There are many elements that make up a good story. One of them is having an engaging plot that makes sense. Something that shows the growth in your character, and something that’s tied to your genre.
That's why evaluating a story's structure is a big part of a developmental edit.
Your global story structure is made up of the following elements:
Inciting incident
Turning point
Crisis
Climax
Resolution
This isn’t anything new, although some elements go by different names depending on who you ask. The global inciting incident can be called the catalyst, the crisis can be called the dilemma, the resolution the denouement, and so on.
The point isn’t the names but what they represent. So, in this article, I will walk you through these 5 elements in fiction with an example of The Hobbit.
You can also watch the video below for more info.
I strongly suggest you pick up two or three popular books in your chosen genre and do this exercise for each of them before analyzing your own manuscript. This will make it easier for you to spot the elements in your story and determine whether they’re a good fit within the genre.
Of course, all the info below isn’t originally mine (I don’t think that would be possible). Most of this is a compilation between Story Grid and Save the Cat! You can find links to their books at the end of the article.
Global Inciting Incident
This is also called the Call to Action or Catalyst or Call to Adventure.
Whatever you like to call it, the function is the same: it’s a life-changing event that disrupts the ordinary life of your main character.
This means your II should be something:
external that happens to the protagonist.
that changes the protagonist's life.
It’s a situation that forces them to make a choice.
In addition, you want to make sure that these moments revolve around the external stakes that are appropriate for your genre and the internal arc you want your protagonist to have (although you can check that more in depth with the help of this article).
In short, check:
What is the global inciting incident?
Is something external happening to my protagonist?
Is it something that can majorly change my protagonist's life?
Does it have the proper external stakes for my genre?
The Hobbit
Bilbo is forced to host a party of dwarves because Gandalf put a sign on Bilbo’s door. He’s forced to answer the question: will he go with the dwarves to take back their mountain and riches from the dragon as their burglar, or will he stay in the comforts of his home?
Note that the choice is not yet irreversible. For instance, the reluctant hero is a very common archetype (mainly because the refusal of the call is a staple in the Hero's Journey). The protagonist will often decline their Call to Action initially.
Bilbo’s choice here has clear life–death stakes: if he goes on the journey with the dwarves, it’ll certainly be dangerous. Although at the moment, the danger is still somewhat abstract to Bilbo as he’s never left the Shire.
If he doesn’t go on the journey, he’ll be safe in his home, but he wouldn’t be living. In other words, he won’t be making the most of his time on this earth. He’ll just be going through the motions.
These are the common stakes for the epic fantasy adventure genre, so it checks that box.
Internally, it’s about Bilbo finding the courage within himself, especially in the face of greed (one of the major narrative themes in the book).
Global Turning Point
This is the midpoint or Mirror Moment of your book. You can usually find it literally halfway through your book, around the 50% mark.
Here, something happens that forces your protagonist to change tactics: they start to realize they need to change.
Instead of being reactive, reacting to things happening in the story, usually caused by the antagonist, they become active and start to do things that affect the story.
According to Save the Cat!, the midpoint either has a false victory or false defeat, depending on the general trajectory of the story up until that point.
In short, check:
What is your global turning point?
Does it force your character to become active rather than reactive? Do they need to change their strategy?
Is it a false victory or a false defeat, and does that fit with the trajectory of the story so far?
Are the stakes of the event tied to the genre you're writing in?
The Hobbit
All the dwarves are captured by spiders. Bilbo uses his ring to become invisible and hide, and then he fights the spiders and saves his friends. When a fight ensues with the spiders and things look grim, he uses the ring again and makes a plan, and eventually, the remaining spiders give up.
The dwarves now respect Bilbo and turn to him for a plan on where to go next.
Bilbo is now turning from reactive and relying on others physically and on his wits to active and making plans and fighting himself.
He’s forced to change tactics: there’s no one else who can fight the spiders, so he has to do it. Up until that point, he’s mostly relied purely on his wits (stalling the trolls until the dawn, tricking Gollum with his riddle).
It’s a false victory: while they’ve had challenges, they’ve had mostly successes up until that point. And shortly after, the dwarves are captured again by the Woodelves.
Here, the stakes are still revolving around life–death. Internally, it’s very grounded in finding his courage.
Like before, grab the 3 books you picked, find the midpoint (usually literally around 50% of the book), and answer the questions above.
Global Crisis
In Saves the Cat!, this is called the Dark Night of the Soul, right after the All is Lost Moment.
It's the moment your character has hit rock bottom, and they know they have to truly change (so not just trying to change after the midpoint).
To find your crisis moment, it's usually the most helpful to first locate your All is Lost Moment, as the crisis follows it. You can generally find this around the 75% mark.
The All is Lost Moment is:
something that happens to the protagonist (like in the global II)
much bigger than the global II
in some part, they reach this moment due to their actions earlier in the story.
