Writers tutorial entry; consistent story points

In a story, the major plot points are either
driven by decisions or actions. While a story
may naturally ebb and flow between both, when
all is said and done, one of these will be seen
as the primary driving plot force in a story. This
is because meaningful stories are really just an
argument and effective arguments have a
pattern they must adhere to.
An author picks either an action or a decision
to set the wheels of inequity into motion. In
doing so, the argument of the story is begun.
Choosing whether an action leads to a decision
or a decision leads to an action is essentially
telling an audience “This sort of thing leads to
that.” This pattern is now set up as the pattern
of logic that will be examined in the Objective
Story. An author then concludes her argument
with the meaningful bookend, “No. Actually, this
sort of thing leads to that.”
Meaningful stories are really just an
argument
This is a simplified look at the mechanics in a
story, but is essential towards understanding
why the story driver must stay consistent.
If the major plots are different or are changed
halfway through a film, the integrity of a story
falls apart. The author ends up making an
argument that sounds something like this:
“This sort of thing leads to that. Well…no.
Actually, that sort of thing leads to this.”
The author who does this has, in essence,
begun a completely new argument. The context
has been spun around on an unsuspecting
audience.
We, as an audience, were originally examining
the logical effects of decisions leading to
actions, or actions leading to decisions. This
was the pattern that was being appraised. If we
were looking at why certain decisions lead to
problematic actions, we’d like to know what
kinds of decisions would lead us away from
those problems (or towards more if the overall
story ended in failure). Likewise with actions
leading to problematic decisions.
The fantastic thing about knowing the plot
driver of your story is that you never again
have to suffer from that awful question, “What
happens next?” An action-driven story requires
an action to spin the story in a different
direction. A decision will do nothing to further
the story. The same with decision-driven
stories. In order for a decision-driven story to
progress the story requires a decision to be
made. Trying to force an act-turn with an
action simply won’t work.
Star Wars was driven by actions (Death Star
created, Death Star destroyed), while The
Godfather was driven by decisions (Don
Corleone decides not to support the drug
running, Michael decides to become the new
Godfather). Toy Story was driven by actions
(Buzz arrives in Andy’s room, Buzz and Woody
“land” in Andy’s car), while Searching for
Bobby Fisher was driven by decisions (Josh
decides to hold on to the chess piece instead of
the baseball, Josh decides to offer a draw to
Jonathan).
Countless other great films stay consistent in
the type of plot point that drives their story
forward. At the very least, the two most
important plot points - the Inciting Incident and the Concluding Event - need to be either both. based on actions, or based on decisions.