Fiction Writing: What is the ‘Man in the Mirror Moment?’ 

A ‘Man in the Mirror Moment’ occurs halfway through a fictional film or story and shows the protagonist taking a look at himself and deciding to make a change. He reflects on who he is and who he needs to become in order to succeed.

The protagonist may be seen looking at his reflection in a mirror, a glass window, or body of water to represent self-reflection, or he could be taking a moment (without a mirror) to ponder on his inward self and next steps going forward.

While the main character is more reactive during the first half of the book, new information or an unexpected big event will occur at the midpoint of the novel that will lead him to have this moment of self-reflection. Afterward, the character will be pro-active in pursuing his goal, making a change that he believes will help him get what he wants. This turns the direction of the story.

The ‘Man in the Mirror Moment’ also reveals what the story is really about which ties into the theme. Who was your protagonist before this moment? How is he different after this point in the story? How will he change? Why must he change?

Are the odds stacked against him? Is what he has been doing not working? What will happen if he does not change course?

Award-winning author, James Scott Bell, says that at every midpoint of a fictional story, there is a moment where “the main character has to figuratively look at himself, as in the “mirror” and be “confronted with a disturbing truth: change or die.”

(Sometimes the threat of death is metaphoric such as in the possible loss of a relationship, job, golden opportunity or chance to be the individual they were meant to be, or it could signify that if the character doesn’t change, he will face actual death).

James Scott Bell explains, “The Man in the Mirror Moment can be a starting place for you when you are dreaming up your story to start with. You can imagine your main character making this momentous decision to change direction. Then you can imagine what his psychological history is that would bring him to this point, and also imagine his eventual transformation at the end of the book. The rest of the plot elements can fall out from there.”

“The Man in the Mirror Moment,” says Bell, “is about inner transformation that leads to outward actions. If your characters have both an inner and outer journey (and they should), they intersect here.”