This is part two of notes from a planned podcast called The Compulsive Writer’s Support Group. It will be available on my official website, www.mindofbryan.com, as well as via a link here. In this section I’m going to talk about the three-act structure of film. I believe this might be a good way to give structure to a novel, especially a shorter Nanowrimo sized novel.

Screenwriters and filmmakers employ a couple different structures: acts and reels. These are simultaneous structures, and I’m much more used to thinking in acts.

In terms of reels, let’s imagine that every movie is 90-120 minutes. This number works for most films. There is a physical limit to how much film we can load onto a projector, and that’s something like 20 minutes. That is a reel. I hear reels being used more in pitching a movie, and producers like to hear very significant things about the first reel, explosions, car chases, a body, whatever really gets the action going. Most acts wind up being two reels in length. If we think about it, most movies have a very significant plot point 15-20 minutes in. Maybe this is a good number for the average movie viewer, the point where we make a decision whether this movie is worth another hour or so, and so we put something major here, just to keep the viewer interested. After this point, we’ve got them.I don’t think we can as writers of novels think in reels, but there are lessons to be learned in the reel. First, the inciting incident needs to come early. There is no better way to lose readers than to bog them down with exposition early. Second, as a smaller division of time, we can think about whether we have the right balance of action, story, character development and plot for a given breakdown of time or pages.

Let’s move on to acts.

There are almost invariably three acts to every screenplay. I suppose you could make a case that Brazil has a fourth act tacked on, and there might be others, but this is the exception to the rule. Acts can be thought of in terms of action, or they can be thought of thematically, or you can think about them as they apply to a character’s development. Thinking about one will often lead you to the others, or you can think of them in conjunction. If you want some support for the theory of a fractal story structure, a film script has three acts, and larger stories that are written at one time are most often trilogies.

There are basic standards for what each act does, however, and knowing them gives us our story’s main structure. Act One is introduction. It introduces the world, the characters, the relationships of those characters, and the problem. Act two is complication. We put more obstacles in front of our hero. Act three is resolution.

Once I have thought about those, I’ll come up with actions and themes to lay over them.

So let’s look at our standard model, Star Wars, for some structural analysis. In terms of on screen actions, the first act of Star Wars establishes the entire series. Since we have a three-fold plot (Empire, Rebellion and Force) we have three main story lines in each act. In act one, Leia gets captured, which in this case represents both the Empire and Rebellion storyline. The Force reaches out in the form of two droids who bring the secret plans to Luke and Obiwan. We meet Han and Chewie, and we escape from the planet. We end the act with Luke beginning his training in the Force, and the destruction of Dantooine. I choose this point because it brings us to see the larger conflict, back to the Rebellion and the Empire, and we see just what is at stake. Up to this point, the conflict is hinted at, but not fully elucidated. This keeps the viewer interested in something that was at the time a very foreign idea, and through what is kind of dull in many respects, even though it is necessary storytelling.

The first act is about foundation and problem. We establish all of the characters, lay out the problem of the story, and set the characters on  their way. There are mechanical elements of the story, the plot, and there’s a higher goal, theme. A free writer who has a basic story in their heads might be able to write a three word outline, with a single word for each act, and that might provide sufficient guidance and structure to move on. For example, in terms of theme in the first act of Star Wars, I’d call it initiation. The story is getting going, Luke is initiated into the Force, Han is brought into the Rebellion, the viewer is being initiated into the universe. The viewer is a very important consideration. Remember that in 1977, this kind of movie was unheard of. If Lucas had moved too quickly over this part of the movie, the viewer might have been turned off. Walls had to be broken down in order for us to understand and care for these characters.

In terms of Character, I’ll argue that the whole series is about Luke. In this act, Luke is isolated both geographically (or well, spatially) from the rest of the universe, and mentally. He has no connection with the conflict, nor with the Force.

Let’s not forget to mention that this act has a small climax in the escape from Mos Eisely. It is a little climax, because we don’t want to blow our load just yet, there is a lot more story to tell.

The second act is about complication. A simple mission, fly a couple of people and a couple of droids somewhere, becomes a save our butt and rescue the princess operation.

In the second act, the conflicts meet head to head as Luke and Han are captured by the Death Star, infiltrate, rescue Leia, escape, and Obi-wan is killed. There is a three part story here as well, Obi-wan disarms the Tractor beams, Luke and Han save the princess, and the droids man the computers. This is the action. Our second climax of the movie is the escape.

Thematically, we go much more dark in this act, as we find out how ruthless the Empire is. Escape is the action, the theme is defiance of tyranny. If the only hope is to get off the Death Star with the plans, success is the only option.

In terms of Luke, the story is entanglement. He suddenly finds himself an integral part of the struggle for the galaxy, a position he wanted to be in. He also finds out how difficult it can be to be in this position. He has just grown a little bit more into a man, and he gets a lot less whiney and becomes more forceful (no pun intended). These are examples of how the character develops.

The third act becomes conflict resolution and climax. The third act is where the story turn from being captured and chased to the Rebellion going on the offensive. The attack on the Death Star is planned.

Thematically, this act is about turning the tables around. We see that the Rebellion is capable and formidable, and the antithesis of the Empire in every way.

For Luke, he grows from erstwhile farm hand turned adventurer into a warrior.

When we write, our first hints of story are often world, character, or conflict. Thinking about this seedling in three parts can definitely give an early bit of structure that won’t get in the way of the organic writer, and is a first step towards the outline for the structure writer. I believe that this three act structure can be applied to nearly any book, film, game, or story. For the beginning writer, thinking about this is not second nature. I was never taught structure like this in college. We spent more time on character, dialogue, setting, all important things, but in the ten week terms we had, we never got into anything larger than short stories, and so we talked about larger scale structures. I had to learn this from screenwriting books and apply it to long form writing. Thinking in terms of these kinds of acts will help a story jump from a directionless and shapeless story to a dynamic tale. Also, for somebody about to take on their first project of length, knowing this simple shape might help the book feel shorter just by way of being a map to the end.

Now that you know this structure, as you watch movies, you’ll be able to pick up on the moments that make up the three acts.

Now, I’m not saying that we need to be a slave to three acts in our books like a writer is in a screenplay. Turn in a book with five acts, and a publisher will judge it on its own merit. Turn in a screenplay with five acts and a producer will throw you out of the office as an amateur. What is most important to this line of thinking is that each act starts in one place, goes someplace else, and ends on a significant turning point event. Sometimes an understanding of this can be just what a writer needs to go ahead and write a book.

To put this in terms of something I’m writing now, Inside, I’m not sure how many acts I have in any of the three books. I’m guessing it is more like four rather than three. They are each designed with a rise in action to a specific point at which the conflict is returned to a baseline point, and it all begins anew, and as I outlined, I always had the next major plot event in mind. That was the direction I wrote in. I’m not somebody who can start in the middle and work out. I always start at the beginning and work to the end. It’s just my way.

In part three, I’ll look at some structures borrowed from the theatre.