The Basic Three Act
Structure
The simplest building blocks of a good story are
found in the Three Act Structure. Separated by Plot Points, its Act 1
(Beginning), Act 2 (Middle), and Act 3 (End) .
- In the Beginning you
introduce the reader to the setting, the characters and the situation
(conflict) they find themselves in and their goal. Plot Point 1 is a
situation that drives the main character from their "normal"
life toward some different conflicting situation that the story is
about.
- Great stories
often begin at Plot Point 1, thrusting the main
character right into the thick of things, but they never really leave out
Act 1, instead filling it in with back story along the way.
- In
the Middle the story develops through a series of
complications and obstacles, each leading to a mini crisis. Though each of
these crises are temporarily resolved, the story leads inevitably to an
ultimate crisis—the Climax. As the story progresses, there is a rising and
falling of tension with each crisis, but an overall rising
tension as we approach the Climax. The resolution of the
Climax is Plot Point 2.
- In
the End, the Climax and the loose ends of the story are
resolved during the Denouement. Tension rapidly dissipates because
it's nearly impossible to sustain a reader's interest very long after the
climax. Finish your story and get out.
Character Arc and Story Structure
- Act 1
o In the Beginning of a story the main
character, being human (even if he of she isn't), will resist change (inner
conflict). The character is perfectly content as he is; there's no reason
to change.
- Plot Point 1 – Then something happens to throw everything off balance.
o It should come as a surprise that shifts
the story in a new direction and reveals that the protagonist’s life will never
be the same again.
§ In Star Wars this point occurs when Luke's
family is killed, freeing him to fight the Empire.
o 
It puts an obstacle in the way of the
character that forces him or her to deal with something they would avoid under
normal circumstances.
It puts an obstacle in the way of the
character that forces him or her to deal with something they would avoid under
normal circumstances. - Act 2
o
The
second Act is about a character’s emotional journey and is the hardest part of
a story to write. Give your characters all sorts of challenges to overcome
during Act 2. Make them struggle towards their goal.
o The key to Act Two is conflict. Without it you can’t move the story
forward. And conflict doesn’t mean a literal fight. Come up with obstacles
(maybe five, maybe a dozen—depends on the story) leading up to your plot point at the end of Act
2.
§ Throughout the second act remember
to continually raise the stakesof your character’s emotional
journey.
§ Simultaneously
advance both inner and outer conflicts. Have them work together—the character should
alternate up and down internally between hope and disappointment as
external problems begin to seem solvable then become more insurmountable than
ever.
§ Include reversals of
fortune and unexpected turns of events—surprise your reader
with both the actions of the main character and the events surrounding
him.
- Plot Point 2
o Act Two ends with the
second plot point, which thrusts the story in another unexpected direction.
o Plot Point 2 occurs at the moment the hero
appears beaten or lost but something happens to turn the situation around. The
hero's goal becomes reachable.
§ Right before this unexpected story turn,
the hero reaches the Black Moment—the point at which all is lost
and the goal cannot be achieved.
·
In
order to have a "Climax", where the tension is highest, you must have
a "Black" moment, where the stakes are highest and danger at its
worst.
·
During
this moment, the hero draws upon the new strengths or lessons he's learned in
order to take action and bring the story to a conclusion.
o Dorothy’s gotta get a broom from the
Wicked Witch before she can go home.
o Luke’s gotta blow up the Death Star before
fulfilling his destiny.
o Professor Klump’s gotta save face with the
investors of his formula and win back Jada.
§ Act 3
o The third Act
dramatically shows how the character is able to succeed or become a better
person.
o Resolution/denouement ties together the
loose ends of the story (not necessarily all of them) and allows the reader to
see the outcome of the main character’s decision at the climax. Here we see
evidence of the change in a positive character arc.
A Word on Plot
Don't let your
focus be the Plot, which is the series of events and
situations that occur along the route of your story. The Plot is a natural
outcome of the seeds of your story—it emergesfrom your setup of the
characters, their conflicts and the setting they occur in. You'll write a more
powerful, believable story if you focus on seed planting long before you worry
about the harvest.
Classic Story Structure Begins with Plot
What do we mean by Plot? Simply, plot is WHAT HAPPENS in a short
story, novel, play or film. No more, no less. It isn't description or dialogue,
and it certainly isn't theme. In the best stories, plot grows organically out
of character, rather than being imposed from above. Specifically, plot is the
result of choices made by characters in a story, especially the story's
protagonist, or main character.
