GOAL: Identify your narrative’s five most critical plot points.
DELIVERABLES: 1-2 pages document that describes each of the 5 Key Plot Points and all characters involved in each plot point (player, ghost, Key NPC, etc.)
The Biggest Moments
From the exploration brainstorm ideas, identify the 5 biggest moments within the standard 3-Act structure. Not all plot ideas will fit the A plot story, sort then, and keep B and C plot ideas separate to focus on the A plot points.
- What are the conventions and obligatory scenes of the Genre?
- What is the Beginning Hook, the middle built up and Ending payoff?
- What is the protagonist objects of desire?

They include:
- The SETUP
- Set-Up the protagonist’s journey by identifying their “status quo”.
- What does his/her “external” world look like?
- What is his/her emotional/psychological state?
- What is the tried & true “inciting incident”?
- END OF ACT I REVEAL
- What’s the key moment (Reveal) that sends the Protagonist into conflict?
- It has to be something that is happening to the protagonist, not something that he went to look for.
- What changes his/her world?
- How is he/she put in danger?
- How does this affect their emotional/psychological state?
- What is the new motivation?
- What’s the key moment (Reveal) that sends the Protagonist into conflict?
- The MIDPOINT
- Where the stakes are explicitly raised; the “ticking clock” starts; and/or the antagonist(s) put the squeeze on our hero.
- Something that might have a consequence later, definitely something game-changing.
- The bigger the length of the experience, the more likely this needs to be a motivation change.
- The BREAK
- What is the moment when “All is Lost” and there is no hope?
- What is the moment that “breaks” our protagonist?
- What is the major setback to the protagonist’s plans?
- This is as far as the character can go without deeply changing its ways.
- This final test will put him/her into a profound failure state.
- How do they dial it in to face the seemingly insurmountable conflict ahead?
- This moment of doubt will bring the NEED to the surface.
- The BATTLE
- How does the story conclude?
- What does the final battle between the Protagonist and Antagonist look like?
- How has the story transformed the Protagonist?
- What has the protagonist (and any other applicable character) learned?
- What does your post-conflict denouement look like?
“Why isn’t everything exploding?!”
Michael Bay