happens to Turn the Situation Around, Hero Draws Upon the New Strengths or Lessons He's Learned, Hero's Goal Becomes Reachable. Then Climactic Moment, Protagonist's goal met, Physically impossibility for the conflict to continue. Lastly, Resolution, Ease reader out of the excitement of the Climax and into the final emotion
Story Structure