Copyright © 2023 Jerry Dunne
The plot isn’t a series of events that move forward in a random way. The events are connected by cause and effect and have a very definite structure to them. In this way, the plot for the novel and the short story may best be structured by the 3-act plot arc structure, which is an incredibly effective way of guiding the story’s physical and emotional storyline to its maximum potential from start to finish.
Let’s take a closer look at this 3-act plot arc structure.
Act 1
Start with a set-up. A set-up can be viewed in a simple way: introduce a protagonist within a setting where a problem is about to hit him. What triggers the story’s main area of conflict and kicks the plot fully into gear at the same time is known as the inciting incident. This incident or problematic situation will be something that both disturbs and challenges the protagonist. Often, and more than likely amongst other issues, it revolves around exposing some character flaw that our protagonist is incapable of facing up to at this point or isn’t even aware they possess; yet, one way or the other, they must eventually want to resolve this flaw, which must happen by the story’s end. This inciting incident comes as close to the beginning of the story as possible. Once character and setting are introduced in the set-up, the inciting incident should occur. The end of the inciting incident signals the end of the first act of the 3-act plot arc structure.
Act 2
This is the main body of this type of plot arc structure. Here we are placing scenes which develop character through action, conflict and crisis in a smooth and logical manner, where the stakes keep rising for the protagonist/s, so that the tension also keeps rising. Everything is heading toward a final and inevitable clash with the antagonist/s, the conflict of which first got underway during or directly after the inciting incident.
In an average length short story, we usually have two or three ‘minor’ but very important climaxes/crises/events in this middle plot arc act, where the protagonist/s and antagonist/s clash each time in order to bring about changes in the plot. These changes will each time raise the stakes for the protagonist in their search for a resolution to the ‘big problem’ or challenge that began with the inciting incident, and, so, also, will raise the tension of the story.
The last crisis/event in this plot arc act will be a high point followed by the darkest moment. At the high point, it may look like our hero has got one over on the opposition, but then unexpectedly, the darkest moment arrives, and all he has tried to achieve now looks to be undone. It seems as if he has completely failed in his quest to sort out the challenge of the storyline, which first cropped up in the inciting incident, of course. The darkest moment is an essential moment that forces the tension even higher. It is the nail-biting moment in the action film when it looks like the baddie has been killed but then has the gall yet to live and then even more gall to rise up sneakily behind our unsuspecting hero ready to finish him off. At this point, it looks like our hero is surely doomed. Of course this plays out very differently in other types of stories, but the point of the cliff-hanging highs and lows here is clearly made.
Act 3
The major climax is where our hero turns round in time to stop the baddie from plunging the knife into his back and their final struggle ensues. It is an all or nothing moment where everything the hero has striven for up to this point (from the challenge of the inciting incident) will turn to dust if he loses.
In the resolution all the loose ends are tied up.
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Before we move on, let’s clarify something that may perhaps otherwise confuse the reader.
Even for the playwright using this plot arc structure, he may still divide the structure of the play itself into two, four or even five acts, (or even into three acts, only not in the way shown here). This is because the 3-act plot arc structure, as the name implies, is a structure for the plot arc and not for the structure of the play or story itself. The novel, for instance, is divided into chapters and ‘scenes’ within those chapters (as a play has them also this may confuse some readers), because this is the way the author structures the story itself. The 3-act plot arc structure is not marked out at all on the page for the reader. It is invisible to the reader’s eye. It is simply experienced by the reader as an integral part of the story.
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3 Act Play
A novel or short story plot arc can be structured like a 3 act play. This covers the set-up through to the resolution and the overall objective/problem to be tackled. Here is the 3-act plot arc structure in its simplest form.
