A deep dive into the 3 Act novel structure
An overview of the 3 act story structure (and two templates in First Draft Pro that you can use to outline your novel).
An overview
The 3 Act Structure for narrative fiction was popularised in the screenwriting world by Syd Field’s 1976 book on screenwriting (which itself has been a fan favourite for the last fifty years). It’s been a staple of story telling for a long time. Understandable, since it’s a useful tool for understanding the basics of how to balance exposition, action and subplots for great story pacing.
Because it’s a classic, I wanted to use this framework as the basis for creating the novel templates in First Draft Pro. But, as it’s been distilled down into a highly simplified model, I always found it difficult to use for actually plotting a story.
So, in the process of creating a system for templates in First Draft Pro, I decided to combine a couple of different structures to create a richer set of guidelines for pacing.
Here’s what that stripped back version looks like:
In order for a framework like this to be more useful for outlining, I needed more information! So I decided to overlay it with the 12 Chapter Outline (a middle grade chapter-book framework) that also follows the 3 Act Structure. Of course, we’re not limiting ourselves to 12 chapters, but in theory we can still map it to the overall structure. I particularly like the 12 chapter outline because of how it handles the obstacles or “battles” that your character faces. This helps us orient big “events” in the story a little more clearly.
I still felt like I needed a little more structure. Save The Cat is an update on Field’s 1976 work, and it’s a modern take on the original structure (though, still 21 years old). The rising action in a modern film is quicker than a novel, and it starts to wrap up faster too. As a result, Act 2 starts at 20% and Act 3 starts at 80%. It otherwise maps quite nicely to the classic structure.
This is what the model starts to look like as we combine them:
This version of the three act structure is what became the foundation for all structure templates in First Draft Pro.
Novel structure templates in First Draft Pro
If you’re wanting to use the most classic version of the structure, you can choose to start a project using one of the following templates:
Three Act Structure: Our most stripped back template, this also includes pre-writing and planning set-ups that follow the Story Genius methodology.
30-day Novel Structure: This is a version of the classic three act structure template (above) that’s been condensed into a chapter-per-day guide for writers doing a 30-day novel writing challenge.