Writing Basic- Story Structure

Earlier, I touched on the prime key factors on how to write a story. Now, I shall touch on the writing basic which is the implementation of the commonly known Three Act Structure.

As the name suggests, Three Act Structure consists the three basic phases which layout your story. The Three Act Structure is often mistaken as the Beginning, Middle and End of your story. However, that is not the true meaning.

What the Three Act Structure really is:

1st Act

• This is the part where the protaganist and main characters are introduced, where their situations and in some cases, basic objectives are made clear to the reader.
• The first act usually takes up 20% of the story's length.

2nd Act

• This is the part where the first plot twist or crisis comes in, where the protaganist is forced out of his/her comfort zone. It can be an incident where he/she is hit by an incident that forces him/her to act or do something with that change.
• His/her action in turn lead the story gradually towards the climax as he/she faces conflicts with the opposing forces.
  
• The second act comprises the two main crisis of the story, thus it is your story's main body and also the most gripping part.
  
• The second act usually takes up 60% of the story's length.
  

3rd Act

• This is the part where the protaganist is seemingly defeated by the opposing forces, where he encounters the most desperate situation and darkest times. It is also known as The Black Moment for the protaganist.
  
• This is followed by the story's climax where the protaganist finally overcomes the main crisis, or is defeated by it.
• The third act usually takes up 20% of the story's length.
  

Writing Tips

1. Try to play around with the order of the three acts to see which sequence works best for your story. One common approach of engaging storytelling is to start with the second act and gradually let the story unfold the first act before it reaches the climax.
   
2. Some stories use a 'false climax', which fools the reader into believing that the main climax is over when the real climax is yet to come. Examples include the movies '1408' and 'The Dark Knight'.