As we continue our breakdown of Universal Story Structure, I want to talk about two very critical but often overlooked moments: the Turning Point to Self-Determination and the Unexpected Failure.

Both of these moments are critical for your main character as they go through their story and work towards their belief shift. But because they’re not huge moments for the external story, they’re often overlooked.

Let’s have a look at these two internal turning points, how to create them, write them, and use them to further your story.

The Internal Turning Points cause your character to Question

The internal turning points happen in the second act (Self-Determination happens about halfway through Act 2a and Unexpected Failure happens about halfway through Act 2b), and because the second act is all about showing your character what works and what doesn’t when it comes to the theme, the internal turning points are no different.

The Internal Turning Points however are unique because they serve to help the character realize they are in charge of their own success, and take responsibility accordingly.

Essentially, they will double down on their effort. They know they have to succeed and that they are the one that has to succeed.

They’re taking personal responsibility. And I think this is really important, because it shows that your character is an active character. (They should be active all along, but this brings them up to the next level).

Instead of blindly following the plan they laid out in the Build Up, your character is assessing and questioning if this is the best plan. And they are likely adjusting their actions slightly.

And they are likely doing this without consulting anyone else, meaning they are becoming active and independent. An important quality for them to be able to make the big Belief Shift and take their Leap of Faith in order to succeed.

The Turning Point to Self-Determination

At the Turning Point to Self-Determination, the character gains some clarity into their behaviour and beliefs.

If we look purely on an external level of story (the physical, what we can see), this is not some massive or exciting event. Unlike the Key Event or the Midpoint where we put them in danger and reveal something about the adventure or story problem, at the Turning Point to Self-Determination, they see something that makes them think about themselves.

They are gaining clarity on the adventure and the story problem, but this is really a realization about their approach. And often, in the first half of the book, they are seeing the things that don’t work.

The whole second act, is really defined by seeing examples of what works (the positive theme) and what doesn’t work (the negative belief). Over and over and over.

Often, in the Turning Point to Self-Determination, they meet someone who acts as a foil. Essentially, they see someone or something that makes them realize, “Oh hey, that could be me if I don’t change.”

They may meet someone and say, “I see myself in this person, and I don’t want to end up like this. I’m going to show up differently.”

This opens up a question about what they should be doing instead. It opens them to the possibility that their original plan isn’t foolproof, and they can’t be rigid in following it.

Of course, at this point, they don’t really know what they should do, so the change in their behaviour is a guess, still based on their old beliefs. I think of it as a little tweak. They’re definitely not ready to make the big belief shift, since we’re still in the first part of the story. But recognizing a problem is the first step to change.

Turning Point to Self-Determination Examples:

• the Hunger Games: Katniss enters the games thinking she will run to the cornucopia and collect supplies, but the fighting and dying is intense, so she re-evalutes and runs.
• The Fault in our Stars: Hazel meets the author of her favourite book, hoping for closure on her own cancer, but discovers he is a mean-spirited drunk instead, she re-evaluates where she will get her closure from
• Lord of the Rings: Sam and Frodo capture Gollum after separating from the Fellowship, and Frodo sees himself in Gollum and begins advocating for him, re-evaluating his biases against him and recogonizing that it will not be so simple to carry the ring as he had thought.

The Unexpected Failure

Mirroring the Turning Point to Self-Determination is the Unexpected Failure. Or, we might call it the Turning Point to Reckless, Fear-Based Action, but Unexpected Failure sounds better.

The Unexpected Failure, which usually revolves around death in some way, serves to remind the character of the consequences if they fail. At this point in the book, they’ve been taking action, fuelled by the Spark of Hope at the Midpoint, and they’ve likely been seeing some success. They’re not safe by any means, but they’ve like started to build a little confidence.

Then, they experience a serious, surprising failure, and this causes them to question all of that confidence. They question whether they are capable at all.

They’re also far enough into the adventure that they can’t turn back, they have to succeed. And yet, it looks like they can’t. This throws them into reckless action as their conflicting beliefs and emotions create a psychologically intense phase.

They don’t know what they’re supposed to do. They feel uncertain of anything.

And this is important. We need them to feel uncertain, to lose their connection to the original plan so that when they hit the All Is Lost and then the Refusal, they abandon their original goal and belief system, and take on a new goal with a new belief.

The emotional turmoil is also a great way to totally capture the reader. Done right, your reader should not be able to physically put the book down because their heart is racing too fast!

Unexpected Failure Examples

• Hunger Games: Rue dies. Katniss has been having success sabotaging the Careers, but she is shocked to see Rue dead. It is a reminder that she too could end up dead if she fails to succeed.
• Galaxy Quest: One of the Thermians dies. The actors, who have been successfully fending off an alien invasion, are reminded of the consequences of failure and that anyone of them could die at any point.
• Lord of the Rings: Gollum is captured by Faramir’s army. And Frodo, seeing himself in Gollum, realizes he could be condemned, tortured and killed.
• The Proposal (a non-death related Unexpected Failure): Margaret lets loose in the woods and dances/chants to the song ‘Balls’ which Andrew catches. It is a figurative death of her persona (the image she has cultivated of being a powerful and perfectly put-together editor). But instead of judging and looking down his nose at her (which Margaret expects because it’s what she would do), Andrew gently teases and laughs. And Margaret, I believe, starts to see that she has a friend in Andrew, a friend which she has blackmailed into a very compromising situation, and realizes there is another way.

Internal Turning Points Open the Door for the Belief Shift

So there we have it: two extremely important moments in any story which can often be overlooked.

Each of these turning points causes the character to see a negative aspect of themselves and question their plan and if there is a better way they can show up. (Hint: there is! it’s the Theme / Belief shift)

If you’re ready to learn more about Story Structure, Belief Shifts, and Plotting a Multi-layered Novel that will keep readers on the edge of their comfortable reading chairs, you might be interested in my Complete Novel Writing Mentorship: Write Now. The program is designed to take you from initial idea, through figuring out what your story says, developing characters, building worlds, and plotting in a step-by-step process to make the planning process easier while also creating a tighter and more complex final product. Learn more here.