This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the 522 episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast.

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I hope you enjoyed this week's episode, the link between your story's first plot point and third

plot point. I often talk about cohesion and resonance as being two of the most important qualities of great stories.

Many factors are involved in achieving these effects, but one of the Sutlist and yet most powerful is found within the structure of story itself.

And this is the hidden circle of story structure in which all the important beats in the first half can be seen as foreshadowing for their partner beats in the second half.

Over the last few weeks we've been examining the idea that story structure can be viewed, not just as an arc, but as a circle.

So far we've talked about the link between the hook and the resolution and the link between

the inciting event and the climactic moment.

Today, we're going to examine one of my favorite pairings,

the powerhouse structural beats known as the first plot point and the third plot point. Now in some ways these

plot points are less partners and more part of a triangle along with the midpoint. The first plot point marks the end of the first

act and the beginning of the second act around the 25% mark into the story.

The midpoint halves the story and the second act

at the 50% mark.

And the third plot point ends the second act

...