Story Turning Points for Plotters and Pantsers

Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, knowing these three points in your novel can make the difference between a well-constructed story and a lackluster one. Here they are ⬇

TURNING POINT 1 – The 25% Mark

Turning Point 1 is the reason your protagonist is part of the story at all and effectively launches your protagonist into the story. Your reader needs some lead time to get to know and like your character before they’re going to care about what decision your character will make. And the decision to act will usher your protagonist along their mission path.

✔ Define your protagonist’s need and mission going forward
✔ Provide a sudden shift, be it a new deal, a new path, or another form of newness that persuades your protagonist to act upon the new thing.

TURNING POINT 2 – The 50% Mark

Turning Point 2 is the point at which the overall mission of your protagonist changes. Here, something big is going to change when your protagonist faces an unexpected twist and receives new information that changes their contextual experience and understanding of their mission path.

✔ Empower your protagonist to move from wandering along the path to coming a hero and threshing their own path forward.
✔ Provide a change that alters the protagonist’s (and the reader’s) understanding of what is going on.

TURNING POINT 3 – The 75% Mark

Turning Point 3 is the last time your protagonist receives new information along their mission path. From this point on, the only changes left to come are those transformative ones that cement your protagonist as the hero of their own story and ultimately shifts your story so that your protagonist can solve the problem they’re facing and neatly resolve the mission path for your readers.

✔ Springboard your protagonist into the final boss battle and equip them for the coming resolution
✔ Unleash a piece of new information for your protagonist that is powerful and meaningful, both for resolving the problem but also to build for them a new understanding.

Have a story planning tip to share? Leave a comment below!

Happy writing and editing!

<3 Fal
www.FallonEdits.com