Plotting Made Easy: Do You Need the Three-Act Structure?

By Alex Limberg, @RidethePen

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Not every writer writes the same way, and not every story follows the same path. Please help me welcome Alex Limberg to the lecture hall today to share some thoughts on why and when you might want to ignore the three act structure.

Alex is blogging on ‘Ride the Pen’ to help you boost your fiction writing. His blog dissects famous authors (works, not bodies). Create an intriguing story structure with his checklist “44 Key Questions” to test your story (free download) or check out his fun and detailed creative writing prompts. Shakespeare is jealous. Alex has worked as a copywriter and lived in Vienna, Los Angeles, Madrid and Hamburg.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Take it away Alex...

What You Should Know About the Three Act Structure

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Story structure is a useful tool for developing and writing a novel.

The first time I learned about story structure, it felt as if the sky had opened and truth crashed down upon my head. There was a format for writing a novel? Why hadn’t anyone told me about this?

I embraced it wholeheartedly, and have spent my writing life learning as much about it as I could. I love structure, and love seeing how different writers use it and adapt it to their processes. I’ve fiddled with mine over the years and improved it, as well as totally mucked it up (these things happen).

My favorite is the classic Three Act Structure. I find it the easiest to use, and the most flexible to adapt to suit a writer’s needs.

Plotting With the Save the Cat Beat Sheet Structure

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

If you write the "movies" in your head, this story structure might be the one for you.

I love story structure, and I've studied so many different templates and concepts since I first started writing. Even if the structure isn't for me, I almost always find something useful in it I can add to my process. I think it's also important for writers to understand how story structure works so they better understand what goes into crafting a strong story.

I've discussed the Three-Act Structure and the Hero’s Journey,, Hague's Six Stage Plotting Structure and Joyce Sweeney's Plot Clock. Now it's time for screenwriter Blake Snyder's ever-so-popular Save the Cat Beat Sheet.

While Snyder's format was designed for movie screenplays, writers have adapted it to the larger novel format with great success. You'll notice how this also fits into the same basic story structure as what we looked at so far.

If this structure appeals to you, I recommend buying the Save the Cat book, which goes into more detail that I can do here. (ya know, those copyright laws and everything). It's a great book to have on your shelf no matter what your process is, actually. There's also a novel version, with Save the Cat! Writes a Novel.

Day Twenty: Idea to Novel Workshop: Developing Your Plot

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty of Fiction University’s At-Home Workshop: Idea to Novel in 31 Days. For the rest of the month, we’ll focus on plot and the major turning points of a novel.

Today, we’re taking a closer look at structure and the major turning points of the plot.

Understanding some basic story structure will make both the planning and the final plotting a lot easier. Novel structure formats offer plot turning points to aim for and provide a framework for your plot. Even if you’re a pantser, structure can help during revisions when you have a first draft done and want to make sure all your plot points are working.

Plotting With the Hero's Journey

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The Hero's Journey is a plot structure that's been around as long as storytelling. And with Thanksgiving this week, it's a good time to dip into the archives for a little refresher.

In this mini-series, I've discussed the Three-Act Structure, Blake Snyder's Save the Cat structure, Michael Hague's Six Stage Plotting Structure), and Joyce Sweeney's Plot Clock structure. These are among the most-popular and often-used structures in creating stories, from short fiction to novels to screenplays. This time, let's dig into the hero's Journey.

The Hero's Journey is an archetypal narrative structure created by Joseph Campbell to describe the basic myth format used in storytelling for centuries—the hero on an adventure. It covers classic turning points and elements of the journey that are the basis for most modern storytelling formats.

Writing a Page-Turner: Turning Points: Three Act Structure for Novelists

By Kris Bock, @Kris_Bock

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Structure is a great tool to help writers develop and write their novels. Kris Bock shares thoughts on the value of turning points in a page turner. 

Chris Eboch is the author of over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. Her writing craft books include You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, and Advanced Plotting.

Her novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy; and the Haunted series, about kids who travel with a ghost hunter TV show, which starts with The Ghost on the Stairs.

Chris Eboch Website | Blog | Goodreads 

Chris also writes for adults as Kris Bock. Her Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats. Get a free 10,000-word story set in the world of the Furrever Friends cat café when you sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter. You’ll also get a printable copy of the recipes mentioned in the cat café novels.

Kris also writes romantic suspense set in the Southwestern U.S. If you love Mary Stewart or Barbara Michaels, try Kris Bock’s stories of treasure hunting, archaeology, and intrigue in the Southwest.

Kris Bock Website | Blog | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter 

Take it away Kris...

6 Ways to Structure (and Plot) Your Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Writing is a creative process with a lot of variables, but basic story structure is consistent and reliable. Hit these points at roughly these times and you will finish a complete story arc and novel.

Note I said “complete” and not “good.” We all know there’s so much more to writing than putting the right pieces in the right places, but solid story structure is the first step to creating a solid story. Plenty of well-written novels with good ideas have stumbled and failed because they had flawed structure, and that hurt the overall story.

