Focus on the Midpoint
When I outline a novel or graphic novel, I love to reference Save the Cat. If you’re not familiar with this plotting method, it’s based on screenplays and breaks a movie into Act 1 (the first 25% of the book), Act 2 (the next 50%), and Act 3 (the last 25%).
I more or less stick to this, except I put even more emphasis on the midpoint.
A strong midpoint not only gives the reader a high-impact scene to break up the long slog of the middle, but it’s a great chance to change up gears. In fact, I try to make this moment so huge that it effectively breaks that long Act 2 into two acts, so each of the four acts is 25% of the book.*
Act=Goal
To do that, I think of each act as a goal for the MC. Act=goal.
So, in a sense, the flow of a novel could look like this:
- Act 1: the MC is pursuing a goal, one that makes sense for their ordinary world. Then a catalyst happens to either put that goal in jeopardy or catapult it forward.
- Act 2: Reacting to that catalyst, the MC sets forth to achieve a new goal. Then another catalyst happens (the Midpoint) that either puts that goal in jeopardy or catapults it forward.
- Act 3: repeat, bringing us to the All is Lost moment, which is the catalyst for the last act.
- Act 4: reacting to the All is Lost, the MC makes a final goal.
Sometimes the catalyst in each act is subtle. Sometimes it’s an accumulation of things learned in the act up to that point. Sometimes it’s huge, like a bombshell of information. Whatever it is, each catalyst prevents the MC from continuing to pursue the goal that they are currently on; they have to change gears.
Examples
Star Wars
Let’s look at how this works in Star Wars: A New Hope.
Act 1
- Goal: Set up droids on the farm.
- Catalyst: Ben Kenobi asks Luke to go with him to Alderaan and Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed, making his Act 1 goal of getting the droids set up on the farm irrelevant.
Act 2
- Goal: Get the plans to Alderaan.
- Catalyst: The Death Star blows up Alderaan and captures the Millennium Falcon.
Our Star Wars heroes are about to discover that they cannot achieve their Act 2 goal.
Act 3
- Goal: Rescue the princess from the Death Star
- Catalyst: They escape, but the Death Star follows them to the hidden rebel base.
Act 4
- Goal: Destroy the Death Star to save the rebel base.
- Result: Luke destroys the Death Star.
Other Examples
Movies:
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (this goal shift is huge, as Indy’s goal goes from finding the Ark to getting it back from the Nazis; in fact, the entire second half of the movie is Indy trying to get and keep the Ark from the Nazis)
- Monsters, Inc. (this is subtle, but Sully switches from wanting to save his career to wanting to save Boo, a goal shift that causes conflict with Mike)
- Lion King
- Up
Books: The Last Mapmaker and A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat are great examples of the main character’s goal shifting in at the midpoint.
Does It Really Matter?
I don’t think it matters to the reader whether you outline your story with a goal change in the middle, as long as the story moves along. But as the writer, I find splitting up that long middle to be incredibly helpful for getting through the murky middle. Basically, it’s chunking up a huge task into two more manageably sized tasks.
For example, imagine you’re writing Star Wars. Woud it be easier to plot if you had a list of goals for Luke that were:
- Set up droids on the farm
- Get plans to the rebel alliance
- Destroy the Death Star and save the rebels
Or:
- Set up droids on the farm
- Get plans to Alderaan
- Rescue the rebel princess and escape to the rebel base
- Destroy the Death Star and save the rebels
You could interpret Star Wars either way, but personally, I would find the second to be much easier to build a story around. The specificity helps me to keep the middle of the book moving along. It would give me something more concrete to write toward.
I can think of many stories that do not approach the Midpoint this way. (I can think of many that don’t even really have a Midpoint shift). But if you’re stuck in the murky middle, try breaking that long Act 2 into two goals, and give each a catalyst that disrupts that goal.
*For more information on four-act stories, click here to read about Joyce Sweeney’s plot clock.
this book is actually a middle-grade companion to 
