- What's up my friend?
Abbie here, and welcome back
to WritersLife Wednesdays,
where we come together to help
you make your story matter
and make your author dreams come true.
Today we are continuing our
story beat breakdown series
of the three act story structure.
So if you're new around here,
we've been doing a series
breaking down each plot point in depth
of the three act story structure
and looking at the underlying psychology
behind why this story
structure works so well.
So if you missed all the
previous videos in this series,
please give them a watch.
They are all organized in this
convenient little playlist.
It's really important
that you nail act one
or else you won't pull
readers through to act two.
Make sense?
Yeah.
So get caught up, and if
you've been following along,
let's pick up right where we left off,
the post-midpoint action hero.
That's what today's video is all about.
Plus, we're also gonna cover
the second pinch point.
Basically, this is a video
covering the second half
of act two.
Let's get started.
Why does your story matter?
Good question.
What if I told you that there's a science
behind every great story?
I don't just teach you how to write.
I teach you how to change
the world with your story
and make your author dreams come true.
Okay, you know the drill,
the three act story structure template
is in the description box below.
Grab it, print it, follow along.
And let's start by reading the description
for the post-midpoint action hero.
Protagonist approaches their
goal from a different angle.
Figure out how your protagonist
is going to handle the plot twist.
It's sort of like another
inciting incident,
shoving them further
outside their comfort zone
and presenting a new and
unexpected challenge.
Give your protagonist
a plan going forward,
and a sense of where this is going.
Your readers want to
know what happens next
because they can foresee
what might happen.
Prompt, ask yourself
what is my protagonist's
new plan going to be
based on the game-changing midpoint
and what it means to them?
How does my protagonist
think their new plan is
going to actually work
and bring them to their goal
while still avoiding their fear?
So I really want to
underscore what I said there
about the inciting incident,
because that's really what
the game-changing midpoint is
to the second act.
It's the catalyst that affects
your protagonist's goal
and changes the game, obviously.
As we discussed in the plot twist
and the plot twist case study video,
a great plot twist is more
than just a radical change
in the expected direction of the plot.
It changes the game for your characters.
And most importantly, your protagonist,
which then impacts the
plot in a meaningful way
because it impacts the protagonist's goal.
The post-midpoint action hero
is basically the response to this.
Given their internal and
external journey thus far,
how is your protagonist going
to respond to the plot twist?
That's the real question here.
It's cause and effect.
Just like with the inciting incident,
the game changing midpoint
pushes your protagonist
further outside their comfort zone
and forces them to make
another impossible choice.
And just a hint, this choice
that they're gonna make,
it's just gonna get
them in deeper trouble.
It has to because we're leading
up to a disaster plot point.
Things haven't even
started to get bad yet.
However, your protagonist
is probably totally unaware
of the trouble that they're
getting themselves into.
They're making every decision
based on their misbelief,
which you know,
is going to send them
into dangerous territory,
but they don't know that.
In fact, they think they
are making a great decision.
Remember that juicy neurological cycle
of question, curiosity,
answer, reward, dopamine,
question, curiosity, rinse, repeat?
That's a cycle that you
want to give your reader
throughout your whole story.
The plot has to be
punching your protagonist.
Yes, but the protagonist has to counter
with their own decisions.
They can't just stand there
and absorb all the external
conflict like a punching bag.
That's a recipe for a forgettable,
two dimensional character.
Now, if you're like punching
bag two dimensional character,
what, wait, what, what
are you talking about?
You're gonna wanna check out this video
where I explained the difference
between plot driven stories
and character driven stories.
But if you've been following
along with this series
and building your character's
internal conflict all along,
you know exactly what to do here.
Let your character's fear and
misbelief rule their life.
Let that steer the ship.
Let that determine how they respond
to the game changing midpoint.
Just like with the inciting incident,
the game changing midpoint
presents an impossible choice.
Only now your protagonist has been lose
because they've been
going on this journey,
they've been going after the thing
that they think will make them happy
while avoiding their fear.
They still face the choice
of pain versus pain.
But it's a little more complicated now
because of all of the external
events that have happened.
