If you’ve been in the writing community for a while, you may have heard of plot turns, turning points, and plot points. Believe it or not, these are actually three different terms for the same thing.
Yup. Three terms. One concept.
And as you may have guessed, they are moments that change the direction of the story.
The story was going one direction and then BAM! the story is going a new direction.
Sounds simple, right?
But like anything in writing, it can get more complex.
And in case you still feel a little foggy about it all, let me introduce you to the most recognizable plot turn of any story: the climax.
Yes, the climax is a plot turn (and turning point and plot point). In fact, it’s the biggest turn of the whole narrative arc. (So you already have a good idea of what a plot point looks like.)
And in basic story structure you can quite literally see how the climax turns the story from rising action to falling action.
At the climax, the protagonist faces the antagonist and either fails or succeeds in the main conflict, in a defining way, and the story goes into resolution mode—all simplistically speaking of course.
In reality, though, the climax is only one turning point, and any successful story will actually have many.
Each structural unit should have a turning point.
This means there is a major one for the whole narrative arc (the climax).
One for each act.
And one for nearly every scene.
The difference is, the smaller the structural unit, the smaller the turn and impact.
So an act’s turning point is going to be smaller than the climax. And a scene’s turning point is going to be smaller than an act’s.
Each unit should follow this basic shape, but they fit within one another, like a fractal or Russian nesting doll.
In this sense, you may say that each act and nearly every scene should have a small “climax.”
So a great story isn’t actually one solid, continuous climb.
But a journey of peaks and valleys.
Let’s go over these turns some more.
Turn the Direction: Goals and Plans
In order to create a great plot turn, your story has to be going a particular direction. If the audience doesn’t know where the story is heading, then they aren’t going to feel the turn, or at least not as sharply.
There are several ways to create a sense of direction for the audience, but the most important way to do this, is to give your protagonist a concrete goal—something he or she can take action toward. When the audience knows what the protagonist is aiming for, they know the desired outcome (read: direction) of the story.
This need not be a big aspirational goal (though it can be); there are three different types of goals.
Imagine your character is like a train engine on a track, traveling toward that goal.
A plot turn is like that track that switches the direction of the train.
The track may switch in favor of the goal, bringing the character closer to it.
Or it may switch so that the character is traveling further away from it.
Whatever the case, this will naturally shift the path the character is on.
This means that after a big plot turn, the character’s goal, or their plan to get the goal, will change in some way. This may show up as a character abandoning a goal, swapping it out for another goal, or even getting the goal. It may also show up as a character abandoning a plan, swapping it out for another plan, or coming up with a more detailed plan. Or the goal and plan can change in other ways.
For example, in Star Wars IV: A New Hope, Luke’s goals shift with each major turn. In the beginning, he wants to go to the academy, but after speaking with Obi-Wan and losing his aunt and uncle (plot turn), he decides he wants go with Obi-Wan to Alderaan and become a Jedi. When they arrive, Alderaan is missing, and the Death Star pulls them in; Luke learns that the princess is on the ship (plot turn). So Luke gains the goal to rescue the princess. Once he accomplishes that goal and Obi-Wan dies (plot turn), Luke’s new goal is to help destroy the Death Star.
If the character’s goal remains essentially the same through the whole story, like Katniss’s does in The Hunger Games (goal: survive the Games), then the plan or route to get the goal, will shift with each major turn. First, Katniss’s main objective is to prepare for the Games. After her crowning interview with Caesar and the bloodbath at the cornucopia (plot turn), her plan shifts to basic survival in the arena. She needs to find water, food, somewhere to sleep. Once the Careers chase her up a tree, and she drops the tracker jacker hive on them (plot turn), Katniss’s plan changes. No longer is she just focused on basic survival; she aims to strike at their supplies, with Rue’s help. Later, when Rue dies and the Gamemakers announce two victors can win (plot turn), Katniss’s plan changes again: she now wants to win, with Peeta.
Most successful stories will have a major turn for each act, or each quarter, of the story. These should be moments that are big–big enough to shift the protagonist’s goal or plan significantly.
That’s what a great turning point does. It changes the direction.
There is much, much more to be said about plot turns.
So, if you are interested in learning more, you may want to watch my presentation on them, which is happening January 4th at 8:00 a.m. Mountain Time on Apex. (If you can’t make it at that time, you can also watch the recording after.)
About September C. Fawkes:
Sometimes September C. Fawkes scares people with her enthusiasm for writing. She works as a freelance editor, writing instructor, and writing tip blogger. She has edited for both award-winning and best-selling authors as well as beginning writers. September is best known for her blog (SeptemberCFawkes.com) which won the Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers Award and Query Letter’s Top Writing Blog Award. When not editing and instructing, she’s penning her own stories. Some may say she needs to get a social life. It’d be easier if her fictional one wasn’t so interesting.