Act 1
Set-up
Inciting event
Act 2
Conflict (runs through the story’s important events (main plot points/moments of crisis, where the stakes keep getting raised and so therefore the tension in the story also keeps rising)
High point
Darkest moment
Act 3
Climax
Resolution
The 3-act plot arc structure is a common formula that works effectively across the genres of the play, the film, the novel and the short story. At first glance, it looks incredibly simple to achieve but actually can take years of practise to handle well. In order to do this successfully, we need to understand the underpinning psychology of why the formula creates rising tension and so holds the reader or audience spellbound to a high degree. We can use a sporting analogy as a reference point to explain this underpinning psychology. Let’s think of a tug of war contest.
Act 1 is the set-up and the inciting incident or challenge.
The two teams get ready. One team then screams out a challenge to the other and tugs hard on the rope (antagonist here doing the challenging) pulling the other team (protagonist) toward the line. The action is aggressive and confrontational but exciting for the spectators (readers, in our case). The game is now certainly well underway.
Act 2 is the middle part where the conflict must keep the stakes rising and so therefore the tension, too. This act has a high point and a darkest moment.
The challenged team (protagonist) might manage to pull the other side a few feet forward, but then the challengers (antagonist) dig deep and pull the challenged team back close to the line. This exciting to-ing and fro-ing (plot points/moments of crisis) is constantly forcing up the tension. The most exciting moments of crisis come round possibly three or four times in a short story, so it’s like four scenes of major action and conflict within the overall match.
The challenged team (protagonist) eventually pull the other side right to the line (high point) and it looks like they’ve got it won. But the challengers recover, and soon drag the challenged team toward the line. One of the members of this team slips and falls, releasing his hold on the rope. Surely they’ve lost now. (Here is the darkest moment for the protagonist.)
Also, to really ratchet up the tension, we must have greater potential catastrophe for our heroes than just losing this particular game. So, this is no ordinary match but a critical one. At the first of these most exciting points of crisis we find out that the challenged team (protagonists) will lose their championship position if they lose the match; at the next most exciting point of crisis we find out that they will be relegated if they lose; then at the third most exciting moment of crisis we learn that they will lose all their sponsorship deals if they lose the match. The stakes keep rising, and, so, therefore, the overall tension in the game goes into overdrive.
Act 3 is the big climax and resolution.
The losing team (protagonist) suddenly finds its second strength. It pulls back hard and regains a step. The other side pulls back hard. Another fierce struggle ensues, but this time the challenged team (protagonist) pulls its opponents over the line in a nail-biting finish (climax). The winners have staved off catastrophe and instead are rewarded with medals and other laurels (resolution). What a relief!
You don’t have to be a tug of war fan to understand this sporting analogy perfectly well. It is a simple and expressive example which gets the basic points across clearly. If you were just to have a match, where within the opening seconds one team pulled the other over the line, or a match that lasted minutes but one team looked like it would win right from the start with no real balance in the struggle between the contestants, and no stakes at play, it would not be anywhere near as exciting. Of course, you can’t plan the most exciting outcome for a sport, but you can for a story.
Although the conflict here is described in physical terms, the same rules apply if the conflict is psychological and emotional because it is plot-related conflict we are discussing here. Both the physical and the emotional journey of the story are equally catered to by this plot arc structure. The psychological and emotional plot arc in a story has its challenges, its conflict and crisis, its ups and downs and its bruises and tears just like in the physical plot arc. In fact, often the emotional journey is by far the most important journey of the story.
Naturally, once the writer has somewhat mastered the 3-act plot arc structure, they will tweak it to fit the needs of their storyline. It is rather flexible in this way.
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One final point! Yes, the 3-act plot arc structure is by its very nature formulaic, but this does not mean that it produces formulaic results. Let’s use another metaphor to show this. We all have rather boring, quite similar skeletons (as opposed to other species), yet this skeleton allows us to behave very individually as personalities, physically, behaviourally, psychologically and emotionally. The 3-act plot arc structure is similar. It creates the skeleton through which the story’s vast array of physical, behavioural, psychological and emotional movement and change can occur. Individualism and originality in the story are created by other skills.
Concerning the 3-act plot arc structure, you may also be interested in these posts:
Inspiration from inside an empty matchbox
Writing Fiction, Jerry Dunne 