The second part of Wake the Dragon is called “This Looks Promising”. Your protagonist is already in trouble, and now they explore, try things and get things wrong. They’re still reacting to what happens to them; really acting comes later. It runs from 20% of the book to the halfway mark.
There are four pieces, and they end up turning everything upside down.
Beat 5: Now for the Fun Part
What the premise promised. If your novel were a film, this would be in the trailer. It’s what readers came for when they picked up your book: the mystery, the romance, the adventure, the strange little town.
In Wanted: One Dragon, Mara questions the whole town on the pretext of renewing their library cards: the hairdresser, the head of the festival committee, the twins who run the bar. Every one of them has a motive and a terrible alibi.
It’s usually the longest stretch of the book and the lightest. And your protagonist goes through it with their lie still on: Mara asks everyone questions, but never stays for a drink with anyone.
Tip: if you don’t know what happens here, reread your premise and ask yourself which scene someone reading it would expect. Write down three. Now you know where to start.
Beat 6: That Wasn’t in the Plan
Someone your protagonist wasn’t counting on turns up. They bring something: help, love, a warning, a clue. Sometimes all at once.
For Mara it’s Alex, the officer who wanted to arrest her, who turns up at every clue. They argue, trample on each other’s interviews and start laughing at the same things.
This is often where a subplot comes from: the romance, a friendship, someone who teaches them the ropes. If that happens, in Sunday Plot you can note it down as a subplot and see where it moves forward (more in Subplots).
It’s a flexible piece. Often that person arrives with “All Hell Breaks Loose” or with “No Turning Back”, and then nothing new is needed here. If there’s nobody like that in your novel, leave the piece empty.
Beat 7: Someone Has Other Plans
The opposition shows itself. Someone wants something that clashes with what your protagonist wants. You don’t need a villain in a cape: a person with their own reasons is enough. Sometimes it isn’t even a person but a thing: a storm, an illness, a deadline.
Olivia, the mayor of Valdrago, wants someone to blame before the TV cameras arrive. And she has a buyer for the egg.
It’s best if it shows before the midpoint. If the opposition turns up out of nowhere at the end, readers feel the rules have been changed on them. In a mystery it can be in plain sight without anyone recognizing it for what it is.
To write it well: antagonists don’t need mustaches.
Beat 8: Upside Down
Halfway through the book, the story turns over. A false victory or a false defeat, and the novel’s question becomes a different one. In Valdrago, Mara and Alex find the shell in the bakery oven: nobody stole the egg. It hatched. And Alex, for the first time, believes her.
It’s one of the pillars of the structure and has an article of its own.
In Sunday Plot, these four pieces are in the Structure, under “This Looks Promising”, and guided mode asks you about them one at a time. And in Wanted: One Dragon you can see them all filled in.