The Choice to Enter The Second Act
Deep Dive on Four-Act Story Structure Part 3 of 10
In the last blog article, we talked about the inciting incident, which is the first significant disruption to the character’s life linked to the plot. The protagonist may resist or engage, but they are not fully committed. They could walk away and often try. However, if we let them, they can teeter here on a threshold because the stakes aren’t personal enough yet.
We need to make our character go all in.
This brings us to our next big story moment—what I like to call The Choice.
As with all things in storytelling, it goes by many names: the First Plot Point, the Point of No Return, Crossing the Threshold for Campbell fans, and Break into Two via Save The Cat.
I prefer The Choice because that is what the character needs to do to move forward. They must decide to enter the new world of Act Two, where they are swimming upstream in uncertain waters. And something very compelling needs to happen to make them willing to swim with the sharks.
This decision is tricky. It’s kind of forced because the alternatives are crap. As Shawn Coin, Author of Story Grid, says, “It’s the best bad choice.” This major turning point of the novel results from an earlier complication (somewhere between the inciting incident and the end of Act One.) It’s like dominos.
How to set up the protagonist’s decision to move into Act II:
An event (read obstacle) directly linked to the inciting incident occurs, and it’s personal to the protagonist. Meaning it costs them something internally and externally to engage. Some refer to this moment as “the key,” which makes sense to me because, as a result, the protagonist takes action to unlock the door to Act Two.
Let’s look at Shrek for an example of this crucial moment and the resulting jump into the second act (which happens at the movie's 20-25% mark).
After Shrek learns Lord Farquaad has evicted the fairytale creatures to his swamp (inciting incident), he travels to Duloc with Donkey for an audience with Farquaad- intent on getting his land back.
Once there, he’s seen as a big, scary ogre and attacked by a throng of knights. He bests the knights, and Farquaad, being the sneaky creep he is, sees an opportunity to use Shrek for his big mission: save Princess Fiona from the dragon so he can marry her and become King.
He offers Shrek a deal–save the Princess, and he’ll return Shrek’s swamp land. But, of course, the deal is offered while Shrek is held at arrow point.
The journey has already been personal for Shrek, but now it’s doubly so because his implied death is on the line. He agrees to the quest (best bad choice), and for the next few minutes, Shrek and Donkey travel toward the dragon’s lair, and we get a deeper look into Shrek’s false belief: that it’s better to be alone if you are an ogre. Act One ends climatically with the pair staring at the dragon’s castle, surrounded by lava and brimstone. There’s even a bridge they have to cross to get there. That is dramatic symbolism for you!
The key moment (The Choice) was Shrek’s decision to engage in the quest as the Princess’s savior.
The result: We have a new situation with a new set of obstacles for Shrek that will challenge his false beliefs and flaws established in the First Act: hostility, rudeness, and the idea that he is better off and would rather be alone.
Takeaways for Crafting The Choice to Enter The Second Act:
It happens around 20-25% of the way through the novel, and it’s one of the marks that you can’t fudge too much because it will significantly affect the novel’s pacing. Pull it in too early, and the middle will drag. Too soon, the reader won’t feel connected enough to the character’s internal journey.
It can be an event or a series of events that leads to a decision made by the protagonist to fully commit to the adventure on an internal and external level.
The stakes of the story increase dramatically and personally for the protagonist.
Usually, it helps the reader get a clear view of the antagonist and understand what they want.
This results in the protagonist entering a new world or situation that differs from the setup, and if they want to get the story goal, they cannot go back.
Presents a new story goal and set of obstacles for the protagonist (Example: Shrek’s new goal is to rescue the Princess and deliver her to Farquaad. New obstacle: a fire-breathing dragon.)
Parting thoughts based on my experience working with writers: Don’t sweat it too much.
Story is inside us. We live and breathe it every day, so naturally, we create stories with big moments filled with hard decisions for our poor protagonists.
Most of the writers I work with who have never studied an ounce of story structure automatically create these distinctive moments in their narratives. Instinctually, they make their characters cross the invisible bridge into the second act, and usually, the external story stakes are high.
What they often miss is tying the outward journey to the protagonist’s character arc, making it personal enough to really up the ante for internal story stakes.
Remember, as they enter the Second Act, your character is still deeply seated in their false beliefs. They operate from their standard MO. (Shrek continues to be a rude, hostile, angry ogre). They have yet to learn how to be whole-hearted or whatever lesson they need to learn to prove the story’s point. That’s what the rest of the book is about.
The true goal of entering Act Two is to position the character into a new situation that will challenge them as much internally as it will externally so they can grow. When you boil it down, Shrek’s story is about risking rejection for love and acceptance. The core is the old saying, “It’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.” By engaging in the quest to save the Princess, Shrek unknowingly embarks on a journey to unlearn his false beliefs.
And that is damn good storytelling.
The point: if you want to write a powerful turning point to push your character into the second act, the best thing you can do is know your character on a deep level. Know what they fear the most, how they guard their heart and truest desires.
“Plot grows out of character…” ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird.
Join me in the next blog article, How to Craft the Second Act of Your Novel, where we discuss what happens between The Choice (First Plot Point) and the Midpoint of the book.
