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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36444
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36444
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Generally, the conflict is resolved in the third act. Acts end with (effectively for the story and characters) an irrevocable _something,_ a decision, an act taken, words spoken, event transpiring, etc.

That is not to say this must be the final sentence of a chapter, there can be ramifications or consequences described, but that is the end of the act.

The end of the LAST Act (ACT III in the 3-act structure, ACT IV in Freytag's four act structure, ACT V in Shakespeare's 5 act structure, etc) is the resolution of the story.

In your story, the "phoenix rising" sounds like the final bit of ACT III, generally the last 5% of the total story length. ACT II would likely end with the irrevocable event that instigates this "killing off" of the ego, and thus leads into ACT III. ACT III would begin with the consequences, what to do next, and the **denouement** would be the re-assembly of the ego, accomplished in the last 5%, leaving enough room to show the reader the irrevocably changed person going forward.

Although many people write their stories to fit the 3-act structure religiously, I don't recommend that. They are derived from actual highly successful novels and stories, and as such are **_descriptive_** statistics: The % are, on average, how highly successful stories happen to be plotted.

But averages don't tell us everything; as the aphorism goes: Freeze one hand in a bucket 35F water, and the other in a bucket of 160F water, and on average you're not uncomfortable.

As descriptive statistics, you can use them to see when you are straying terribly far from the norm; more than 10% perhaps is either stretching the reader's patience (boring them) or rushing the tale too much (confusing them). And of course good books can range from 60,000 words to 700,000 words (but the reader has an idea of what to expect from the # pages or heft of the book).

Original score: 2