Three Act Structure
Jan. 23rd, 2011 04:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deirdreI have to admit, I have never really was able to get the three-act structure. Yes, I've read the theories. Yes, I've read and seen plays. Essentially: there's a touchstone in the organization that I'm not "feeling," and it's bugging me.
I can pinpoint in my own work where the end of the first act is, and I feel more comfortable when I can. Even if it's not something any of you would ever think about. It's something I know instinctively. There is a part of me that relaxes as a writer when I know that I have written act one.
However, what really bugs me is that I can't usually figure out where the boundary between the second and the third act is. There's something about knowing that that feels essential to being able to shape a book.
I can tell you that Twilight is act one, New Moon and Eclipse are act two, and Breaking Dawn is act three. But I can't tell you why. Okay, I can tell you why Twilight is act one.
So I get that the climax and denoument occur in act three, but that defines the end stages of act three, not the beginnings of it. And no, I don't think the act boundary is an arbitrary choice.
Going back to banging my head against this novel's structure; maybe the answer to my question will fall out.
I can pinpoint in my own work where the end of the first act is, and I feel more comfortable when I can. Even if it's not something any of you would ever think about. It's something I know instinctively. There is a part of me that relaxes as a writer when I know that I have written act one.
However, what really bugs me is that I can't usually figure out where the boundary between the second and the third act is. There's something about knowing that that feels essential to being able to shape a book.
I can tell you that Twilight is act one, New Moon and Eclipse are act two, and Breaking Dawn is act three. But I can't tell you why. Okay, I can tell you why Twilight is act one.
So I get that the climax and denoument occur in act three, but that defines the end stages of act three, not the beginnings of it. And no, I don't think the act boundary is an arbitrary choice.
Going back to banging my head against this novel's structure; maybe the answer to my question will fall out.