Story Structure: The 5 Scenes Every Novel Needs (With Kristina Stanley)

Every writer knows that sinking feeling when something about their novel just isn’t clicking. You’ve got compelling characters, an intriguing premise, and you’ve poured your heart into every word—but somehow, the story feels stuck. The pages aren’t turning. The momentum isn’t there. And you’re left wondering, “What am I missing?”

Here’s the truth: your novel might be missing one or more of the five essential scenes that form the backbone of every successful story. These scenes aren’t just checkpoints—they’re the structural glue that holds your narrative together, creating the emotional journey readers crave.

To help you uncover and master these critical moments, I recently sat down with Kristina Stanley, award-winning author, fiction editor, and CEO of Fictionary, to talk about the five key scenes that every novel needs.

Whether you’re drafting your first novel or revising your tenth, understanding these five scenes will revolutionize the way you approach storytelling. Let’s break them down and explore why they’re the secret to writing a novel that works.

The 5 Essential Story Scenes That Create Page-Turners

Before we dive into the details, let’s start with a bird’s-eye view of what Kristina Stanley calls the “story spine.” These are the five essential scenes that form the backbone of every successful novel:

• The Inciting Incident: The spark that ignites your story.
• Plot Point 1: The moment your protagonist accepts their story goal.
• The Midpoint: The pivotal shift where your protagonist moves from reactive to proactive.
• Plot Point 2: The darkest moment, paired with a crucial revelation.
• The Climax: The ultimate test of your protagonist and the resolution of your story’s central question.

These five scenes aren’t just random checkpoints—they’re the structural anchors that keep your story focused and engaging. 

Think of these scenes as the scaffolding that holds your story together. Without them, your manuscript risks feeling aimless or disjointed. With them, you create a clear, satisfying journey that keeps readers hooked from start to finish.

Now, let’s break down each scene in detail, with examples that will make these concepts crystal clear.

#1. The Inciting Incident - Your Story's First Domino

The inciting incident is the moment that flips your protagonist’s world upside down. It’s the spark that sets your story in motion, disrupting the ordinary and forcing your character into action. Without this pivotal scene, you don’t have a story—you just have a character living their day-to-day life.

Kristina emphasizes that this scene needs to happen early—ideally within the first 10-15% of your novel. Why? Because readers won’t stick around for endless setup. They need a reason to care, a reason to keep turning the page. The inciting incident is that reason.

In a romance, this could be as simple as the moment the love interests meet—because without that meeting, there’s no love story to tell. In a mystery, it might be the detective taking on a case or stumbling across a body. Whatever the genre, the inciting incident is the first domino that sets everything else in motion.

The key? Make it unexpected. 

Kristina shared a fantastic example from Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing. Violet, the protagonist, expects to join the Scribe Quadrant and spend her life working in libraries. But her inciting incident? Her mother orders her to join the Riders Quadrant and train as a dragon rider instead. This complete reversal of expectations creates instant conflict, tension, and intrigue—hooking readers from the start.

Scene 2: Plot Point 1 - The Point of No Return

Plot Point 1 is the moment your protagonist steps over the threshold and fully commits to their story goal. It’s the point of no return—where they make a decision or take an action that locks them into the journey ahead. This pivotal scene typically happens around the 25% mark of your novel, closing out Act One and launching your story into Act Two.

Here’s the truth: without this moment of commitment, you don’t have a story. Your protagonist might resist, doubt, or struggle leading up to this point, but ultimately, they must make a choice that propels them forward—even if they don’t fully understand the consequences yet.

Kristina explained how this moment plays out differently depending on your genre. In romance, it’s often when one character finally acknowledges their attraction, even if they’re still fighting it. In mysteries, it’s when the detective officially commits to solving the case. Regardless of the genre, the function of this scene remains the same: your protagonist stops hesitating and steps into the story with both feet.

