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Three Act Story Structure (Including the Seven Key Plot Points Your Novel Needs)
Three Act Story Structure (Including the Seven Key Plot Points Your Novel Needs)
Does your novel draft feel a little lopsided?
Is your pacing off, or does it seem like the story takes ages to get started? Maybe the tension slackens off in the middle, or you feel like something big needs to happen – you’re just not sure what (or when).
Here’s the good news. Most writers will have an innate grasp of the three act story structure. We’ve all read plenty of stories, after all—and seen stories on the screen. (Movies tend to follow a very precise story structure, often down to the minute.)
So your story is probably already coming close – but your sense that something is “off” suggests the structure needs a bit of tweaking.
We’re going to go through the most basic story structure out there, the Three Act Structure, then dig in a bit deeper with some specific plot points that fit within that structure.
Book recommendation: If you want lots more detail on structure, particularly on how specific plot points work, K.M. Weiland’s Structuring Your Novel is an excellent, detailed, and well-informed read.
(more…)Annual Writing Goal Progress in Q3, 2024 (Plus When to Quit a Writing Goal)
Annual Writing Goal Progress in Q3, 2024 (Plus When to Quit a Writing Goal)
We’ve got slightly under three months left in 2024 … and this is the time when I start to think about all the writing I haven’t yet got done!
If, like me, you had a busier-than-expected summer, you might be running behind where you’d like to be with your writing. By this point in the year, you may also have changed or even ditched some of the writing goals you had back in January.
I’ll run through how my writing goals went during July, August, and September … and I’ll share some thoughts about how to know when it’s time to quit a writing goal.
About
Start Here
Can You Call Yourself a “Writer” if You’re Not Currently Writing?
The Three Stages of Editing (and Nine Handy Do-it-Yourself Tips)
What to Do When Your Writing Goals Seem a Long Way Off
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Archives
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Outlining for Pantsers: Three Key Stages of Wrestling Your Rough Draft Under Control
Some writers love to plan out every detail of their plot in advance … but is there such thing as outlining for pantsers? If you follow writing groups, blogs, or social media accounts online, you’ve probably come across the pantser vs plotter debate: how much should...
The Right Way to Expand a Too-Short Piece of Writing
One common issue that standard writing advice covers is how to cut down your first draft. And this advice comes up time and time again for a good reason. It’s easy to over-write, perhaps telling the reader things that you’ve already shown them, or using five words where…
The Eight Best Free Writing Tools to Help You Write More and Earn More
There are so many different useful tools out there for writers, it can be tricky to figure out which ones you need … and which ones are just a distraction. After 15+ years of freelancing (and even more years of fiction writing and blogging)…
How to Write When … You Have So Many Emails to Deal With
This post is part of my ongoing “How to Write When…” series. As I draft this – after a very busy summer! – I have 1,278 unread emails in my inbox. Most of those aren’t emails from individuals awaiting a reply. (Though apologies if you’re one of the people who...
Aliventures Summer Break 2024 – 10 Posts to Catch Up On
It's summer time here in the UK and I'm taking a few weeks off from blogging. I'll be enjoying a trip to the North Wales coast, plus lots of adventures with my kids! I'll be back when they start the new school year in early September. If you've got a bit of downtime...
![Ten Sentence-Level Mistakes to Watch Out for When Editing Your Fiction [With Examples]](https://www.aliventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/sentence-level-mistakes.jpg)
Ten Sentence-Level Mistakes to Watch Out for When Editing Your Fiction [With Examples]
When you’re editing fiction, whether it’s a short story or an epic novel, you need to edit on several different levels. There’s the full-scale revision stage: where you go from first draft to second draft, and probably lose or gain some characters, cut or add a bunch of material, and make…
