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Experiment with this time-honored storytelling format and see where your creativity takes you.
Many of our most beloved books follow a similar path.
First, an old world is invoked or a new one created. Characters are introduced along with their relationships and surroundings. Something metaphorically explodes into something else, and we begin to understand why the story was written in the first place.
Second, the characters respond and take action. They learn new things as we learn more about them. Intensity increases and the stakes rise as the story takes another decisive turn.
Finally, choices and circumstances combine into a final confrontation. The climax follows, then a relaxation occurs as the story calms to its conclusion.
Table of Contents:
• Learn about the three-act format
• Look at stories that use the three-act structure – and those that don’t
• Get writing
• Try applying the three-act structure to all sorts of writing
• Use the three-act structure to lift you up, not hold you back
Variations on this storytelling format – widely known as the “three-act structure” – have helped countless writers craft powerful books. The same can apply to you.
Learn about the three-act format
According to MasterClass , the three-act structure has been inspiring writers and enthralling readers for millennia:
The notion of three-act storytelling traces back to Aristotle, who theorized on story beats in Poetics. He argued that stories are a chain of cause-and-effect actions, with each action inspiring subsequent actions until a story reaches its end.
Over time, the three-act structure has evolved to include standard terminology. The first act, usually called the setup, includes:
- Exposition: The reader meets the key characters and begins to understand how they relate to each other and the world around them. The reader also gets to know the broader time, place, and situation in which the characters live and interact.
- Inciting incident and turning point: Something impactful happens that engages the main character(s) and draws them into some sort of conflict from which they cannot retreat.
- Dramatic questions: The first act often leaves more questions than it answers. What are the true implications of the inciting incident? How will the main characters react? Will they succeed in their efforts? – and more.
The second act is usually called confrontation, which includes:
- Rising action: The characters make choices and move to solve the conflict, though they may end up flailing in their efforts and making things worse
- Setback and midpoint: The characters fall short and circumstances become darker, forcing them to acquire new skills, confidence, experience, realizations, allies, etc. This typically occurs about midway through the book.
- A second turning point into crisis: Something momentous occurs and looks bad for the protagonist(s), whose success appears increasingly unlikely as the climax approaches.
The third act, resolution, wraps things up via the following:
- Pre-climax: The stage is set for the ultimate collision between protagonists and obstacles, and the stakes are pushed to the extreme.
- Climax: This is the story’s dramatic peak, where characters wrestle to overcome their greatest challenges and dig deep, using all that they have learned and acquired. The ultimate outcome of their struggle is decided.
- Denouement: Loose ends are tied up, plot lines resolve, and the final unanswered dramatic questions are addressed.
Look at Stories That Use the Three-Act Structure – And Those That Don’t
Advanced Fiction Writing describes how the three-act structure can work well within epic series fiction like Lord of the Rings, the Harry Potter series, and the Twilight series. Daily Writing Tips cites Sabaa Tahir’s Ember in the Ashes series, Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer, and John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars as prime examples. Speaking for myself, Hemingway’s The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber comes to mind, as do the The Magicians books by Lev Grossman and the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch.
As you experiment with the three-act structure, it can help to also look at books that diverge from this sort of format. Loud Coffee Press published an interesting article calling out novels that, in their words, wildly defy the three-act structure. These include:
- David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas
- Italo Calvino’s If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler
- James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake
I’d also add one of my favorite novels, Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, to the mix. This epic work shifts dramatically partway through in a gutsy play that thwarts more traditional storytelling structures.
As you think about books that adhere to or diverge from the three-act structure, pay attention to which elements and storytelling choices resonate with you and which don’t. These mental notes can be vital references when you begin crafting your own narrative.
Get Writing
Once you familiarize yourself with the three-act structure and get a vibe on what turns you on about stories that follow it (and those that don’t), it’s time to get your fingers dirty. Start writing – and start wherever you discover inspiration.
Some writers will find it most helpful to create a full outline and include notes about exposition and rising action, pre-climax, and denouement. Outlining characters, world-building principles, and other foundational elements can also be very helpful if you take this approach.
