Plot Points and Turning Points: Doorways to the Unknown
Every major story framework has a beginning, middle, and end. Three-Act Structure or the Save the Cat Beat Sheet, three sections or seventeen, how up and down you take your readers. It’s in each section that plot points and turning points land.
Although they may sound like the same thing, they serve very different purposes within a novel. Plot points are the doorways that, once your protagonist has crossed the threshold, there is no going back. They grab your readers’ attention and make them wonder what on Gaia’s green earth is going to happen next. By and large, these moments come in the middle of a particular section, the peak of the narrative roller coaster.
Photo by Milo Bauman on Unsplash
Turning points, on the other hand, are best defined as the moment the character actively decides the path they’re going to take. Authors use whole scenes or chapters, or they create a single decision or event that produces a marked change in your protagonist’s arc. Indeed, Jessica Morell says, “These moments, always shown via action, usually have an emotional change that comes with them.”
Today, I’ll talk about the difference between plot points and turning points, and how they work together to take your characters down the road less traveled on their way to a new way of being and living.
What Are Plot Points?
Remember that story tropes offer inroads into plot points. Tropes inform you of expectations readers have coming in as to the journey they’ll experience throughout your story. Another reminder is that the beginning, middle, dark moment, and ending must be covered to give readers what they want and need.
Joe Bunting teaches that
[Structure] gives you a way to think about story that can help you come up with ideas when you’ve run out. They can help you choose between the different directions your story might go. And they can help you evaluate what’s working in your story, and what’s not.
(emphasis in original)
No matter the framework you choose, there are seven understood plot point events within a story. Whichever name they go by, though, I define them here for your reference.
Hook
Just like in fishing, the hook is literally what initially grabs your reader’s attention. This can be the cover design, story blurb, or even the first few pages. Whichever form of hook you choose, this is what makes your reader want to read on.
Humans are visual species, so whether we admit it or not, we all judge books by their covers. It says everything about the genre, characters, and potential conflicts inside. Secondly, while the first line is important, it’s those first few paragraphs (or chapters) that truly engage the reader and has them at the very least curious about what will happen next.
First Plot Point: Inciting Incident
The inciting incident is the event(s) that draws the character into the new situation that’s disrupted their current way of being. When and where this incident takes place depends on the story you’re trying to tell and the genre it explores.
Of course, characters react differently to particular incidents. It’s built on the framework you’ve chosen in addition to how you’ve elected to personalize that framework to fit the ultimate story you want to tell.
First Pinch Point: The Awakening
The awakening happens during the rising action. Though your protagonist may still react to external events, they learn more about themselves during and after those events.
Conflicts abound. Alliances are formed and tested and broken. Each win emboldens them. Each loss chips away at their confidence. Yet the right plot points force them to continue their journey.
Midpoint: Enlightenment
The midpoint is all about that moment your protagonist changes irrevocably. Prior to this, they might still hold out hope that things can go back to the way they were before. They can still opt out of participating in the conflict, or even let someone else take the reins. Yet, in that moment, they choose instead to accept that this new direction is the only option to get to the other side of the conflict.
The midpoint occurs roughly in the middle of the story (obviously). That doesn’t mean it happens at the exact 50-percent mark, though. Midpoints happen anywhere between 45–60 percent into the story. One option you can take is giving yourself a total word count goal. This goal serves to guide when and where your story’s midpoint best fits.
Final Pinch Point: Death Experience
In due time, your protagonist fully accepts their newfound agency. They actively take the fight to the antagonist. They become more effective in planning their strategies. The lessons learned in the first half of the journey play a bigger role in how they approach future conflicts.
Most importantly, your protagonist fully relinquishes their preexisting way of life. It’s one thing to know things can’t go back to the way they were before. It’s another—more impactful—moment when they choose to move forward as this new version of themself.
Final Plot Point: Dark Night
In queer romance, and especially in queer romantic suspense, the Dark Night of the Soul requires devastating your protagonist. By that, I mean shoving them into that pit of despair where all seems lost.
They’ve tried everything they can to save their relationship, to overcome obstacles real and imagined. This doesn’t have to be a third-act breakup, per se, of course. Still, your protagonist tried and feels they ultimately failed in their external goal. As a result, their mind and heart simultaneously tell them they’re stuck in this darkness forever. Their goal isn’t worth fighting for anymore.
Resolution: Climax, Resolution, and Denouement
The resolution is a three-part plot point. Your protagonist fights through the despair of their Black Moment. They shatter their emotional chains, fully free to be who they were always meant to be. With this newfound self-acceptance, they take the fight to their external antagonist.
Whether your protagonist wins or loses? That depends on the final lesson your story imparts, both on your character and the reader. Regardless, they head into their new way of living with that final lesson embedded in their core.
A Word of Advice
Plot points don’t have to be overly shocking moments. While they do serve as a shock to the characters themselves, sometimes it’s best to gently send your readers into a new direction they didn’t see coming. Nudge them just enough that they recognize something major has happened.
David G. Brown reinforces this when he talks about the emotional draw of your narrative.
The standard plot points [. . .] keep readers engaged, anticipatory, and turning pages. In other words, conventional plot points help you shape your narrative in a way that takes your readers’ emotional experience into account.
(emphasis added)
What Are Turning Points?
Plot points bring more complication to your story. They get the reader invested in the story’s resolution. On the other hand, think of turning points as character reactions to previous external events. These points are the “end” of a story section. Whether for good or bad, characters must choose which direction to take next.
Queer romance in particular offers excellent moments to use as turning points. Your protagonist shows their vulnerability to their love interest. In that moment, the suspense comes from them not knowing how the other person will respond.
Moreover, turning points force your protagonist to confront someone or something. They raise the stakes of your narrative as the story progresses. They’re the threshold your character passes through into the next section of your story. In balancing with the plot points, turning points create the narrative arc that your readers willingly traverse.
The Road Less Traveled: Making the Hard Decisions
September C. Fawkes posits, “One of the quickest ways to gauge if a turning point has happened, is to ask if the character’s current goal or plan has shifted in some way. If the answer is yes, you likely hit a turning point.”
If you struggle with when and where to put your plot points or turning points, here’s some questions to ask.
- What’s my story’s central theme? Which event or choice best shows this?
- Where are the crucial plot points? What decisions must be made before, during, and after these points?
- How does this play into or create a point of no return? Have I ensured this moment was inevitable yet unpredictable?
To put it simply, your characters must make decisions that change the direction they move in, both internally and externally. Those decisions move readers to keep reading. They either identify with that decision, and they grumble and groan at your protagonist’s inability to see the obvious.
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To Sum It All Up
Plot points are those necessary and expected moments of change that readers know are coming at certain points in the story. A strong plot is built on cause and effect, and plot points are the causes side of the equation.
Turning points, on the other hand, provide a bit of suspense. By that I mean that no one (the character or the reader) knows which choice will be made, which path will be traversed. Most importantly, they can’t anticipate the coming ramifications of that choice. David G. Brown, in the same article, says,
A strong plot is a chain of consequence. The first chain link is the inciting incident, the last is the climax, and every link in between represents the ways in which the protagonist’s actions, reactions, and interactions in some way determine what comes next.
Your turning points link your plot points. As such, they ensure a seamless transition your readers both know is coming yet can’t wait to follow.
Sure, plot points are the emotional heights. It’s the turning points, though, that keep them reading into the next section of events.
Reflecting On Your Story One Word At A Time!
