The Third Plot Point

 

THE THIRD ACT will begin with another life-changing plot point. This plot point, more than any of those that preceded it, will set the protagonist’s feet on the path toward the final conflict in the Climax. From here on in, your clattering dominoes will form a straight line as your protagonist hurtles toward his inevitable clash with the antagonistic force. The Third Act as a whole is full of big and important scenes, so by comparison its opening plot point is often less defined than the plot points that marked the First and Second Acts. However, its thrust must be just as adamant.

This will lead right into your character’s low point. The thing he wants most in the world will be almost within his grasp—only to be dashed away, smashing him down even lower than before. The Climax will be the period in which he rises from the ashes, ready to do battle from a place of inner wholeness. The Third Plot Point is the place from which he must rise.

 

Exercise: Identify and strengthen your Third Plot Point by answering the following questions.

 

Question #1: What event shatters the protagonist’s seeming moment of victory?

 

Examples:

• Ra’s Al Ghul announces his intentions to destroy Gotham, then burns Bruce Wayne’s mansion and leaves him for dead. (Batman Begins directed by Christopher Nolan)

 

• Mattie discovers the murderer Tom Chaney and is subsequently captured by Ned Pepper’s gang of outlaws. (True Grit by Charles Portis)

 

• Lucy learns that her impulsive romantic interlude in Italy has been immortalized in Miss Lavish’s novel. (A Room With a View by E.M. Forster)

 

Question #2: How does the Third Plot Point crush your character in a moment of defeat?

 

Question #3: How does the protagonist’s personal weakness cause this moment?

 

Question #4: What does your protagonist question about his overall goal?

 

Question #5: What does your protagonist question about himself, his abilities, and his motivations up to this point?

 

Question #6: What personal revelations does he have?

 

Question #7: What personal decisions does he make in reaction to those revelations?

 

Question #8: What prompts him to rise again and reengage in the conflict?

 

Question #9: How is the protagonist different after this “death/rebirth” phase?

 

Subplot Exercise: Answer the following questions about your subplot(s).

 

Question #1: How will the Third Plot Point bring your protagonist (or the “lead” character in your subplot) to a new understanding about your subplot?

 

Question #2: Will this new understanding be a direct or indirect result of the revelations in the Third Plot Point?

 

Foreshadowing Exercise: Answer the following questions about your foreshadowing.

 

Question #1: How and where in earlier chapters have you heavily foreshadowed your Third Plot Point?

 

Question #2: How have you lightly foreshadowed the Third Plot Point right before it occurred?

 

Reference: Structuring Your Novel, chapter 9, pages 116-122.