The third part of Wake the Dragon is called “This Is Getting Ugly”, and it keeps its word. After “Upside Down”, your protagonist doesn’t just react anymore: they act. And just as they start getting it right, everything tightens until it snaps. It runs from the middle of the book to about 75%.
There are three pieces. It’s the shortest part and the one that moves the most.
Beat 9: On the Offensive
They stop reacting and act. Until now, things happened to your protagonist and they responded as best they could. Now they know something they didn’t know before (they found it out in “Upside Down”), and they take the initiative.
Mara isn’t looking for an egg anymore: she’s protecting a dragon the size of a cat that only eats Bruno’s bread. She’s no longer asking who did it; she’s deciding what to do with what she’s found.
Tip: compare what your protagonist does here with what they did in “Now for the Fun Part”. If they’re still doing the same thing, they haven’t gone on the offensive yet.
It’s a flexible piece. Sometimes another character is the one who acts, and your protagonist watches or helps. Sometimes nobody takes the initiative, and that stillness is exactly what the novel is about. If that’s your case, leave the piece empty.
Beat 10: I Smell Smoke
Everything tightens, outside and inside, and something hidden is about to blow. Outside, the opposition gains ground. Inside, someone is keeping quiet about something that matters.
In Valdrago, Olivia sells “the egg” to a museum and accuses Mara in front of the cameras. The dragon sets fire to the bar’s awning (here, the smoke is literal). And Alex keeps quiet about the arrest warrant that’s already signed.
That silence is what makes the piece work: readers know it, or suspect it, and they see it coming. It works even better if the one keeping quiet is your protagonist: something they haven’t told anyone, something they don’t want to see.
Tip: ask yourself what someone in your novel is keeping quiet about at this point. If nobody is hiding anything, the fall that comes next will catch everyone, readers included, without warning.
It usually takes up several scenes. It’s a fixed piece: it’s in every novel we’ve looked at.
Beat 11: Rock Bottom
The blow. Your protagonist loses what they won in “Upside Down” and hits bottom. Bruno is arrested, the dragon is driven away in a van, and Mara finds out Alex knew. She packs her suitcase.
It’s one of the pillars of the structure and has an article of its own, together with the piece that comes after it.
In Sunday Plot, these three pieces are in the Structure, under “This Is Getting Ugly”, and guided mode asks you about them one at a time. And in Wanted: One Dragon you can see them all filled in.