In Fourth Wing, Violet's Plot Point 1 occurs when she enters the dragon school and watches dragons kill multiple cadets. Despite the horror, she makes a crucial decision: when a dragon approaches her, she holds her ground instead of running. This moment of choice—using her intelligence to survive rather than flee—commits her to her goal of surviving her first year at the war college. She's no longer just a victim of her mother's decision; she's actively choosing to fight for her survival in this deadly new world.

That’s the beauty of Plot Point 1: your protagonist doesn’t need to fully understand the magnitude of their decision. They just need to take an action that commits them to the journey ahead.

Scene 3: The Midpoint - From Reactive to Proactive

The midpoint is a game-changer. It’s the moment where your protagonist stops simply reacting to the chaos around them and starts actively driving the story forward. This transformation, which typically happens around the 50% mark of your novel, is where many stories either soar—or completely lose their way.

Before the midpoint, your protagonist is in survival mode, scrambling to keep up with whatever the story throws at them. But after the midpoint, something shifts. They develop a plan (even if it’s flawed) and begin taking charge of their destiny. This is where readers start to see real growth and agency in your character, which is critical for keeping them engaged.

Kristina shared a fantastic example from Fourth Wing. At the midpoint, Violet makes the pivotal decision to trust Xaden with a crucial secret about her dragon. This marks a major shift in her character arc—from simply trying to survive dragon school through intelligence and caution to actively building alliances and taking strategic risks. It’s a turning point that propels the story forward and deepens her character’s complexity.

Here’s why this scene matters so much: without a clear midpoint shift, your protagonist risks feeling like a passive pinball, bouncing between plot events without any real agency. Readers need to see your character stepping into their power, making choices, and taking risks—even if those choices lead to mistakes.

Kristina also pointed out that Act Two can feel overwhelming—it’s often the longest section of your novel, spanning roughly 40,000 words in an 80,000-word manuscript. But the midpoint acts as a natural divider, breaking this massive section into two distinct halves. Before the midpoint, you’re building reactive sequences. After it, you’re showing proactive attempts that build toward the climax.

The takeaway? A strong midpoint doesn’t just keep your story on track—it keeps your readers hooked by showing your protagonist’s evolution in real time.

Scene 4: Plot Point 2 - The All Is Lost Moment

Plot Point 2 is where your story plunges into its darkest hour—and yet, it’s also where the final puzzle piece falls into place. This dual-purpose scene, which typically occurs around the 75% mark of your novel, is often misunderstood or underutilized. Yes, it’s the “all is lost” moment where everything seems hopeless, but it’s also the moment your protagonist gains the crucial information they need to face the climax.

Here’s why this scene is so powerful: it combines emotional devastation with a vital revelation. The emotional low point makes the stakes feel real and raw, while the revelation sets the stage for your protagonist’s ultimate test. Without both elements working together, your climax risks feeling either unearned or disconnected from the story’s emotional core.

Kristina shared a great way to think about this. Imagine a detective at rock bottom after the killer strikes again. They’re devastated, but in that same crime scene, they discover the crucial clue that cracks the case wide open. Or in a romance, the protagonist believes their love interest has betrayed them—only to learn the truth that’s been keeping them apart. The emotional devastation and the key revelation arrive together, creating a moment that’s both heartbreaking and transformative.

A perfect example of this comes from Fourth Wing. Violet’s “all is lost” moment happens when she finally kills someone—a line she’s been trying not to cross throughout the book. This emotional devastation is paired with a revelation: she discovers her lightning abilities. Both the emotional weight and the critical information collide, propelling her toward the climax with new clarity and purpose.

Timing Is Everything: Drop this revelation too late, and it feels like a convenient, last-minute solution. Readers will feel manipulated. But place it at Plot Point 2, and you give them time to process how this new information will shape the climax. It’s the perfect setup for Act Three, ensuring your story’s resolution feels both inevitable and satisfying.

