Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Turning away from the 3-act structure - what guides my pacing now?

For pacing: try subdividing your three acts in more sub-points. Are you familiar with the Seven-point Story Structure? Dan Wells explains it pretty well in this series of short videos. Basically, ...

posted 5y ago by kikirex‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:29:10Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43963
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar kikirex‭ · 2019-12-08T11:29:10Z (almost 5 years ago)
## For pacing: try subdividing your three acts in more sub-points.

Are you familiar with the **Seven-point Story Structure**? Dan Wells explains it pretty well in [this series of short videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcmiqQ9NpPE). Basically, it is a 3-act structure where each act is subdivided into more points.

Now, instead of having: "Normal life / Conflict / Resolution", you can structure your plot following these steps:

- Hook: where the story and characters are at the beginning
- Plot turn 1: what changes in the life of the character
- Pinch 1: what pressures the character to change
- Mid point: the moment the character takes action and crosses the threshold
- Pinch 2: the moment he fails for the first time
- Plot turn 2: when he has the information/power to rise again
- Resolution: where he eventually succeed

Note that Dan Wells does not draw a synopsys following these steps in this order: instead he deconstruct this from the end. For example, if the character ends up rich, then he may begin poor, the midpoint being the MC taking action to be rich (heist, rags-to-riches...). Then he iterates with each subpoint: what pressures the character to change his life, etc.

When each sub-point of your story is defined, it may serve as a good guide for pacing each part.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-03-23T13:30:37Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 2