Today we are going to examine the shape of your story…how the plot guides the structure. If you are looking for a discussion of the different types of plots, we will cover that in a later posting on Theme that covers much of that topic.
As you may know, some writers prefer to have the entire story outlined before beginning to create the content—then there are the pantsers who write by the seat of their pants…not knowing what’s going to come next until it happens (my style), but even those of us who don’t outline before writing at least have a clue of how the story is going to go. That basic idea is shaped like a skewed bell curve (remember statistics class??). It starts out low, slowly builds up, then reaches a peak before heading back down for the end. There are five points that determine the shape of the story and divide it into the classic three act structure.
Act I is the beginning, consisting of the Introduction (first point). In this part we get to know who our characters are, where they are, and something about their boring lives. It ends (hopefully quickly) with the Inciting Event (second point), kicking the story into full gear and creating the Story Question. This is the question in the back of your reader’s mind which he looks forward to solving by the end of the story. You don’t want to spend too much time in this act, rather try to hook the reader with the big change right up front, then move directly into the next act.
Act II is the main part of the story, where all the Rising Action takes place. This act should take up at least half your story, with the Hero trying and failing, again and again, each time with greater and greater peril to his life (or the lives of his friends). The threats can be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, but our Hero can only seem to succeed as the tension increases with each attempt. This act ends with the Darkest Point (third point), where the Hero has obviously been defeated, all is lost, no way out. You can also include a suggestion of the climax, a bit of a cliff hanger to get the reader back after the commercial break. (Oh, wait, this isn’t on the tele yet…or is it?)
Act III starts off with the Climax (fourth point), quickly followed by a bit of Falling Action. The Climax is where the Hero decisively overcomes the ultimate crisis. Make certain that what he does seems valid from all the work he’s done—nothing magic here to rescue him. The Falling Action allows time to clean up a few loose ends, tie up subplots, and understand the results of our Hero’s actions.
The story finishes up with the Resolution, or Dénouement if you prefer (fifth point), where life gets back to the new normal, but nothing can be as it was before—the Hero has a new life to live.