In my previous post on plotters and pantsers, I discussed plot and pinch points. In this article, I explain what they are. This is a long one.
There are, broadly, two kinds of modern fiction writing: literature and commercial fiction. I will go into the basics of those later. This article is about commercial fiction, which is the sort of fiction you buy to experience a good, entertaining story. Either commercial or literary fiction can be genre fiction; Frankenstein is an example of literary science fiction. That said, most writing done in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, romance, and mystery is commercial fiction.
If you want to experiment with story structure, or if you want your story read by legions of high school Sophomores and college English majors, write literature. If you want to make money and tell a story that sells well, write commercially–and that means sticking to structure. Structure isn’t formulaic at all, but it will keep your middle from sagging and deliver a satisfying ending. And, once you learn it, you will see it in movies and commercial fiction all over the place. Pixar and Disney movies are both great for studying story structure, by the way.
The title-cased vocabulary terms I use below come from KM Weiland’s book Five Secrets of Story Structure. I highly recommend that book. It’s short, but clearly written, and it explains all of these things to a greater degree than I’m doing here. Save the Cat uses different names for the same ideas.
Broadly, structure goes like this:
0% to 10-12.5%: This is the hook of your story. Here, you introduce your main character, the setting, the world, and get the ball rolling. Typically you will start the story with something minor happening that the main character reacts to as they go about their normal life. This doesn’t include prologues; I will discuss prologues later.
At the 10-12.5% of the story you have the Inciting Event. (Not the “Inciting Incident!” That infelicitous, ugly-sounding, repetitive phrase makes my editor’s heart recoil in disgust.) The inciting event is when something happens that starts the plot rolling. It seriously affects the protagonist, but the protagonist can still resume a normal life.
12.5-25%: The character reacts to the Inciting Event and is talked around to getting on with the story. At about 20% or so, the character will make a Key Decision, which leads to the end of Act 1 at the 25% mark. (Note: The original Star Wars trilogy has their acts change at 33% marks, and each comes with a setting change, but movies made after the 1980s typically follow this format.)
At the 25% mark, the First Plot Point, the protagonist irreversibly becomes involved with the plot. This is the Point of No Return. If you’ve seen The Wizard of Oz, this is the point where the house lands in Munchkinland. In Big Hero 6, this is the point where Takashi dies. In The Princess Bride, this is the point where Buttercup is kidnapped.
25-37%: The protagonists of the story start to try to reach their goal, whatever it is. Here they’re typically reacting to the plot or villain. They don’t quite have their feet under them. They try, and fail, and try, and fail.
37%: This is the First Pinch Point. You must have your villain introduced by this point. Here, the villain says or does something that sets back the protagonist in some fashion. The Wicked Witch of the West lights the Scarecrow on fire. Kabuki Man chases Hiro back to his home with the nanobots. That sort of thing. Even if the villain just says something that sets in motion a significant problem for the protagonists, as Darth Vader does in Episode 4, the villain gains the upper hand in some fashion.
37-50%: The protagonist rallies and gains more information about the nature of the struggle they’re in, but is still in react mode. The try-fail-try-fail series continues. The protagonist might assemble some friends to help them out if this is an ensemble cast story.
50%: This is the Second Plot Point, also known as the Midpoint. Here the protag has some sort of big, dramatic scene that gives the protagonist the clue they need to start acting instead of reacting. In romances, the protags acknowledge (at least to themselves) that they’re in love, or they have sex, or kiss for the first time. In a mystery, the protag might learn that what he’s pursuing is a red herring. In a thriller, the protag discovers the nature of the villain she’s been tracking. A battle might occur. Dorothy talks to the Wizard, in the Wizard of Oz. The Six-Fingered Man knocks out Westley in The Princess Bride. Some sort of big event happens. Check the 50% mark (remove the minutes for the credits) in a movie, or flip to about the 50% mark of your favorite book and see what’s happening there.
50-62%: The protags are now on the correct course, but they’re still try-fail-try-fail cycling. Usually they’re feeling pretty upbeat, even if they’re bloodied from the big set piece at the Midpoint.
62%: The Second Pinch Point. “The empire strikes back.” The bad guy delivers another significant blow of some sort. Although the protag is now on the right track, it’s still going to be one heck of a fight.
62-75%: Things aren’t going as well for the protag as they could be OR things are going swimmingly well for the protag. The protag is circling in on what they need to win the day.
75%: The Third Plot Point, sometimes called the Dark Night of the Soul. The hero loses, and loses badly. Dorothy is captured by the Wicked Witch and condemned to die in one hour. Westley is killed. Hiro abandons/loses all his friends. In a romance, this might be the point at which the protags have sworn their love for each other but can now no longer be together because the villain has forced their separation.
75-88%: Rally to the climax. The protag must climb out of the Pit of Despair and fight back. The fight generally reaches its height at around 88% of the book.
Roughly 85-95%: The Climax, or the Third Plot Point. A big, dramatic scene (or set of scenes) in which the protagonist vanquishes the villain and wins. This typically ends between 95 and 98% of the way through the book.
95-100%: The Resolution. All the plot points are tied up and the characters typically have a satisfying ending. Sometimes the resolution is only one page long. Or, once, I saw a resolution that was 8% of the length of the book. Shoot for 2-5% of the book’s length. It should be satisfying, but not drag out for too long.
These numbers aren’t the One True Set of Numbers. Sometimes the Midpoint is at 52%. But if you have your Midpoint at 50% and your Second Pinch Point at 70%, you’ve more than likely got a saggy middle (to paraphrase The Great British Bakeoff). Sticking closely to these beats will help you keep your story moving briskly along.
Go get your favorite five books and flip through them to see how closely they adhere to this. Watch your five favorite movies and track what happens, when. Romances, horrors, mysteries, science fiction, fantasy…if you’ve ever watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you’ll see this sort of story progression over the course of twenty-two episodes–something big always happens in May. This isn’t a formula so much as the most satisfying way to absorb a story for Westerners everywhere.