My experience with the Three Act Structure

I’ve learned a ton from writing this book, as I do with every single piece I’ve worked on. I’ve had a lot of thoughts on structure recently, and I think I’ve gotten a good feel for what’s missing for me.

So, the three act structure as I’ve mentioned before the traditional three act structure was made popular through “Save the Cat” by Blake Snyder. Along with the three acts, you have “beats” in each act that need to be hit in order to tell a satisfying story. There are 15 of them to be exact. Here’s a great example from one of my favorite books: Book Lovers.

As a structure, I think it works really well. Especially for screenplays as it was intended. However, I found that it didn’t help me during my first draft. And I think that’s the key to what structure means to me. My brain loves to create stories. Writing for me is kind of like socially acceptable make-believe. It’s how I play.

When I was a kid, my friends and I would create elaborate plots for our Beanie Babies where the lions ruled over a kingdom and an evil cat stole away the princess for ransom (yes we were intense. Certain scenes were definitely inspired by the Lion King). That continued into playground make believe where an evil witch would steal away our friend and we’d have to adventure under the pine trees to save her and defeat the evil queen (there was a running theme if you’ve caught on). Finally, we started writing our stories down, passing them between classes so that we could all read what would happen next.

It was fun and it was all free writing. We weren’t worried about structure or if we were telling the story the right way (sure in childhood make-believe there was a lot of “no no no it would go like this” as we were constantly re-writing our own scripts). So, I think that’s what’s catching me up as I write. I’m worried about structure before I’ve even found the whole story to tell.

Inherently, humans know how to tell stories. It usually happens to follow a similar structure every time. When we’re writing and trying to have every little thing mean something, it’s almost impossible to figure out the best way to do that in a first draft. That’s why a lot of us write what’s called “Draft Zero.” This draft is essentially telling ourselves the story. It’s piling sand into the sandbox so that we can build our sculptures. This would be who writers call “pantsers.” (as in flying by the seat of your pants) Forcing myself to stick to a structure during the Draft Zero phase is downright stifling.

It’s not that way for everyone! Some writers can craft a structure and write faster for it. They know the beats and where they need to be. Will things change in the next draft? Undoubtedly. However, they feel more secure knowing that at least the structure is in place and can be filled in. These would be your “plotters.”

I don’t think that’s how I work. I like to know where I’m going and what gaps I need to fill during the course of my storytelling, but I write so much faster and so much MORE when I get to just play around. I like to play around in the sand WHILE I’m filling the sandbox. It’s messy, but it’s what gets a more creative and natural output for me. So I guess I’m a “plantser?” I like a bit of plot and a bit of seat of the pants writing.

The best part about Draft Zero, is that it does not have to be anywhere near as detailed as you want your story to be. You can put things in brackets to come back to. You can write basic outlines of scenes. And you can have some scenes fully fleshed out because they were keeping you up at night.

For me, it’s usually out of order as well. I put down notes for various different scenes in different places. Sometimes they end up getting written, sometimes they fall through the cracks as the draft progresses. The main similarities in all of my drafts is that I know the ending (well…a version of it anyways). There’s always one specific scene that spurred the story that I’m trying to find my way to. I always end up writing it linearly, even when I have certain scenes that come to me out of order.

For The Arrangement, it was April’s kidnapping and survival. For Saving the Music, it was a duet between Mia and Max and her final soccer game in high school. There’s always a scene or two or three that are stuck in my mind before I even begin drafting. They are usually strong enough that I feel compelled to write the entire book.

From writing Saving the Music, I can definitely say that while I like to have a plan, I also like being able to deviate as I go. Think of it as printing out directions and knowing certain landmarks while making your route as you go. You know the major turns, but you still want to explore while you’re driving.

Waiting until Saving the Music is finished to read it? Next week the FINAL episodes will be released! So get caught up this week so you can read them right away. 🙂

Happy Reading!

Rachel