Dramatic Structure What is it Every good story follows what we call a three act structure This structure is what I call story rhetoric What is rhetoric It is the art of writing particularly persuasive writing ID: 537315
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Slide1
Story rhetoric
Dramatic StructureSlide2
What is it?
Every good story follows what we call a “three act structure”
This
structure is what I call “story rhetoric.”
What is rhetoric?
It is the art of writing, particularly persuasive writing.
You can think of it as plot or dramatic structure, but know that I will often say story rhetoric. Slide3
Before we start
“No writer should be a slave to structure, and structure should never get in the way of a great story” Dr. Sarah-Jane Murray, Emmy-award winning screenwriter
The structure is a tool to get us started. It’s not meant to hurt, but to help!
When it seems overwhelming, remember that it IS confusing, but it will help us in the long run!Slide4
Three act WHAT?
You’ve probably talked about this in reading classes.
There is a beginning, middle, and end
It might sound like a lot, but I’m here to walk you through it!Slide5
Act One
Broken down into 6 parts we call “story beats.”
Opening Image
Ordinary World
Storm is Brewing
Inciting Incident
Dilemma
Crossing the ThresholdSlide6
“The way to get started is to quit TALKING
and begin
DOING!” –Walt Disney
What does this quote mean?Slide7
Opening Image
Every story begins somewhere, the question is- where? Can’t start too early or too late!
This tells us what our story is going to be about.
Someone raise your hand and give a movie that you think everyone will know.
How does that movie start at the very beginning?
Finding
Nemo
? Tangled? Inside Out? Slide8
Ordinary World
This is where we see what the main character (protagonist’s) life is like before the story really gets going.
Something will happen later in the story that completely changes their life, but we need to first see what it was like before.
This needs to be something worth preserving, but not perfect!Slide9
Storm Is Brewing
This is the least obvious beat- sometimes barely there!
This is when we as an audience can see something is coming to change the protagonist’s life, but they don’t see it themselves.
We can see what the “bad guy” (antagonist) is doing, but the protagonist hasn’t yet.
“A storm is coming” but it’s not here yet!Slide10
Inciting Incident
The storm is here!
Something has happened to our character that will change everything, even if they don’t see it as such
This is when Peter Parker gets bit by a spider!
Think of this as the dynamite has been lit, but not exploded yet. Slide11
Dilemma
The dynamite has exploded!!!!
Think of this as the “should I stay or should I go” beat.
Your protagonist has an unavoidable moment of questioning: to stay or go on the quest.
Star Wars
Most characters will resist the call at first! It’s scary! It’s uncomfortable!Slide12
Crossing the Threshold
In the end, your protagonist chooses to go, else it wouldn’t be a story!
They commit to the adventure and go after a real and tangible goal. (This is often called the
MacGuffin
)
As they commit to the quest, there is often someone who encourages them to cross and helps them get there. Slide13
ACT II
This is the most difficult part of ANY writing assignment!
You must continue to show, not tell, but there is a lot of plot that needs to happen.
It is the longest Act by a LONG shot.
The beginning of Act II is “where most stories go to die.”
You must keep original ideas while conveying plot and character development!Slide14
Act II
This is the “adulthood” of the story.
We must have interesting plot and character development without being obvious or cliché.
Sound hard? It is.
You cannot have Act II without knowing what you want your character to grow in and where they are ultimately going to end up in Act III.Slide15
Act II
Adventure Sequence (multiple scenes)
Gaining Support
Adventure Sequence continues (multiple scenes)
Midpoint
All Downhill (multiple scenes)
Brick WallSlide16
Adventure Sequence
Your protagonist has crossed into the new world, or “extraordinary world” to compare it to Act I.
This is where the bulk of the adventure unfolds.
If the story is about pirates and such, pirates will start popping up!
For a while, you don’t need to raise the stakes!
We should feel a strong sense of the protagonist’s values throughout. The “good guy” values feel strongest. Slide17
Adventure Sequence
Your story has already upped the stakes a ton at the crossing the threshold, let us get used to the new world before upping the stakes again.
During the adventure sequence, the protagonist will make good progress towards their goal.
This builds tension- the audience should feel “this is too easy, what’s
gonna
go wrong?”Slide18
Gaining Support
Your protagonist will meet someone (or be reintroduced) to someone to help them through the new world.
You know the character is a supporting role when their main role is to support the protagonist’s movement through their character arc.
Think Han Solo!Slide19
Adventure Sequence Continues
Same rules from initial adventure sequence, but there should be someone there helping!
During this latter part, the protagonist should do something they never would have done during Act I.
This must be an ACTION. Even if their change is mostly internal, we must see external action and conflict to demonstrate it!
May or may not succeed, but at least they tried!Slide20
Midpoint
This is the tent pole of your entire story!
The stakes are raised again, whether that is obvious or not.
Your protagonist moves from passive to active in their journey.
They are no longer content responding to the changes that are happening to them and makes an active decision that changes the direction of the plot. Slide21
Midpoint
The whole course of the story shifts in this moment and things will start to go badly for your protagonist.
Must be a conscious and deliberate choice that changes things!
There is NO TURNING BACK from this choice!
From here on out, the protagonist is fully responsible for course the story takes. Sooner or later, they will face the consequences of those actions.
This is one of the hardest beats in all of writing. Slide22
All Downhill
Things go from bad to worse.
First half of Act II featured protagonist values and the second half features antagonist.
Everything starts to go wrong for them. Nothing goes right, yet they press on!
This is a sequence of scenes to show us how lots of things aren’t working for our protagonist. Slide23
Brick Wall
The end of the all downhill.
All is lost and it feels hopeless to continue.
The brick wall is a DIRECT result of the decision made by the protagonist at the midpoint.
Often the best friend gives a pep talk to help the protagonist continue, because they can’t on their own.
The protagonist has a moment of self realization. They realize what they did to get them here. HUGE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT MOMENT.
This is the final, most decisive threshold your protagonist will cross in their journey.
This test readies them to confront the antagonist. Slide24
Act III
The shortest act, but don’t let that fool you! This is incredibly difficult to get right
!
This revolves around a plan of some sorts- we have to get/achieve something of great value that will be difficult to do!
We break this down into a four step proces
s.
This is the grand finale! Everything comes down to this- so make it count! Slide25
Final Face-off
This is the first three steps in the process.
This is where the plan is enacted, but it isn’t that simple. There are three steps to the plan.
Step 1: The plan is enacted, and all seems to be going well
This is just like the tension we set up in Adventure Sequence- we KNOW it won’t go well, and we are waiting anxiously for what will go wrong!Slide26
Final Faceoff Continues
Step 2: The plan goes horribly wrong!
There is often a trap here that our antagonist has set for our protagonist.
We have another short “all is lost” moment. How can they continue?
Step 3: Your protagonist pushes through and moves to face the antagonist
They are often isolated as they do this. Only they can defeat the antagonist. Slide27
Final Faceoff Continues
This is the climax of the script!
Conflict is at it’s all time high. Tension is crazy.
Your audience should be thinking: could this actually work????
Everything is pushing towards this final confrontation. Slide28
Closing Image
The last part of Act III
It is the opposite of the Opening Image- we see the final image of the script.
This often mirrors the opening image- we go back and see how the ordinary world has changed.
There is a new world and a new equilibrium. Slide29
We are DONE
And that’s a story!
If you can master this, you can tell ANY story you’d like.
Every part is important. Every detail matters in writing.
First you have to outline, then you get to actually write.
You WILL go through SEVERAL drafts of beats alone!