At the midpoint of a novel or movie, you are likely to encounter “the mirror moment” : a scene in which the protagonist looks into the mirror – literally or figuratively – and makes a gut check. They might question their morals or their coming course of action. It’s a point where the hero makes a decision that drives the rest of the story.
The protagonist might not like what he sees in the mirror, and this motivates him to change. In contrast, the mirror might reaffirm what the hero has believed all along but has come to doubt. In these cases, the hero girds themselves for the final battle.
In a post on the Killzone blog, James Scott Bell says there’s another type of mirror moment: the funhouse. In a book series, your protagonist might not change dramatically from novel to novel. Of course, the risk of death is limited, since you want to bring your hero back for another go round.
“In that case, you can make the mirror a ‘funhouse’ kind, where everything looks confusing and distorted,” Bell says. “Thus, you can always have your Lead considering the frustrating mix of clues that are just not adding up. Could this be the mystery that finally goes unsolved for our hero? (This is professional death for the sleuth).”
