How To Write An Effective All Is Lost Moment And Dark Night Of The Soul

The All is Lost is an action beat played out in a single scene or chapter that lands right at the 75% mark of the novel. This event shatters all hope of the protagonist reaching their main external objective. It closes out Act III in Four-Act Story Structure. In Three Act Structure, it’s also called the Third Plot Point.

As the name suggests, the All is Lost moment is your main character’s rock bottom emotional low point. They were so close to getting what they wanted, but now, because of this event, there’s no chance in hell they’ll recover, or so it seems.