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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/39733
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

So far, I've been learning rules and guidelines for plotting a good story from John Truby's excellent "_The Anatomy of Story_".

Truby structures plot using 22 steps (a summary [here](https://lukejames7.wordpress.com/scriptwriting/22-steps-notes/)). Among them, the most important are steps 20 and 21: step 20 is "Self-revelation", where the protagonist learns more about himself, his true self, his past mistakes and how to overcome his psychological and moral weakness. This character growth is immediately shown in step 21, "Moral Decision", where the character acts in a moral way (in contrast to his moral weakness that defined him at the start of the story). These two steps, positioned at the climax of the story (between "Battle" and "New Equilibrium") are so important, they should be among the first things defined when building a story, according to Truby.

Then, I have stumbled upon [this answer](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/28089), which describes James Scott Bell's concept of Mirror Moment.

The Mirror Moment is a moment, at the middle of the story, where the protagonist _assesses herself, and makes a decision based on her own psychology, what sort of person she is going to be_ ([source](https://ginny200.com/2014/04/20/james-scott-bell-and-the-magical-mirror-moment/)). Anything happening later is about showing that the character's change has taken place.

I see several similarities between these two moments. It almost looks like the same moment moved to the middle of the story instead of the climax.

Is there a difference between Bell's Mirror Moment and Truby's Self-Revelation? What is the best place to insert a self-revelation moment: Middle, climax, or anywhere else? Does it depend on genre or other factors?

This is my first question on SE, I apologize if it's too vague.

Original score: 7