Even if action is not the most compelling feature of the story to
you, the reader must always want to know -- actually NEED to know -- what
happens next. Yes, plots are contrived, but that's what makes for art, not
life. A theme -- your message or meaning -- is revealed through plot. For example,
'Money can't buy happiness' is just an empty threat, unless we observe a rich
man who's miserable, as in George Eliot's 'Silas Marner.'
Renowned writer Anne Lamott ('Bird by Bird,' 'Operating
Instructions') created a mnemonic device to help writers remember how to write
plots that work:
Action, Background, Conflict, Development, End
A. ACTION
means a scene. Storytellers
begin with Action because it is quite literally dramatic, meaning that,
theoretically, it could be performed onstage. Also, scenes are exciting as we
watch and wonder what's going on here. Beginning with Action also means
beginning with an inciting incident or point of attack: an event that sets off
the events of the story.
Snake entered into Eden Garden
B. BACKGROUND
: Many 19th century novels begin with Background. For example, 'A
Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens starts 'It was the best of times, it was
the worst of times...' This certainly seems like a natural way to open a story
since Background happened before Action, at least chronologically. However,
Background is boring. It is very literally un-dramatic.
Therefore, provide only enough Background at first so that the
Action doesn't confuse your readers. They don't need to know everything, just
enough to follow along.
C. CONFLICT
constitutes what your protagonist wants, but doesn't have. It
doesn't matter what your protagonist needs, as long as he or she needs it
badly.
The best Conflicts are dramatic and specific. Don't write about a
teenage girl who's looking for love; write about a teenage girl seeking her
first kiss. For one thing, focusing on the kiss will focus your storytelling
and your readers' attention. Even more important, those readers will know
without question at the end of the story whether the heroine has attained what
she wants or not.
Hamlet seeks to overcome his late-adolescent malaise, but what
makes Shakespeare's play dramatic is his need to kill his uncle to avenge the
murder of his father. In Charlotte Bronte's novel of the same name, Jane Eyre
seeks a life that is secure and yet stimulating; she desires Mr. Rochester, who
can provide just such a life, and we will read her story until she gets him --
or doesn't.
Conflict is story, and, conversely, without Conflict, you have no
story.
D. DEVELOPMENT is the
series of attempts made by the protagonist to resolve his or her Conflict.
These attempts should increase with regard to drama and/or suspense, and
ideally, each step in the Development should tell us a little bit more about
the protagonist.
Development is the 'journey' made by the protagonist toward (or
perhaps away from) what he or she wants. Sometimes that journey is literal,
actual, physical: Think of 'The Odyssey,' John Cheever's 'The Swimmer' or 'On
the Road' by Jack Kerouac. Development can also be a trip through time, like
childhood or adolescence, for instance. 'Portnoy's Complaint' by Philip Roth
and Susan Minot's 'Lust' are essentially journeys made by characters via other
characters. Finally, Development can be an emotional, spiritual or intellectual
journey. Often, it is a combination of all of the above. Development usually
accounts for 70 to 80 percent of the mass of the story.
E. END: Here's where the mnemonic device needs further development
of its own, since 'End' isn't an especially helpful term. Let's expand it to
include 3 more C's: Crisis, Climax, Consequences
1. CRISIS is often the final stage in a story's Development. In
the best stories, it involves a choice -- and not simply a choice between good
and evil, since given that choice, we'd all pick good. Crisis is a choice
between two options of equal, or nearly equal, value.
In Ernest Hemingway's 'A Farewell to Arms,' the hero must decide
between war and desertion. Crisis is, by definition, the most dramatic point in
your entire story.
2. CLIMAX is not necessarily the most dramatic point, despite the
word's colloquial meaning. Instead, Climax is the resolution of Conflict. Does
the protagonist get what he wants, or not? Or maybe he gets what he wants, but
realizes that his struggle to get it wasn't worth it. That's called irony.
Climax is the point of no return. At the Climax of a story there
is simply no turning back; the protagonist is powerless to change his fate.
Think of Romeo's suicide, the Climax of Shakespeare's play not because it's
dramatic, but because it prevents him and Juliet from living together in love.
3. CONSEQUENCES:
When the Conflict of a
story has been resolved, what's left? The Consequences of that story. How have
your protagonist and his world changed -- or stubbornly refused to change -- as
a result of the story?
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