How to Plot With the Three-Act Structure

Janice Hardy. “How to Plot with the Three-Act Structure”. 7 October, 2013. Fiction University: Take your writing to the next level.

Common Structure Formats: The Three-Act Structure: The basic beginning, middle, end format we’re most familiar with in storytelling. Setup, rising action and stakes, resolution. The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell’s 17-step myth structure that outlines the journey a mythic figure (hero) undergoes on an adventure. Michael Hauge’s Six Stage Plot Structure: A variation of the Three-Act Structure that focuses on six critical elements of a plot. This one is also connected to his internal character arc structure. Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat Beat Sheets: A screenwriter format for crafting great screenplays using 15 beats (or turning points). It’s been adopted by novelists everywhere because the same basic rules apply to novels. I’m going to focus on the Three-Act Structure first, because it’s probably the most common story structure out there, and it’s the one I use. The other formats also generally follow this structure so it’s a good foundation to have before we explore the other three. People have broken the Three-Act Structure down in a myriad of ways, but it unfolds basically like this: