The Three-Act, Eight-Sequence Story Structure
By: Shaunta Grimes
Tags: Writing, Movies, Fiction, Books, Creativity

There’s something I always find fascinating about story theory.

It seems like it’s going to be complicated.

I mean, come on.

Three-act, eight-sequence story structure?

It sure as hell sounds complicated.

That’s twelve balls to keep in the air, right?

And if some one just throws that at you and you’ve never heard of it before, you might stare at them like a deer caught in the headlights.

Crap, you might think. I can’t be a writer. This is too hard.

All I want to do is tell a story.

Take a deep breath with me.

All you’re doing is telling a story.

And it’s so much easier than you think. None of this is that hard. Because, guess what? It’s super familiar. So familiar.

Know why?

You’ve been doing it all your life.

Because just about every story you’ve ever been told — every movie you’ve ever watched, every bedtime story you’ve ever been read, every campfire story, every book, every time your grandpa told you a story about when he was a little boy — fits somewhere in the realm of this story structure.

It’s in your blood. It’s part of your DNA.

I mean someone might throw some exception in the comments, but whatever. I might be able to argue with them, but I won’t.

The fact is that the vast majority of the history of stories fit within the framework of this story structure. It doesn’t matter the format the story takes — oral, written, movies, television.

I’m going to talk about novels now, though. Ready?

Three acts are simply a beginning, a middle, and an end.

See how easy that was?

In most books, the beginning, or first Act, takes up about a quarter of the story.

The second Act, or middle, actually takes up a full half of the story. It’s broken into two parts by the mid-point climax. Which means that most stories really have four acts. We’ve said stories have three acts — a beginning, a middle, and an end — since ancient times, so it’s tradition. So we still do.

the third Act, or end, generally takes up about the final quarter of the story.

That’s all. Nothing scary.

You can break your story down further into eight sequences to help with pacing.

This is actually a screenwriting technique, but it works beautifully for novels.

Act One gets two sequences.

Act Two gets four.

Act Three gets the final two.

Give each sequence a climactic scene at the end. Some of those climactic scenes are bigger, or splashier, than others.

For instance, at the end of Sequence Four, in nearly ever story there is, there’s a Very Big Climax.

The Mid-Point Climax.

That’s the scene, in a non-tragic story, where the story’s hero has a big win.

It’s where Harry catches the snitch in his mouth and wins his first quidditch match.

It’s where Dorothy and her friends reach the Emerald City.

It’s where Han Solo is drawn into the Death Star.

It’s still there in a tragic story, it’s just that it’s a very sad moment, instead of a win. It’s a big miss.

The mid-point climax mirrors the tone of the end of the story. So in a non-tragic story, it’s a happy win. In a tragic story it’s a sad miss.

At the end of sequence four — right smack in the middle — of just about every story that’s EVER BEEN TOLD there’s a big moment. If the story’s not tragic it’s a win. If the story is tragic, it’s a miss.

If you don’t believe me, you can check it out.

Start paying attention when you watch movies. Check out about the sixty minute mark. Pay attention when you’re about halfway through a book, too.

You’ll see it.

Other sequence climaxes might be less dramatic. They might be more internal. But knowing that they are there will help you to keep up the pacing of your story.

But every sequence gets one.

Sequence one gets the inciting incident, when the hero is invited into the story.

Sequence two gets the lock in, when the hero does something to accept that invitation.

Sequence three’s climactic scene is usually one of those less dramatic ones.

Sequence four, as we talked about, is the mid-point.

Sequence five is usually another less dramatic one.

Sequence six gets the main climax — the biggest one of all!

Sequence seven gets my favorite, the third act twist.

And sequence eight gets a climactic scene that wraps things up.

I told you. This is comfortable stuff.

You already know how to do it.

You just need to figure out that you know how to do it.