After this moment, they have time for deliberation and wallowing in their Dark Night of the Soul. They can get angry, they can mourn, they can slip into denial, and so on.
It's their darkest time, leading to their final realization. And that's the moment their real change occurs.
In short, check:
What is your All Is Lost Moment?
Does your global crisis follow a strong All Is Lost Moment?
Does it make clear if your character comes to their final realization that’s necessary for their ultimate growth?
Does the moment have the right external stakes for your genre?
The Hobbit
First, the All Is Lost moment comes when Bilbo faces Smaug. In his attempt to trick the dragon, he reveals too much information. Fearing he angered the dragon, he urges the others to go inside the mountain, and the dragon makes their tunnel collapse. They're trapped.
Then comes his Dark Night of the Soul, where he despairs that he doomed the people of Lake Town by hinting to Smaug that they helped them get to the mountain. (Which indeed happens, as the dragon attacks Lake Town, leading to the final battle.)
Bilbo feels responsible for it. While he has found the courage during this adventure, he hadn't taken into account the ugly hold of greed (a big theme within the book).
By the end of Act 2, Bilbo feels ready to give up his share of the profits if only for a peaceful winding up of these affairs, showing that he's finally understanding who he needs to be.
This moment still revolves around life–death stakes. His own, as they’re trapped in a tunnel and don’t yet know a way out. And the lives of those in Lake Town. These are much bigger stakes than the global II, as a lot more lives are at stake.
Global Climax
This is the moment we've been waiting for. It’s what everything was building toward.
When you nail the climax, readers will be ecstatic. When the climax is lacking, it affects your feel of the overall book.
The climax is the moment when your protagonist finally embodies who they decided to be at their Dark Night of the Soul.
Here they overcome their false belief and embrace their strength. They use their gift to defeat the antagonist.
If the protagonist has truly transformed, they succeed. If it’s instead a tragic arc, usually the protagonist hasn’t learned.
In short, check:
What is your global climax?
Is it tied to the protagonist’s false belief and the change they wanted to make in the global crisis?
Are the stakes appropriate for your chosen genre?
Does it fit the reader expectations in your genre?
The Hobbit
The climax for Bilbo is when he goes off into the night with the Arkenstone and hands it to the Elvenking and Bard because he knows Thorin wants it more than anything, and as he puts it, he’s done with the whole business and wants to return home before there’s more bloodshed.
It’s reiterated by the Elvenking, who tells Bilbo he’s more worthy of wearing the armor of elf-princes than many others. Because after all, it takes great courage to do the right thing, even if it means betraying your friends.
Then Bilbo goes back to his friends because he doesn’t want to leave them like. This means he’s there when Thorin confronts him, and he has to justify his decision to his friend and accept how he takes the betrayal.
Thorin only pretends to bargain, knowing his cousin will soon be there, and he hopes he can get away with taking the Arkenstone without paying the others. Despite Bilbo’s efforts to prevent the Battle of the Five Armies, he fails (because Thorin hasn’t learned his lesson).
Bilbo became the person he needed to be. Thorin failed.
The climax is tied to the external stakes of life–death as Bilbo comes to his decision to prevent a massive battle. And, fitting with the genre, Bilbo faces his antagonist. In this case, Thorin has become the embodiment of what Bilbo’s fighting against: greed and hoarding (in a way, Thorin has become the dragon himself).
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Global Resolution
This is the transformation point of your character to show the reader your character has changed.
The final scene of the book shows the transformation the protagonist has gone through. It’s usually a reverse type of image compared to the start.
When you’re writing a series, things are a little bit different, as you want readers to pick up the next book as well. Usually, you do want a clear resolution on the major story question (or one of the major story questions) but leave a door open for either a new major story question or a progressive complication of your major story question.
In short, check:
What is your global resolution?
Does it show the stakes that were raised in the crisis?
Does it show how the protagonist has changed in a type of reversed image to your opening (your story opening, not the global II)?
Are the stakes appropriate for your genre?
Is the major story question answered?
The Hobbit
So, Bilbo failed to prevent the battle. However, he’s knocked out during the fight (as the fight itself wasn’t really his climax moment).
When Bilbo comes to, Thorin lies dying. He forgives Bilbo and learns the theme ("if more people valued food and cheer and sun above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."), but too late.
Gandalf and Bilbo go home, and Tolkien puts in a lot of reminders of the theme, with Bilbo giving a necklace to the Elvenking, saying he doesn't need the treasure they find from the trolls, and even using his earned fortune on presents for others.
And Gandalf very explicitly states that Bilbo is no longer the same hobbit that he used to be.
Then we come to the mirror element of the resolution: Gandalf visits Bilbo with Balin, one of the dwarves. At the start of the novel, Bilbo was trying to get Gandalf to leave (but trying to stay polite), and the same when he was visited by the dwarves. He no longer does that here; it's not even a question for discussion.
Bilbo now embraces new things, experiences, and people instead of only the comforts of his own home and neighborhood.
