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Question:
I've read three of your works: The Plot Whisperer and Workbookand Blockbuster Plots: Pure and Simple and have enjoyed your approach.

In a recent post, you write about the difference between Crisis and Climaxand give ample illustrations in your books.

However, many writers on the craft refer to "the mid-point reversal", an event that sends the hero toward the crisis. Something has to happen at the mid point that changes the plot or the character and a new goal comes out of that.

In your opinion, how important is the MPR and what, if any thing, matches the MPR in the Universal story you promote?

Answer:
What you call the mid-point reversal or MPR sounds like the same thing as the Recommitment scene or the Halfway Point in the Universal Story. 

The scene that functions as the halfway point and recommitment scene is so important that it qualifies as one of 4 Energetic Markers, a scene with enough energy to turn the story in an entirely new direction.

Coming Soon!
The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing is available for pre-order now. Ships 12/12.

More Plot Tips: 

There's nice interview with Neil Gaiman and David McKean on MPR at the moment. When I lived in Minneapolis it was very hard for my husband to explain to people that while he loved NPR he didn't much care for MPR. In this case, however, they've done quite well. Brava!

Thanks to the Powell's blog for the link.

Dave and I spent a fun day first being interviewed at MPR then we went down to the Walker for a sound check, out to eat (they scoffed at my not having a gooey chocolate dessert and having a grapefruit juice instead. But I shall have the last laugh.) Then we got to the Walker to find that there were a lot of people in line and only 300 free tickets, which made us feel vaguely guilty. (My apologies if you were one of the people who couldn't get in.)

We talked and read, Dave showed film clips and images, we were in conversation, we answered questions from the audience. (You'll be able to see the whole thing at http://channel.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=3651 soonish.)

Then we went down to leave, and, because the cars weren't moving and some people asked, signed some books for people in the parking lot, which was, I think, a first for the Gaiman McKean partnership. We spent a happy hour in the parking structure, watching the automated leaving system break down under the numbers of people leaving. (You pay before leaving, as in an airport, and you go to your car, and you try to leave. 300 other people are trying to do the same thing. It takes a while to get to the front of the line. Then all you need is one person who either forgot to pay before leaving, or who has been waiting in that line for fifteen minutes and ten seconds, and the whole system breaks down, and the attendants at the front look sadder and sadder and explain that they don't have an override switch and so cannot open the barrier for people even they want to -- and they do -- and they go off and try and get some working tickets, and as the hour ticks by several hundred people resolve not to come back to the Walker again, at least, not if it involves parking...)

Thanks to Sarah from the Walker and Eric from RainTaxi for putting it together...

(And finding the Rain Taxi link meant I noticed that there's a whopping great interview with me on their website at http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2006winter/gaiman.shtml.)