What is a Plot Point How To Identify Turning Points in Books

What is a Plot Point How To Identify Turning Points in Books What is a Plot Point? We’ve all read a book without a plot point, or, should I say, without a point to the plot. Every story needs a beginning, middle, and end - we’ve known that for about two thousand years, thanks to good old Aristotle. But it doesn’t stop there.In this article, we’ll show how plot points are used to move organically from the beginning to the middle to the end. Then, we’ll cover the difference between a plot point and plot and why it’s important to identify plot points. Finally, we’ll map two popular books by only their plot points.So†¦What is a plot point?A plot point is an incident that directly impacts what happens next in a story. In other words, it gives a point to the plot, forcing the story in a different direction, where otherwise it would’ve just meandered.Any event in a story can be significant, but if it does not move the story forward, it is just a point in the plot- not a plot point. The latter must:Move the sto ry in a different direction.Impact character development.Close a door behind a character, forcing them forward.Think of it like a bolt, holding your story together: without it, you just have separate pieces of scrap metal. But connect them together and they form a whole, each piece informing the event before it and after it. (image: Harper Row)Clocking in at barely 300 words, Sendak’s classic children’s book has a predictably simpler plot than The Handmaid’s Tale. And yet, broken down in the same way, it is surprisingly comparable. It has a beginning, middle, and end, with two Plot Points to transition between and one at the Midpoint altering the course of the story. It also has a narrative Hook, a handful of Pinch Points, and a Resolution.Laid out by only its plot points, Where the Wild Things Are would look like such:Hook: Max is mischievous and dresses like a wild thing.First Plot Point: His mother yells at him and he yells back.First Pinch Point: She sends him to bed without dinner, so he sails to where the wild things are.Midpoint: They make him king of all wild things.Final Pinch Point: He sends them to bed without dinner, then realizes he’s lonely and wants to be loved.Final Plot Point: He journeys back home.Resolution: He finds his dinner waiting for him, still hot. 7 Plot Points of Where the Wild Things Are. What do they mean for your book? Where the Wild Things Are is a tightly structured story that moves naturally in a full circle and ends satisfactorily. More importantly, its bare bones bear uncanny resemblance to The Handmaid's Tale - and countless more stories in the Western canon.Once again, these authors surely did not adhere to strict, structural guidelines in plotting these stories. All good stories simply flow in similar ways, ways that keep the attention of the person being told. In order to keep it flowing and not dribbling, keeping your plot points in mind is crucial.What other stories could you break down by plot points? Tell us the 7 plot points of your favorite book in the comments below.