CINDY SKAGGS
  • Home
  • Books
    • Team Fear
    • Untouchables
    • Articles & Publications
  • Blog 2.0
  • News & Events
  • Newsletter
    • Privacy Policy >
      • Cookies Policy
  • Speaking
  • Writers
    • Writing Resources
  • About

The Write Place ...          

Writer Wednesday: Turning Points

2/5/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
I'm a big fan of turning points. Well, not in real life, because in real life, turning points are messy things. Turning points are the chaos leading us inevitably into the storm. 

My father died when I was thirteen. It was life altering before I was old enough to understand the implications and repercussions of such an event. From that point forward, my life was broken into before and after.

Before my father died:
  • we lived in a nice area of town (our house actually started life as a builder's exhibit in the parade of homes)
  • my mother was a stay at home mom
  • my siblings went to a private school (I elected out after one year)
  • we anticipated college after finishing high school
After his death:
  • we made a successive spiral of moves leading us deeper into impoverished areas of town
  • my mother had to work, often two jobs, while going to college
  • my siblings had to go to public school
  • College was NOT a foregone conclusion; in fact, as the third child, I was the first to finish my degree

Turning points are messy things because of the effects they have on our character's lives, as they had in my life, as they have in your life. Turning points are story events that cause the story to turn in a new direction.

The new direction in fiction is typically caused by a choice the character makes (or doesn't make) or a dilemma they face, such as if my mother had chosen to keep living on the "good" side of town by getting married rather than going back to college.

These turning points should lead your character into something new and significantly different. If the choice your character faces is whether to eat dinner at a Chinese restaurant or Taco Bell, that's probably not a turning point, but if the trip to the Chinese restaurant leads our character into China Town where she is faced with a life-changing choice--find the treasure your boss stole or your best friend dies--that's a turning point.

The crossroads in this fake story is the character's before and after, and like those traumatic before and afters in your own life, the character's life will never be the same.
 
​For instance, the protagonist who was just going to dinner with a friend is there to discuss a job offer because she can't work for a dishonest so-and-so any longer, but after her friend is kidnapped, she has to stay with the employer to find the treasure and save her BFF. So the dinner in China Town becomes one of the character's turning points.
 
In real life, turning points are traumatic, but isn't that exactly what we want for our characters? If the character is not faced with significant turning points and equally disastrous choices, then we may not have a turning point that will keep the reader reading.
​
In the opening of this post, I said turning points were the chaos leading us into the storm, but the storm is where our character will grow. Give them that opportunity by giving them a worthy turning point.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Writer Reference (Blogroll)

    QUERY letters
    ​Filter Words
    ​Tenses
    Show Don't Tell

    To Be verbs
    ​Wired for Story
    Synopsis Writing
    Writer Beware
    ​Genre by any other name
    He for She
    A Little is Enough
    Writing 17 minutes at a time
    The Unlisted List:
    The best women nonfiction writers.
    Aubrey Hirsh' Beginner's Guide to publishing with format templates and more
    Agent Query 15 posts on writing query ltrs
    Jane Friedman
    Platform Action Plan
    WriterWeds

    Author

    Writer, college professor, lover of story, fan of all things bookish. Plus chocolate, because who doesn't love chocolate.


    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    21st Century Writers
    Book Talk
    Call For Submissions
    Creative Nonfiction
    Diversity
    Guest Blogger
    MFA
    Money Talk
    Motivation
    Nanowrimo
    On Writing
    Plotting
    Resources
    TheProfessorIsIn
    ThePublishingBusiness
    Writer
    WritersOfInfluence
    WriterWednesday
    Writing
    Writing Conferences
    Writing Craft
    Writing Friends

    RSS Feed

© Cindy Skaggs 2015-2021

​Site uses affiliate links
Photo used under Creative Commons from Lets Go Out Bournemouth and Poole
  • Home
  • Books
    • Team Fear
    • Untouchables
    • Articles & Publications
  • Blog 2.0
  • News & Events
  • Newsletter
    • Privacy Policy >
      • Cookies Policy
  • Speaking
  • Writers
    • Writing Resources
  • About