Externally, we have a conclusion to our major story question. Bilbo has survived the adventure with the dwarves. He’s safe back home again.
The stakes from the crisis are also shown here. Bilbo survived the battle because of his decision: he would’ve been with the dwarves instead of farther away when it happened, decreasing his chance of survival.
Moreover, we see several examples in the resolution of what happens to people who choose greed: they might get their riches in the short term, but eventually, they die. This illustrates what would’ve happened if Bilbo had chosen the path of greed like Thorin.
Analyzing Each Moment
Again, I can’t take credit for the questions below, as I didn’t personally come up with them. However, I can’t seem to find the link to the resource (it is from Story Grid). But below you can see the example from The Hobbit to give you an idea of how to evaluate your global structure.
Does the inciting incident tie to the climax?
In the inciting incident, our protagonist acts one way. In the climax, we should see some kind of mirrored action that shows how they've changed.
In The Hobbit II, Bilbo is more than a little nudged by Gandalf to go on an adventure with the dwarves. Bilbo initially declines, even though he secretly wants to: he doesn't yet have the courage.
In the climax, Bilbo betrays the dwarves in the hopes of preventing the battle, and goes back to them, despite knowing Thorin could easily decide to execute him as a traitor. Here, Bilbo shows courage in his action, and the action is the mirror opposite of the II: Bilbo goes to the dwarves instead of declining to go with them.
Does the turning point complicate from the inciting incident?
After the II and the protagonist accept their call (willingly or unwillingly), they adopt a certain strategy. They more or less follow this strategy until the turning point arrives, where they have to adapt.
This turning point comes about as a logical step based on choices the character makes (and choices other characters make).
After Bilbo accepts the adventure, he either relies on Gandalf and the dwarves or on his own wits. He doesn't fight. However, at the turning point, this is no longer an option. If he doesn't find the courage to fight for what matters, he might be able to get away, but his friends die.
Note that they fit together for the internal arc (Bilbo keeps growing in courage), and the external stakes (life–death stakes are higher & more immediate here than in the II).
Is there a strong link between the turning point and crisis?
Bilbo’s crisis revolves around whether he should fight or not but also what is worth fighting for. In the turning point, Bilbo has to choose whether he’ll fight or run: does he face the challenge set out in front of him? And he fights to save people. If he doesn’t fight to save others, what is it worth it?
You can see this well in the global crisis, where his choices have put people in danger instead. This is where he fully realizes he isn’t and shouldn’t fight for the dwarves. He should fight for what’s right, not give in to the greed that’s captured Thorin.
Does the resolution tie back to the stakes established in the crisis?
We’ve already covered this above, so here’s a short iteration. We simply need consequences from a crisis, or it isn’t a crisis.
And then we need to see those stakes played out in the resolution: there have the be consequences for the protagonist, or it will all feel a little too easy and convenient.
The stakes of the crisis in The Hobbit are:
Falling to greed and living with the deadly consequences (all examples in the book point to deadly endings for those who are greedy), but in the short term, he'll have all the riches.
Choosing courage, even if it could lead to his immediate death, but he would be doing the right thing and possibly prevent further death and disaster.
Note that the reader is made aware of what could have happened to Bilbo by using other characters and their ending as an example. He doesn't die, of course; you don't have to let the stakes go that far. But there is a sense of loss, as he's lost some of his friends along the way.
Do the TP, crisis, and climax revolve around one protagonist?
If this isn't the case, you could risk disrupting your own thematic idea. If you focus the main story on one character's arc, then that one becomes clear. That doesn't mean you can give other characters an arc. But giving these moments to different characters means the readers don't see a clear picture in terms of growth.
Ideally, you would focus all the structural elements around one protagonist to really show their arc. However, this can depend on the genre you’re writing in.
In The Hobbit, the story revolves around Bilbo: his choices and the things he goes through.
But Thorin, for instance, also has an arc in this story; his arc is actually integral to the theme as well, as he's sort of the antithesis here. But the main plot doesn't revolve around his actions and choices.
Do note that Thorin's plotline starts to become more important from the crisis onward; that's a common point where multiple storylines start to tie together.
Do all these elements follow a consistent internal & external arc?
To drive home your message, you want to make sure your character's growth is deeply tied to these important plot points (also see this article for a more extensive analysis). And that it's consistent throughout.
You don't want to have your character grapple with something like identity in one moment and then with self-sacrifice in the next. Keep your theme consistent.
In the same vein, you want to make sure the external arc is tied to your genre. You want these moments to revolve around love, for instance, in a romance.
But you don't want that to be the case for the crisis of your story when you're writing a thriller.
Conclusion
By now, you should have a pretty good idea which of these main plot points you can strengthen and which ones you may need to rewrite altogether.
Once you've made these edits, your manuscript will already be a heck of a lot stronger! The next step is to break down the structure of your plot even more so you have a strong and cohesive narrative.
Recommended Resources
The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
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