Think about a movie you’ve seen that should have been great, but wasn’t, because:

• It felt unevenly paced
• It didn’t take advantage of the cool things it setup
• It felt like it was missing important moments
• It was predictable

Plotting With Michael Hague's Six Stage Plot Structure

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Like a lot of people this time of year, I'm utterly buried with far too many tasks, so I'm dipping into the archives today for a oldie but goodie. I'll be back to my normal posting routine before long, I promise. It's just been an exceptionally crazy few months.

There are a multitude of different plot structures writers use to create their stories, and this series looks at the handful of most popular ones.

So far we've discussed the Three-Act Structure, the Hero’s Journey, and the Save the Cat Beat Sheet. That leaves one more popular structure--Michael Hague's Six Stage Plot Structure. (Side note, if you ever get an opportunity to sit in on one of Hague's workshops, I highly recommend them.)

This structure is a great choice for those who want a minimal amount of outlining. It's elegant in its simplicity and provides a lot of room to grow your plot organically. And yes, it too uses a three-act structure. It's also a variation on the Hero's Journey, so you'll quickly notice the similarities there.

Story Structure: How The Act Three Plan Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The act three plan kicks off the end of the novel and promises readers an ending to remember.

The act three plan is one of those moments that make it easy to tell if your ending is going to work or not. If this plan is strong (even if it won’t work), and clear about what has to be done, odds are the ending and climax will be equally strong and clear. If this is fuzzy, odds are you’re going to struggle with your ending.

This isn’t an absolute, of course, just something I’ve noticed over the years. This is the moment where the protagonist decides what to do to resolve the conflict of the novel and puts a plan into action. If you aren’t sure what that plan is or what has to be done to resolve the conflict, that’s a big red flag that you aren’t clear about what your ending is. It could also suggest you aren’t sure what the core conflict of the novel is.

“I don’t know how to end it” is a common issue with novels that don’t have a clear problem to solve, and the author doesn’t know what it’s truly about. Once they figure this out, they figure out how to end the novel.

Revision Workshop: Day One: Analyze the Story Structure

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Stage One: Plot and Structure Issues

Welcome to Day One of Fiction University’s Month-Long At-Home Revision Workshop. This first stage is all about getting the story and plot worked out, and identifying any holes or problems to guide us in our revision and let us know where we need to focus our time. We’ll be analyzing plot and narrative structure, and making sure the novel is working as a whole.

Today, let’s make sure the story foundation is strong and supports the individual scenes that make up the plot.

The Whole Story: Plotting Multibook Goals

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Goals are what drive a story, but in a series, there's always a larger goal looming over the entire tale. It's too big to ignore, but also frequently too big to make it the core conflict of the first novel in the series. To keep readers hooked, you have to work your way up to that all-important series goal.

Photo by Angie Torres via flikr

Long-Term Investments
A series is a complicated thing to plot, because you have to worry about an overall story goal that might span three books to ten books or even more. If the series is situational, like a mystery with a detective, each book will have its own goal and there probably won't be a larger issue hanging over the protag's head. (though there might be a larger character arc goal to work toward as the series develops). But for stories designed to be told over the course of several novels, it takes a lot more work to lead up to that final payoff. Because you essentially have one large story.

Story Structure: How the Act Two Choice Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The act two choice is a pivotal moment in your novel, and the wrong choice could send your middle in the wrong direction.

It’s far too easy to know what happens at the end of act one and just plow on forward into act two without really thinking about how the protagonist got there. Did they choose it, or were they dragged along?

Most writing advice and structures combine the act one problem (whatever name it’s called, as it has several) and the act two choice, but I find it more helpful to think of them as two separate moments. This is the first major plot point where the protagonist needs to choose to move forward. So it seems only logical to pay attention to what that choice is.

If there’s no choice being made, that’s a red flag the protagonist might be reactive or have no agency to act. Without that clear goal, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll get stuck within a few chapters, because you don’t know what the protagonist is trying to do. You might know generally, or know where the plot is supposed to go, but without that act-one-to-act-two-goal-handoff, the narrative drive often stalls, because the act two choice is the transitional moment linking the beginning and the middle.

Story Structure: How the Act One Problem Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The act one problem is where many first drafts fizzle out. Here’s why.

We tend to think of the beginning of a novel as the first chapter or opening scene, but it’s really the first twenty-five percent of the novel. The “beginning” is everything that happens before the first major plot point the protagonist can’t walk away from.

The inciting event might officially start the novel, but it’s a call to action the protagonist can refuse (and often does). And once they do, things spiral out of control and get worse until getting involved in the plot is no longer an option.

The protagonist must act, because the problem is now too big to ignore. It demands attention, and it’s made it very clear it’s not going away unless somebody does something.

Story Structure: How the Act Two Disaster Works in a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The act two disaster shows readers what your protagonist is truly made of.

Since I enjoy putting my characters in terrible situations, the act two disaster is always a lot of fun to write. Writers who want to protect their characters probably won’t find it so entertaining, but remember—this is the moment that allows your poor protagonist to become the person they want to be. So it’s good for them.

