Janet Fox’s books, picture book through young adult, have won awards including SCBWI’s Crystal Kite and Women Writing the West’s WILLA and received starred reviews and appeared on state lists. They’ve been included on best of lists like Bank Street Books, CBC, YALSA, Kirkus, and JLG. Her newest books are a middle grade novel, CARRY ME HOME (Simon & Schuster 2021), and a picture book WINTERGARDEN (Neal Porter Books illustrated by Jasu Hu, 2023). Upcoming books include THE MYSTERY OF MYSTIC MOUNTAIN (Simon & Schuster 2024) and THE REAL ROSALIND (Lerner, 2025, co-authored with Debbie Loren Dunn); she also contributed the Connecticut story to SCBWI/Godwin Books HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA. Janet is the mother of a writer son, and she lives in Montana with her husband and their lively yellow Lab. janetfox.com
Story is all about change. If there's one thing Janet wants this group of pantsers to takeaway, it's this-change is key!
And, turning points are key moments of change.
Your protagonist needs to make things happen that change the course of the external action in the story, and your protagonist will change internally over the course of the story.
There are 7 key turning points in story:
- the inciting incident
- plot point one (end of Act 1, beginning of Act 2)
- the midpoint
- the crisis point
- plot point two (end of act 1, beginning of act 3)
- climax
- resolution
Plot paradigms (there are many) are just a guide. This is important to remember for those writers who are more organic and intuitive.
Cause and effect is what moves the story forward. It's the propulsion for change.
"Plot grows out of the actions of your character and not the other way around."
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A favorite definition of plot for Janet. |
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