Sunday, January 24, 2021

Possible place for a pinch point?


Canmore Collegiate High School
Computer-altered watercolour and crayon
©2020 Charlene Brown

This building actually exists, unlike the high school I painted a couple of weeks ago.  And it too might make an appearance as a background in a fictional mountain town (apparently big enough to have two high schools) in my new graphic novel.

Pinch points are small complications or twists in the plot that serve to remind the protagonist of just what she’s up against.

I've made this sound more complicated than it really is, so here's a list of the ‘points’ that occur in a screenplay (or graphic novel derived from a screenplay).               

  • Inciting incident:         setting the scene    
  • Plot point 1:                 everything changes
  • Pinch point 1:              reminder, complications                   
  • Midpoint:                    moment of truth, reveals true nature of the conflict
  • Pinch point 2               reminder, or even a twist in the plot
  • Plot point 2:                 everything comes together
  • Climax:                        problem solved

BTW, this is my 800th blog post.  But who's counting...