Your protagonist has the opportunity here
to come to terms with
their internal conflict
and get out of this mess by
simply realizing the truth.
But it's not that simple.
In fact, it's going to take a disaster
in order for them to realize the truth.
So for now they move
forward with their new plan
based on their misbelief.
It might seem like a good plan to them.
It might even seem like a
good plan to the reader,
but little do they know,
little does anyone know
it's gonna backfire on them.
It's not time for the disaster quite yet
so don't get too excited.
For now, what we're gonna
do at the end of act two
is just allude to the coming disaster
with of course the second pinch point.
Opposition or antagonistic
force gets closer.
Remember your opposition
doesn't have to be an actual
villain or even a person.
It can be the protagonist's misbelief,
always looming in the background,
getting ready to attack
them come act three.
Whatever the major opposition
your protagonist is going to face off with
at the climax of your story,
that's what you want to
give the reader a taste of
in this story beat.
Prompt, ask yourself, how
can I show the opposition
or antagonistic force now getting closer
to disrupting the protagonist's life?
For more in depth explanation
on what a pinch point is,
check out this video I made
on the first pinch point
because all the same rules apply.
The only difference between
the first pinch point
and the second pinch point
is that in the second pinch point,
the antagonistic force or opposition
has gained considerable
ground since act one.
That means the disaster is getting closer
to disrupting your protagonist's
plan and their entire life.
You can use vicarious suspense
or shared suspense here.
It really depends on your writing style
and what the pinch point is
and just your personal preference.
I've written second pinch points
where we jump over to the
villain's point of view
and see what they're plotting
against the protagonist.
And I've also written second pinch points
where we're in the
protagonist point of view
and they just see a
really subtle clue go by
that is connected to the disaster,
but they don't think anything of it.
And the reader doesn't
think anything of it either
until disaster strikes.
So there's pretty much no
one size fits all method
for writing pinch points.
In my opinion, you have
total creative freedom
to make it as revealing
or as cryptic as you want.
Just make sure it matters,
and you're good to go.
Okay, let's recap the
principles we just learned
about writing the second half of act two.
After your plot twists changes the game
for your protagonist,
they have another
impossible choice to make.
The protagonist must shift their plans
to adapt to the new challenges
that your plot twist has presented.
Remember the curiosity
of the impossible choice
is what triggers dopamine
in the reader's brain
and keeps them reading.
The choice your protagonist makes
will only lead them to a disaster.
But they don't know that.
In fact, they think this
is a very good decision.
After all, it's a way to continue pursuing
their misbelief-based goal
while still avoiding their fear.
All the second pinch point must do
is show the opposition getting closer
to disrupting the protagonist's
plan and entire life.
You can use vicarious suspense
or shared suspense here.
Choose what suits your story best
and find a creative way
to show your antagonist
or opposition closing in.
Ask yourself, what is my
protagonist's new plan going to be
based on the game-changing midpoint
and what it means to them?
How does my protagonist
think their new plan
is going to actually work
and bring them to their goal
while still avoiding their fear?
How can I show the opposition
or antagonistic force
now getting closer to disrupting
the protagonist's life?
Okay, boom, that's it for this story beat.
Next time we're going to explore
one of my favorite plot points,
which is the supposed
victory and the disaster.
(evil laughter)
This is the moment we've
all been waiting for.
The moment where we completely
and utterly destroy our characters
and make our readers cry.
Of course, that's always a good thing.
We're also gonna case
study some story examples
in that video so that I can show you
what a disaster plot point looks like
in a variety of genres.
So stay tuned for that video.
It's gonna be awesome.
And if you're from the future,
the link will be right there.
You'll also find the links
to all the previous videos
in this series, in the
description box below this video,
plus the three act story
structure template.
Make sure you grab that.
If you have any trouble
grabbing it, downloading it,
that probably means you're
already on my email list
and I sent it directly to your inbox.
So check your inbox first.
And if you still have
trouble downloading it,
just let me know, comment below
and I'll make sure you get it.
Smash that like button,
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Until next week, my friend, rock on.
(upbeat music)