All through the middle the protagonist has been trying and failing, feeling the pressure, ignoring their flaw and the lessons the plot has been trying to teach them all book. Just when things are the most dire, something happens that causes catastrophic failure—often something they did, or didn’t do but should have. (Adjust this to fit the scale or scope of your story. What’s catastrophic in a science fiction epic is different from what’s catastrophic in a romance).

In cliché speak, it’s the darkness before the dawn. It all becomes too much and the protagonist feels like giving up, but finds the strength to carry on. They realize the only way to succeed is to face the problem head on and do what they’ve been scared to do all along.

After the First Draft: Revising Your Plot

By Becca Puglisi, @beccapuglisi

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: A solid story structure makes revising a novel a lot easier. Becca Puglisi discusses the three-act structure and offers a handy plot checklist to work with. 

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and other resources for writers. Her books have sold over 650,000 copies and are available in multiple languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter |

Take it away Becca...

Day Twenty-Three: Idea to Novel Workshop: The Act One Problem

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty-Three of Fiction University’s At-Home Workshop: Idea to Novel in 31 Days. For the rest of the month, we’ll focus on plot and the major turning points of a novel.

Today, it’s the end of act one and the act one problem.

The Act One Problem

After the novel opens, the protagonist encounters the inciting event, and he steps firmly on the path of the plot and eventually comes to the act one problem. The act one problem is the start of the beginning’s end. It’s when the protagonist discovers he has a big problem and needs to solve it or else. Typically, this is the result of what happened when he tried to deal with whatever problem he encountered in the inciting event.

Five Ways to Grow Your Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Last week I talked about what changes in your scenes, and reader Maria D'Marco made a wonderful comment about how stories grow in all directions. This is something that's easy to forget as we try to get from the opening scene to wrap up closer, and it's worth further discussion.

Much of writing a novel is about forward momentum, so we often think of our stories as straight lines, or lines with curves and arcs. But they're really more like trees growing solidly in one direction at the start, then branching out into a tangled mess (in a good way). Branches merge and split, they cross over each other, they rub together and leave scars, and they come up against things they can't grow past or get around.

As Basic As Plotting Gets: The Three-Point Structure

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Not everyone is a fan of story structure. Some find it constricting, and others fear following a particular structure will make their novels feel formulaic. I’ve read several articles recently, complaining about how some structures are making stories predictable (especially in movies), because we all know when certain things will happen.

The problem isn’t story structure. The problem is when writers adhere too strongly to the turning points and force a story to fit no matter what. When they let the structure guidelines dictate the plot, and this steals the life and soul of the tale.

Day Twenty-Seven: Idea to Novel Workshop: The Act Three Plan

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty-Seven of Fiction University’s At-Home Workshop: Idea to Novel in 31 Days. For the rest of the month, we’ll focus on plot and the major turning points of a novel.

Today, we’re kicking off the novel’s ending with the act three plan.

The Act Three Plan

After digging deep down and finding the emotional strength to continue, the protagonist puts a new plan into action, using everything he’s learned over the course of the novel. Like the act two choice, this is a conscious decision by the protagonist that will pit him against the antagonist in the climax.

Structure and Outlining

Every writer has his or her own way of writing, whether it's outlining every detail or writing just to see what happens. But regardless of how you write, all novels have structure, and understanding that structure will help you craft a better novel. Here are some articles that cover ways to outline (or not), how to structure your novel, and the basics of scene structure.

A sampling of articles on outlining and pantsing

• Are You In or Out? Crafting Outlines That Work for You
• Outlining the First Draft
• In Defense of the Outline
• List in Importance: Outlining Without Outlining
• Using Excel to Outline
• Clarifying Thoughts: Revising Your Outlines to Make the Writing Easier
• Going Both Ways: Outlines for Plot, Pantser for Character
• Save the (Cat) Pantser! A Solution for Pantsers with Plotter Envy
• Pantser and Proud of it
• Can You Structure if You’re a Pantser?

See all articles on outlining 
See all articles on pantsing

A sampling of articles on story structure

• Form Fitting: Using Story Structure to Your Advantage
• How to Plot With the Three-Act Structure
• Plotting With Michael Hague's Six Stage Plot Structure
• Plotting With the Save the Cat Beat Sheet Structure
• Plotting With the Hero's Journey
• Can You Structure if You’re a Pantser?
• Dancing Out of Tune: Writing Scenes Out of Sequence to Enliven—and Maybe Even Finish—Your Novel
• Shake and Bake: Re-Structuring Your Novel

See all articles on story structure

A sampling of articles on scene structure

• Taking the Scenic Route: Scenes and Sequels
• 6 Tips on Making Similar Scenes Feel Different
• Telling Yourself to Show: How to Identify Flat Scenes
• The Benefits of Talking Through Your Scenes
• Oh, What Now? Fixing a Stalled Scene
• Hey, Still With Me? Poking Dead Scenes With A Stick, Part One
• It's Alive! Poking Dead Scenes With A Stick, Part Two
• Pile On: Combing Scenes for Dramatic Punch
• Busta Scene: Getting Past Hard-to-Write Scenes
• Follow the Leader: Moving From Scene to Scene

See all articles on scene structure