Other writers will thrive by putting pen to paper and just seeing what happens. Do you have a great idea for an expository section but have no idea where it will lead? Give it a try, regularly refer back to the three-act structure as you go, and see what ideas come along the way. Do you have an epic concept for a climax but haven’t figured out quite how to get there? Write it anyways and work backwards from there.
A hybrid of the above can work wonderfully, too. Plan and outline what you can, then improvise and flow with the rest. Keep what you like and rewrite everything else. In the end, the story that turns you on as the writer – and as a reader – is the one you’re gunning for.
Try applying the three-act structure to all sorts of writing
Try applying the three-act structure to all sorts of writingThree-act structures may seem most naturally suited to adventure, mystery, or crime stories, but using the format as a creative foundation can help you move your writing forward in any number of other genres. These could include:
- Character-driven fiction. Even if your book’s core events happen almost entirely within the heads of one or more characters, a three-act structure can still apply. Conflicts, turning points, and climaxes need not be external, or even noticeable to the outside world; in the hands of the right writer, even the subtlest of internal shifts can move readers.
- Children’s stories: Though the format may seem simple, books for kids can still benefit from a strong storytelling arc that creates a journey from exposition, then, development, then climax and conclusion.
- Historical fiction: One of the bugs/features of historical fiction is that, in broad strokes, everyone already knows what happens. That doesn’t mean that you can’t weave an impactful three-act story around known historical facts.
Use the Three-Act Structure To Lift You Up, Not Hold You Back
The ultimate goal of the three-act structure, and any template for creative writing, is to help you craft an amazing story that speaks your truth as the author. And while the three-act structure is a powerful tool, it’s just that – a tool to be used as much or as little as you find helpful. Explore, experiment, and have fun.
Very interesting looking at these possibilities! The 4 Act seems to share similarities with “Save the Cat”, a process that originally was developed for movie scripts but in recent years adapted for novels.
I agree! The four act structure allows for a sharper focus on character arcs.
I appreciate what you’re saying here, but I have found that I prefer using a 4-act structure, as discussed in MASTER PLOTS by Ronald Tobias. It works like this:
PART 1: SET UP
* Introduce your hero and their world
*Hero’s backstory – what have they been doing up to now?
*Stakes leading up to the first plot point
*Show the inner demons that will come to bear later in the story
*Hook your reader within the first 20 pages
*Plot point 1 comes at the end of this section.
PART 2: RESPONSE
*First plot point establishes hero’s new need/quest – What is at stake now in relation to it?
*How does this change the agenda going forward?
*What opposition does the hero face?
PINCH POINT 1 – Middle of Part 2, about 3/8 through
*What does this antagonistic force have at stake?
*How does the hero respond to the antagonistic force?
*Why will the reader empathize with the hero at this point?
MID-POINT SHIFT/TWIST:
— The curtain of knowledge is parted here, for your hero and/or the reader.
*Mid point shift/twist parts the curtain of superior knowledge – how does this happen for the hero and/or the reader?
*How does it shift the context of the story?
— Doesn’t change the story so much as it changes the understanding of what’s going on for the hero and/or the reader.
– If the hero is privy to this knowledge, it will change their course of action from response mode to attack mode.
PART 3: ATTACK
*Pump up dramatic tension & pace
*How does the antagonistic force respond to this attack?
MID-POINT SHIFT/TWIST
PINCH POINT 2 – middle of Part 3, about 5/8 through
*Remember those inner demons
*All-is-lost lull before the second plot point
Part 4: RESOLUTION
Plot Point 2 comes at the end of part 3/beginning of part 4.
*How does the second plot point change/affect the hero’s proactive role?
*How is the hero the primary catalyst for the successful resolution of your story?
*Meet the hero’s need – fulfill the quest
*Conquer those inner demons
*How are the stakes of the story paid off?
*What is the reader’s emotional experience at the conclusion?
It seems a bit more complex, but I believe its use leads to deeper understanding of the characters and their struggle(s).