by Dr. Diana Stout

Without thinking about it, name your favorite go-to movie or book.

I bet it’s your favorite because of the main character. Because of the trials that character has to traverse, which make you cry, sigh, laugh, or have you holding your breath in anticipation. What makes them memorable?

I would guess that you either fell in love with them, could relate to their struggle, or admired their strength and ability to reach their goal despite the hardships; or, if they didn’t reach their goal, you respected their honor in their failing.

You felt emotional about this character. You felt like you knew them, or knew of their struggle because it was or is currently your struggle, too.

My favorite movie is Jane Austen’s Persuasion because I can relate to the struggle of the main character, Anne. She’s followed a life script others wanted for her (and still do), plus she spent her life trying to make everyone else happy. As a result, she never said no and doesn’t experience true happiness, until the end, when she finally says no and follows her own path.

Another go-to story for me is The Martian by Andrew Wier. An astronaut gets left on Mars after everyone believes he’s hit and blown away by debris and presumed dead. How could I relate to a survival story? Because he meets every dead-end problem straight on and finds solutions.

Why We Read Books and Go to the Movies

It’s no surprise we go to movies and read books to be entertained. Whether about surviving love lost, being lost, or feeling lost. But, it goes beyond entertainment. We want to know how they reach their goal after hitting rock bottom emotionally or physically. Or, how to survive toxic people or toxic situations. All stories fit into these broad classifications.

We love these characters because they overcome. Moving past situations or people, which in turn creates growth and inner joy.

One reviewer, writing about one of seven novellas in my Laurel Ridge romance series, said my characters felt real. “You can tell she's lived among her characters long enough to understand them yet still loves them enough to let them stumble. That blend of warmth and wit is rare. It's not just romance—it's restoration, the quiet work of forgiveness wrapped inside humor and longing.”

I felt their pain and laughed aloud at their antics. I wanted to run around with them and meet with them regularly. I wanted to party with them. I wanted our relationships to continue after the books’ publications. The characters were that real to me.

Have You Hurt Your Character Badly Enough?

To create a memorable character, they have to hurt emotionally and psychologically, to the point that their wound is exposed—to themself and to others in some form.

Exposing that wound represents danger. They’re afraid what others will think about them. That they could lose their job, the battle, their family, friends, everything important to them.

It’s that paralyzing fear of their wound being exposed that creates the conflict.

And, that’s what the Mirror Moment is about. This midpoint Mirror Moment occurs at the fifty percent mark and is the only major plot point where the flip comes from the character’s internal conflict—their wound and the lie they’ve been living. The other four major plot points (New Opportunity, Change of Plans, Major Setback, and Climax) deal with the external goal and external conflicts.

• For the first time, the character sees what they need to do, what they need to become. They recognize what they don’t want to be anymore. Oh, they still want to reach their original goal but not for the same reason as when they started. They’re realizing their morals matter more than their past behavior and beliefs.
• For the first time, they’re acknowledging the immense pain that’s been buried and being honest about themself. As much as they want that goal, they’re filled with doubt that they can reach it now. Confidence is at a new low. They can’t go back to what they used to be. That person doesn’t exist anymore. But, how can they go forward?
• The questions facing them in that mirror are: Can they become the person they want to be? Will anyone like them anymore? Will they fail?

This is where the audience's hearts are tugged. They’re strongly rooting for the character to succeed.

In Helping Others, They Sacrifice

From the Mirror Moment to the Climax, they try to become a better person. They try hard to change, but then they reach the Major Setback, that Do or Die moment, when they realize if they can’t save themselves, at least they can try to save everyone else. That’s the tieback to the Mirror Moment.

Without the Mirror Moment, that strong Major Setback and Climax can’t be reached. It’s about the internal change at the Mirror Moment that creates the external change of action, of behavior, that wins the day regardless of whether they succeed or fail. If they fail, they do so with honor, and that becomes a win. A strong win. A solid win.

That win—even in failure—is their crossover, their arc into becoming a better person.

How To Fix a Stalled Manuscript

What I’ve discovered from reviewing early manuscripts where I stopped at the sagging middle and by working with other writers suffering the same plight, is that in every situation the Major Setback or Climax plot point was sitting where the Mirror Moment should have been.

In essence, there was no Mirror Moment.

Moving the misplaced plot point forward to its proper place, opens up the entire second half of the second act and then some. I’ve seen it happen not only with my stories, but with the stories of writers and students I’ve coached.

Plot the Mirror Moment First

Now, whenever I start a new story, I immediately take the character’s goal and their wound and go to the Mirror Moment. This one plotting device works for pantsers, plotters, and planters alike.

• How does that wound affect their goal?
• How does their journey crash to rock bottom where the wound is totally exposed to this character as they look in the mirror, whether for real or a mental self-examination?
• Are the actions and decisions up to this point exposing the wound bit by bit?
• What must the character let go of in that mirror moment? What must they change internally, emotionally, and psychologically in order to do the right thing? To reach their goal, yet remain honorable?

The Big Shift

It’s not until the Major Setback that they fully acknowledge, there’s no saving the self anymore. It’s about saving everyone else or in coming clean. While it wasn’t fully expressed at the Mirror Moment, it’s fully expressed at the Major Setback, the entry into the final Act III.

That’s what the second part of the second act is all about—the journey toward the Major Setback.

It’s at the Major Setback where honor becomes more important than pride. Should they lose their goal, they’re willing to start anew, alone or with a team, and as someone willing to sacrifice.

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

We remember these characters because while they’re ordinary in the beginning, by the end of the story, they have become extraordinary. Memorable.

Their wound has been healed.

The best stories are where character wounds are deep and pushed down, hidden from view that even they don’t recognize that the wound has been driving their decisions until the day of the inciting incident, the day when their world first changes. The first time they’re facing their wound and quickly dismiss it.

Only at the Mirror Moment can they acknowledge the truth behind Inciting Incident and what it did but couldn’t name until now.

That’s how you prevent a sagging middle.

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About Dr. Diana

She loves talking about writing, and she enjoys helping other writers. To that end, she’s created the Grammar and Punctuation Recuse Series. Short-read books: I Hate Commas Comma Book, and I Hate Helping Verbs are the first two books published, so far.

The second series, Finding Your Fire series, include Dr. Diana’s Toolkit to Better Writing, CPE: Characters, Plot, & Emotion, The 3 Secrets of Time Management and Eliminating Procrastination.

The author of Grendel’s Mother, a medieval story that gives voice to a famous character who was voiceless, Diana is a screenwriter, author, blogger, writing coach, and former university English professor of writing classes. An award-winning writer in multiple genres, one judge said, she’s "a writer to watch."

Earlier this year she published her first thriller, a split-time lake house story, Harbor House: Deadly Intentions. By the end of July, she will have published a second thriller, When the Walls Listen, and is publishing a third thriller, Buried Trash: A Shelby Hale Thriller, later this year.

To learn more, visit her website at sharpenedpencilsproductions.com.

Top image purchased from DepositPhotos.com