The Traditional 3-Act Structure: Part 1

Most writers have a natural instinct when it comes to story structure and plot. We do so much reading, or we see so many movies, that understanding pacing is just part of our makeup. Even new writers, still learning their craft, have this instinct.

We know that if we have action scene after action scene, eventually we need to have a calm scene that gives us the chance to breathe. We know that there needs to be those moments of reflection, looking at what has happened in the past, but if we spend too much time dwelling on the past, that explosion will be needed to get things going again. And there will also be those moments when a character decides to risk all and just go for it—damned the consequences.

As writers, we follow a story structure with the instinct of knowing where the rise and fall in the action needs to be. However, when something is off in the pacing of a story, that's when all the discussions come out about one of countless number of models for story structure and the analytical tools associated with it.

As a developmental editor, it is my job to look at story structure and pacing from the macro and micro levels. If pacing is off, for whatever reason, I delve into the mechanics of a manuscript and tear that structure apart to find out why things just don't work. Much of what I do on this particular front is instinct, simply because every single story is different. However, there are some commonalities within the beats of a story, which has given rise to models like the traditional 3-act structure.

It's time to start dissecting the mechanics of some of these models, just so you, as a writer, can see why editors use them so often within our work.

The 3-Act Structure Series

I will be dividing this discussion across three separate blog posts, just to keep the blog posts down in size, but I will release them in quick succession. Don't worry, you don't need to wait weeks to get the full picture.

In this post, we'll be looking at the requirements for the first act, leading up to the transition point into act 2 (what I call the first point of No-Return).

In the next post, we'll look at the core requirements for the first half of act 2, along with why the midpoint is so important for a manuscript. We'll also look at the concepts of A and B story, and how they place a significant role in act 2.

In the final post of this series, we'll discuss the all-is-lost moment and how it launches a story into act 3, along with all the expectations and pitfalls commonly seen in the final act.

Time to get the show on the road.

There are 3 acts for a reason.

The traditional 3-act structure (shown in the image below) divides a story into the Setup, the Problem Solving, and the Climax/Resolution. The bulk of any story will reside in the second act (the Problem Solving), where the characters encounter obstacle after obstacle and they solve each one in turn. I will admit that this is an over simplification of the structure. It's actually the understanding of the transition points and the expectations of each act that really define the 3-act structure.

The Traditional 3-Act Structure (Copyright © 2019 Judy L Mohr)

Let's break this down into the nitty-gritty. Before I do, I'd like to point out that almost every single book on story structure will take their models off the key factors associated with the 3-act structure. Even if they say that they're using a 4-act model, a 6-act model, or even a 25-act model, all of them come back to the key elements in the 3-act structure.

Act 1 (The Setup) — First 25% of the Story

Act 1 is all about setting up the story. It's about:

• introducing the core set of characters,
• defining the premise,
• and setting the story into motion.

Traditionally, act 1 will be the first 25% of your story. However, some modern stories will shrink act 1 to as little as 10%. To complicate things, there are some stories that will push out the first act to near on 35% of a story, but these are rare and require other story elements to pull a reader along.

The opening image is typically a statement of the status quo, then everything changes. The nice pretty picture painted in those first few words is flipped upside down and the story begins. The moment where the status quo gets disrupted is known as the inciting event. There is not prescribe location within act 1 for the inciting event. It could be on page 1, or it could be on page 50. It is recommended that the inciting event occur within the first 10% of the manuscript, but this is NOT set in stone.

When writing your story, do keep in mind that the inciting event is not always obvious. In an earthquake disaster story, that inciting event will likely be the fore-shock that sends the seismologist into a media frenzy. However, in a story about a widow, that fight in the first scene and the resulting car crash could have nothing to do with the inciting event.

Let's expand on that widow story. The first chapter could be the fight between a husband and wife. The second chapter might be the police knocking on the door to tell the widow that her husband died in a car accident. Chapter three might be the funeral, with the reading of the will being in chapter 4. During the reading of the will, it is discovered that husband left everything to some strange woman that the wife knew nothing about, including the house. Chapter 5, the random woman shows up to claim what is hers.

Most people would quickly conclude that the car accident was the inciting event, but they would also be wrong. Sure, the car accident threw a spanner into the works, but discovering that everything was left to some random third party set the story into full swing, bringing up questions about who this random woman might be and how she could usurp the wife.

Whatever the inciting event is, it will be directly related to the story's premise, simply because it helps lay the groundwork for the core obstacle for the protagonist.

Transitioning into Act 2

During act 1, after the inciting event, there will be this moment of denial for the protagonist, where they try to cling to the status quo, trying to return to that happy, blissful state. However, there will also come a point when the main character recognizes that there is no going back. This point is what I call the first point of No-Return.

The main character needs to make a decision to either accept that the status quo no longer exists and move forward, or they continue to fight for the lost status quo. You, as the writer, know that they will move forward, or else there wouldn't be a story, but it's that struggle within the character that defines the transition point into act 2.

As mentioned above, the first point of No-Return will occur somewhere around 25% through the story.

There are instances where it might occur sooner, but these stories will have strong world-building within the first few pages and are often borrowing from stories that already exist for their world-building. The main character set is likely already established in a previous book.

In some rare cases, the transition into act 2 will take place as late as 35%, but these stories have other elements of intrigue that entice a reader to keep going. As a general rule, if your story feels like it's dragging along, waiting for the action to start, then you have put that transition point way too late.

Give your manuscript the McLulan Test. Look at page 70.

Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author and philosopher, postulated the idea that the true worth of a story can be found on page 70. If you were to open a book, any book, and flick to page 70, the story should be well underway and the core introductions should be concluded. If you are still getting world-building elements, then there is a problem.

Let's put that page number back into word counts and percentages.

Using the standard manuscript format (insert link), which formats the manuscript to use approximately 250 words per page, 70 pages equates to 17,500 words. For a category romance novel, clocking in at 60,000 words, we're almost at 30%. For the 90,000-word thriller, this is approximately 20%. And for that opus high fantasy novel (120,000 words), we're looking at just over 14%.

No matter how you look at it, we are well after the first 10% of the story, meaning that we should be well past the inciting event. Depending on the manuscript's word counts, we should be well on our way into act 2, or already there.

For most readers, transitioning into act 2 well and truly after page 130 (even in those opus high fantasy and science fiction novels) is too late. You've lost your reader.

In the next post, we'll delve into the requirements of the first half of act 2 and why the midpoint for a manuscript is so important.