Speaker 1: What's up my friend, Abbie here, and welcome back to Writer's Life Wednesdays, where we come together to help you make your story matter and make your author dreams come true. Today, we're continuing with the three-act story structure, story beat breakdown series, and we're exactly halfway through the structure now at the game-changing midpoint or plot twist. This is a highly requested video, so I'm very excited to get into it, but first, if you haven't seen the previous videos in this series, check them out right here. They're all in a convenient little playlist. You need to nail the first half of your story or else nobody will be there to enjoy your plot twist. You know what I mean? So go watch those videos if you haven't seen them already, but if you're all caught up and you've been following along with this series, awesome. Let's get into today's video. It's going to be good. 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. If you Google the question, what is a plot twist? You'll probably find something like this. A plot twist is a radical change in the expected direction or outcome of a plot of a novel, film, television series, comic, video game, or other work of narrative. It is a common practice narration used to keep the interest of the audience, usually surprising them with a revelation. Some twists are foreshadowed. There's nothing wrong with this definition, but it's missing something. If you know me at all, you know what I'm going to say. It is missing internal conflict. How does it impact the characters? Why does it matter? It's used to keep the interest of the audience, usually surprising them with a revelation. That's about the audience, not the characters. This is the all too common pitfall of a lot of writers who focus too much on the plot and not enough on the characters. They're constantly trying to keep the audience entertained with all this exciting, crazy stuff happening, meanwhile bypassing the most important part of storytelling, the thing that actually makes us care, which is the characters. Before we go into the reason behind this, let's read the description from my three-act story structure template, which by the way, you can download in the description box below. Game-changing midpoint. Plot twist. A game-changing midpoint doesn't have to be some epic and crazy twist of fate. In fact, the only thing a game-changing midpoint has to do is surprise the protagonist and shift their goal. Bonus points if you can surprise the reader at the same time. It can be as dramatic as everything the protagonist believes is actually a lie, or as simple as the protagonist realizes they are falling in love with their nemesis. Prompt, ask yourself, what unexpected thing is going to upend my protagonist's plan an entire life? Why does it matter to my protagonist, given their desire and fear? How is it going to change the game for my protagonist? Just to be clear, all game-changing midpoints are plot twists, but not all plot twists are game-changing midpoints. The game-changing midpoint is a very specific story beat that appears halfway through your story's timeline. It is a twist, but it's different from a twist ending in that its job is to have a meaningful impact on the characters going forward, not simply to mess with the audience. Many stories in the latter category have twists that can be predicted. A perfect example of this would be the Twilight Zone. You know there's always going to be some crazy twist at the end. That's the whole premise of the show. The pleasure is in the anticipation of the twist, and although it may have a big impact on the characters, it's not the game-changing midpoint because it's often at the end. It's like the final scene or the big reveal, which satisfies the audience and fulfills the promise of the show. As cognitive scientist Vera Tobin states in this article on the psychology of plot twists, a major part of the pleasure of plot twists, too, comes not from the shock of surprise, but from looking back at the early bits of the narrative in light of the twist. The most satisfying surprises get their power from giving us a fresh, better way of making sense of the material that came before. This is another opportunity for stories to turn the curse of knowledge to their advantage. Remember that once we know the answer to a puzzle, its clues can seem more transparent than they really were. When we revisit early parts of the story in light of that knowledge, well-constructed clues take on new, satisfying significance. Yes, you do want to satisfy your audience and then give them the satisfaction of rediscovering the clues that they may have missed before, but I invite you to go beyond that. A game-changing midpoint is more than just a crazy twist of fate. It's a crucial part of your story's timeline, and it's a meaningful turning point for the characters. It changes the game, and if it doesn't, it's just a thing happening. It's just a random writing prompt that you could pull off the internet and shove into any story. That's not a significant plot twist. That's not a game-changing midpoint that matters. If you've been here for a while, you've heard me say this a lot. External conflict, the plot, is about what happens, but internal conflict, the story, is about why it matters. You probably also heard me say this a lot. Don't let your characters just be the punching bag for the plot. They can't just spend the entire story absorbing what happens. They have to be the agents of change, complete with a deep desire that drives their motives and a conflicting fear that holds them back. That's why it's so important to make your story character-driven, because it's the characters who have a transformation and deliver the truth, the meaning of your story to the reader. Check out my video on character-driven stories versus plot-driven stories for a better explanation on that, plus some cool facts on mirror neurons and how your brain actually responds to plot. Let's recap the principles that we just went over. 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. External conflict, the plot, is about what happens, but internal conflict, the story, is about why it matters. A plot twist is just an unexpected thing happening, unless it directly impacts the internal conflict of the characters. Just like an inciting incident that doesn't specifically matter to the characters, a plot twist can fall just as flat if not well-written. Remember, a game-changing midpoint doesn't have to be some epic and crazy twist of fate. It can be as dramatic as everything the protagonist believes is actually a lie, or as simple as protagonist realizes they are falling in love with their nemesis. Ask yourself, what unexpected thing is going to upend my protagonist's plan an entire life? Why does it matter to my protagonist, given their desire and fear? How is it going to change the game for my protagonist? Okay, boom, that's it for this week, but this story beat is not over. The discussion is not over, because next week, I'm going to be doing a case study on the game-changing midpoint. I'm going to show you examples of what a plot twist looks like in a variety of genres, even genres where a plot twist seems impossible. It's going to be a really fun video, and if you're from the future, the link will be right there. Make sure you grab the free three-act story structure template. It's linked in the description box below, and it includes all of my prompts and questions to get your creativity flowing about your story. Smash that like button if you liked this video, and be sure to subscribe to this channel if you haven't already, because I post writing videos and publishing videos every single Wednesday, and I would love to have you here in the community. Also, be sure to check out my Patreon, because that's where we go beyond videos and take storytelling to the next level. The Patreon community is not only the best way to support what I'm doing here on YouTube, but it's also the only way to connect one-on-one with me and get better guidance on your story. Go to patreon.com slash Abbie Emmons, and check out all the awesome exclusive content that I have over there for you. Until next week, my friend, rock on.