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In physics, criticality refers to a nuclear reaction that is able to continue by itself. But for our purposes, I use it as a metaphor to indicate “points of no return”. In other words, points of divergence in a novel, where the plot can take two (critically) different directions.

The concept of points of divergence might be familiar to authors writing alternative-history science fiction. For an example, you can see my review of Elleander Morning. However, when I refer to writing criticality, I’m not limiting myself to speculative fiction.

The concept of points of divergence is ubiquitous. It pervades all fictional narratives, regardless of genre. Or at least… it ought to! In this post I’ll show you how to work with points of divergence – identifying, controlling, and deploying them successfully.

A note on terminology: I use the terms “Writing Criticality” and “point of divergence” interchangeably in the post.

Points of Divergence Are Narrative Checkpoints

Let’s say you need to summarize Dracula for someone, but you can only use a few sentences. It’s unlikely that you would pay too much attention to details such as where Dracula lives, or religious metaphors.

Instead, you would go straight to the most important plot checkpoints. Hence, such a brief summary could look like this:

Jonathan Harker, a British lawyer, goes to Transylvania to close a business deal, but discovers his client, count Dracula, is a vampire. Dracula goes to England to create more vampires, but after he attacks Mina (Jonathan’s fiancée), Jonathan and his peers chase him back to Transylvania and kill him.

Obviously, this is a probably lousy thing to offer as a blurb, because it reveals too much. But that has been precisely our goal: to offer the most information in the least number of sentences.

If we wanted to present the summary above as a list, it would look like this:

1. Jonathan Harker goes to Transylvania
2. He discovers Count Dracula is a vampire
3. Dracula goes to England to create more vampires
4. He attacks Mina
5. Jonathan and his peers chase Dracula back to Transylvania
6. They kill him

The points between 1 and 6 are points of divergence. We could include other points too – for instance, showcasing how Van Helsing and Lucy Westenra’s suitors detected Dracula’s presence – but in terms of writing criticality, the points listed above are enough to convey what Dracula is about in terms of plot.

Why Are Points of Divergence Points of no Return?

Writing criticality is… critical because – like criticality in a nuclear context – it implies a point of no return. The term “point of no return” is probably a bit too absolute. You can return from a plot direction following a point of divergence, just as you can stop a nuclear chain reaction. But, in both cases, it takes effort, knowledge, and a bit of luck. Not to mention, success isn’t always guaranteed – Chernobyl, anyone?

Therefore, once you commit to a plot line, you need to stick to it. Otherwise you risk messing it all up. At the very least, changing your mind about a plot direction after passing the point of no returnIt goes without saying that I am not referring to planning, outlining, or drafting. As authors, we might try all kinds of things at an early stage. But the closer you get to the end result, the clearer the image you must have of the final product. And so, in the context of this post, referring to "the point of no return" or "committing to a plot direction" is seen from the perspective of the final product. means either a lot of work or poor results – or, more often than not, both.

Attempting to come back from a point of no return in a writing context, there is an overwhelming chance that you’ll end up with a convoluted, chaotic narrative that doesn’t make sense.

Much better to identify and control the points of divergence in your narrative. This leads to enhanced cohesion and internal consistency and, ultimately, more sense-making plots. Take another look at my post on narrative endings to see how choices along the way – during the narrative journey – affect the ending and the entire narrative.

Identifying and Controlling Writing Criticality

It’s much easier to identify the points of divergence in your own novel if you have a good grasp of what you’re writing. In other words, if you have decided on the basics of your plot and narrativeNeed a quick, easy way to distinguish them?
Plot: The story as it unfolds from your characters’ perspective.
Narrative:The story as it unfolds from your readers’ perspective.
Also take a look at my post on narrative pace. before you start writing your novel.

I do understand that this is a bit of an idealistic scenario. Moreover, each writer has their own style and technique: Some prefer to start writing right away, creating lots of drafts, while others prefer to first plan how the story will unfold – making outlines, considering options, etc. Obviously, the latter kind has a much easier job identifying and controlling the points of divergence.

It’s a Matter of Knowing Your Plot and Your Narrative

This might sound odd, but – especially if you’re the former kind of author, “figuring it up on the go” – for many writers it isn’t always clear how their plot and narrative will evolve. Moreover, don’t forget that sometimes books just take over.

In any case, the first step in identifying your divergence points is to figure out the plot; what will happen, to whom, why, and all that. Make a short list (like the one shown earlier, about Dracula) and you’ve already taken the first step.

The next step is narrative. How many of the plot points you made will be offered to your reader in the same order is up to you. This is a point many inexperienced authors struggle with – take a look at my post on linear narrative progression.

Generally, experience will allow you to figure out whether the audience needs to know A before B, or know 100% of C but only 50% of D. Manipulating your audience is a creative choice. I will return to this in the concluding section of this post.

Putting It All Together

Having a clear picture of what your book will be about is obviously essential. You can’t identify points of divergence if you don’t know what will happen down the road.

Naturally, things can change. You perhaps came up with a better idea about something, or decided that it’s preferable for character A to do thing B instead. After all, realistic characters can be unpredictable – even to their own authors!

But it’s essential, then, to revisit the entire outline – in terms of both plot and narrative – and see how one different decision at a point of divergence brings about a different result.

To use Dracula once again as an example, let’s imagine you’re Bram Stoker and you’ve just decided to have Mina Harker actually fall in loveThis is very mildly implied in Stoker’s novel, but it’s fully explicit in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film adaptation. with Dracula. Obviously, following such a path, it doesn’t make narrative sense to have Mina happily return to Jonathan Harker when Dracula is destroyed.

Controlling Your Divergence Points

As a last thing, I want to emphasize an important aspect of narrative creativity. I have referred to this before, and it’s important to keep it in mind for writing criticality, too.

I’m referring to the concept of less is more.

In terms of identifying – or, ideally, creating – divergence points, less is more basically means this: Don’t overload your novel with them. Depending on your genre, cliff hangers are alright, but not every cliff hanger needs to be a divergence point.

The difference can be subtle, but whereas a cliff hanger is more of a narrative strategy (you temporarily withhold information from the reader), divergence points are more of a plot strategy: it’s the characters (rather than your audience) that have to face the consequences of a given action.

And so, in this context, a narrative that is full of divergence points strongly suggests passivity; things happen to the characters, not because of them. (For more on this, see my note on adventuristic time).

Note: Interested in a program that helps you come up with a solid structure for your work? Take a look at Conceptualizer, my story planning program. Like everything else I make, it’s free and ad-free.