Why Your Plot Should Hinge on a Decision (Not Just an Event)
A Great Way to Expose and Develop Characters
We’re back to plotting today, and here’s a crucial detail about the climax (and other plot points) of your story.
The strongest turning points aren’t caused by events.
They’re caused by decisions.
Because plot is more than what happens to your characters. It’s what your characters decide to do when it happens.
Events Are Loud, But Decisions Echo
There’s a lot of strife in the world right now, so I’ll start with a violent example, if I may. Let’s say a bomb goes off. Fire rages everywhere. Buildings got hit by the shock wave and begin to topple.
That’s an event. It’s dramatic. Loud. High-stakes.
But what happens next?
Your character might run away. That’s a gut reaction, and there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s the sane thing to do.
But if you leave it at that, you’re missing on a golden opportunity to make your character choose.
Suppose you plant a wounded boy in the character’s path. Now they must decide: risk themselves to help, or succumb to fear and survival instinct?
Next, suppose that boy has a sister who’s trapped under some debris, and he won’t leave her side. Now your character must decide: force them apart? Stay to help both? Give up on both?
Finally, suppose a balcony is about to collapse onto the boy and trapped girl. Now what does your character do?
The more you push your characters into meaningful decisions, the more you expose their true nature and force them to either succumb or outgrow it.
That’s when the story really turns.
Events are plot candy.
Decisions are plot fuel.
The Power of a Decision Point
A meaningful decision has three ingredients:
Stakes — What’s at risk emotionally or physically?
Consequence — What will change because of this choice?
Inner conflict — Is this decision aligned or in tension with the character’s values, beliefs, or flaws?
The more charged the decision, the more the reader leans in.
A Quick Example
Imagine your story features a rebel leader named Roa. She’s been hiding her identity to stay safe.
Then comes the inciting event: her hometown is raided. The enemy is burning everything.
Now here’s the decision:
Does she reveal who she is and rally people to fight, risking exposure and death? Or stay silent to protect her long-term plan, knowing it means losing lives right now?
That moment is the real turning point.
Not the fire. Not the raid.
The choice.
Why This Works
✅ Gives your protagonist agency
✅ Keeps the story emotionally driven
✅ Locks the reader into character and plot at the same time
✅ Creates ripple effects that deepen conflict
Readers want to feel that the story could have gone a completely different way. That the only thing that made the universe tip this way and not that is the character’s choice.
A Prompt to Try
Look at the next major shift in your story.
Now ask:
Is it something that happens to your character, or something they choose to do?
If it’s just an event, can you reframe it around a decision? Can you back your character into a meaningful corner?
Let your character be the one who tips the world sideways.
If this post gave your plot a little nudge, hit the ❤️ and share it with a fellow writer.
Because stories are built not just on what happens, but on what someone chooses to do about it.
Yours until next week,
Tal Valante Kilim