Super Simple Story Structure: A Quick Guide to Plotting and Writing Your Novel (Writing As A Second Career Book 1) by L. M. Lilly

Author:L. M. Lilly [Lilly, L. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spiny Woman LLC
Published: 2017-04-11T23:00:00+00:00

8

The Three-Quarter Turn

The next major plot turn after your Mid-Point occurs about three-quarters through your novel. It takes the story in a new and often unexpected direction, as did the twist at the one-quarter point. Unlike the One-Quarter Twist, though, which comes from outside the protagonist, the Three-Quarter Turn arises directly from the protagonist’s choice at the Mid-Point. This ensures your main character takes action throughout the second half of the novel, rather than merely being carried along by events outside her or his control.

In Gone With The Wind, as Scarlett drives her carriage home from her sawmill, two men (one Black and one white) attack her. The attack arises from the Mid-Point because, as we saw above, Scarlett’s vow means she continues to do things the people of Atlanta view as appalling in order to make money, including running the sawmill and driving alone. She isn’t physically hurt, but she is frightened and upset.

Unknown to Scarlett, her husband Frank Kennedy and the other men in her circle (including her beloved Ashley) belong to the Ku Klux Klan. They go on a raid to “avenge” Scarlett’s attack. Frank Kennedy is killed and Ashley is wounded. Rhett Butler covers for the men with the local authorities. Rhett also proposes to Scarlett, and she accepts, before Frank’s body is cold. In this way, the attack at the three-quarter point drives the rest of the story.

The Old Guard of Southern Society blames Scarlett for the Klan’s raid and the loss of their men, making her even more of a pariah. Her choice to marry Rhett further scandalizes everyone, despite that he’s earned a lot of points by protecting the men. Scarlett’s position in society also changes because now she has all the money she wants and she spends lavishly, alienating those who live in genteel poverty. Her relationship with Ashley becomes more complicated. As significant, Scarlett has a daughter with Rhett, and her death and Scarlett’s miscarriage during a second pregnancy lead directly into the book’s climax.

Note that the attack on Scarlett happens on page 558 of the 733-page novel. Page 549.75 is the 3/4 point. Did Margaret Mitchell deliberately plan that? I’ve no idea, but I’m sure she had a sense that there needed to be a major turn in a story that already was epic in scope.

The Three-Quarter Turn is sometimes a combination of events. In The Terminator, at 82 minutes into the 107-minute movie (81 being the 3/4 mark), Sarah’s decision to flee and fight with Kyle Reese leads to her and Kyle making love and conceiving John Connor (though we don’t know that yet), who will grow up to fight Skynet. In the scene right before that, Sarah called her mother, who presumably saw news coverage of the bloodbath at the police station, to tell her she’s safe. That results in the Terminator tracking Kyle and Sarah to the motel. This happens minutes after the exact three-quarter point in the movie. Sarah spends the rest of the film fighting the Terminator to the death.

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