Scene 5: The Climax - Answering Your Story Question

This is where everything comes together—or falls apart. Kristina highlights a common pitfall here: writers often craft thrilling, action-packed climaxes that completely miss the point of their story. The climax isn’t just about spectacle or drama—it’s about answering your central story question.

At its core, the climax must resolve the question your story has been building toward: Did your protagonist achieve their goal or didn’t they? It’s that simple—and that crucial.

For example, if your story is about a character trying to get vaccinated against vampirism before their fifth birthday in a dystopian society, the climax can’t just be an epic vampire battle for the sake of action. The battle might be the vehicle, but the climax must ultimately reveal whether they succeeded in getting vaccinated or became a vampire. Without answering that question, the story feels incomplete, no matter how exciting the scene is.

In Fourth Wing, Violet's climax directly addresses her story goal: survival. Everything she's learned—her lightning abilities, her alliances, her combat training—comes together in a final test that determines whether she'll make it through her first year at the war college.

Kristina’s advice? Ask yourself: Does my climax directly address whether my protagonist succeeded or failed at their established goal? If the answer is no, you’ve got two options: either revise your climax to align with the story’s central question or go back and adjust the goal itself to better fit the story you’ve told.

The climax is your story’s ultimate test. It’s where your protagonist’s journey reaches its peak, and readers finally get the resolution they’ve been waiting for. Nail this scene, and you’ll leave them satisfied, emotionally invested, and eager to recommend your book to others.

What Happens When These Scenes Are Missing?

Kristina’s insights here are pure gold because they pinpoint exactly why some manuscripts feel “off” even when the writing itself is beautiful. Structural gaps are like potholes in your story—they jolt the reader out of the experience and leave them wondering what went wrong.

Here’s what happens when these key scenes are missing:

• Missing Inciting Incident: Your story feels like it’s wandering aimlessly. Readers keep waiting for something—anything—to happen, and when it doesn’t, they lose interest.
• Missing Plot Point 1: Without a clear commitment to a goal, your characters feel like they’re just floating through events. The story lacks purpose and direction.
• Weak or Missing Midpoint: The dreaded “saggy middle.” Your protagonist becomes passive, reacting to events instead of driving them, and the story loses momentum.
• Missing Plot Point 2: The climax feels like it came out of nowhere. Readers feel cheated because they weren’t given the breadcrumbs they needed to anticipate the resolution.
• Unfocused Climax: The ending leaves readers confused or emotionally disconnected. They’re left wondering, “What just happened—and why should I care?”

Kristina’s advice? Start with what she calls “the story test.” Pull out these five scenes and examine them. Are they all present? Do they show up at roughly the right points in the story? Most importantly, do they connect logically? Your climax should directly answer the question raised by your inciting incident.

And here’s the kicker: fix these structural elements before you start polishing your prose. There’s no point perfecting your opening chapter if the entire story needs a rebuild. As Kristina wisely says, “Structure first, sparkle later.”

Final Thoughts

Kristina’s closing words are so spot-on: “Once you see these patterns, you can’t unsee them.” And that’s the beauty of it. This isn’t about stifling your creativity or forcing your story into a rigid formula. It’s about understanding the timeless architecture that makes stories work.

These five scenes aren’t just arbitrary—they’re the backbone of storytelling, dating back to when humans first sat around fires sharing tales. They’re the reason readers stay up all night turning pages, desperate to know what happens next.

Here’s the truth: you can write anything you want. But if you want to write stories that resonate, stories that readers can’t put down, mastering these five scenes is your roadmap.

Whether you’re a meticulous plotter or a free-spirited pantser, these scenes act as your guideposts. They’re not rules, they’re tools. Tools to help you craft the story that’s been living in your imagination, waiting to come to life.

So, take a deep breath, trust the process, and remember: structure isn’t the enemy of creativity—it’s the foundation that lets your creativity soar.

👉 Want more help right now? Check out these free resources:

• Listen to the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast for weekly writing guidance
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