Writing the Midpoint, with examples from ‘Legends & Lattes’

How to tackle one of the most ambiguous plot beats.

When talking about plot structure, most of the important plot beats are easy to grasp. The inciting incident is exactly what it says — an event that sets the wider story in motion. The point of no return is, usually, the point where the hero can no longer go back.

But the midpoint? A lot of people struggle with it. This is because it’s an ambiguous plot point, with few hard rules.

Most stories that follow traditional plot structures are pretty similar in the opening and closing pages. The first and third acts have common, tried-and-tested conventions that readers expect authors to hit. The second act, meanwhile — everything that comes between — is where a novel really breathes and becomes its own thing. There are fewer rules (which is, incidentally, why so many writers struggle with it).

The midpoint, put simply, is the moment where contextual change happens. It reveals new information about the main antagonistic force of the novel. It changes the context of what has already been happening, making the protagonist see it in a new light. It often forces the protagonist to change direction, in reaction to new information — or it can reveal new information about the protagonist to the reader. Crucially, though, it changes the protagonist from mostly reactive to mostly proactive — instead of trying to avoid harm, or failing to thwart the antagonist, they…