Act III: The New Plan
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Here, very simply, are the broad strokes of Act III of a book or script:
At the end of Act II: Part 2 (about p. 300 in a 400-page book, about 90 minutes in to a 2 hour movie) everything crashes in an All is Lost Moment, or Black Moment, or Visit to Death.
And then, out of that complete despair comes a Revelation, Clue or Twist for the Hero/ine
That leads to a New Plan for the Final Battle.
The Hero/ine makes that last New Plan
Possibly Gathers the Team (Allies) again and briefs them on the Plan
Possibly briefly Trains again
Then Storms the Villain’s or Antagonist’s Castle (or basement).
The Team (if there is one) goes into Battle, attacking the Antagonist and Secondary Antagonists (Minions, Crew, Henchmen) on their own turf, and —
All their Skills are Tested
Subplots are Resolved
and Secondary Antagonists are defeated in a satisfying way.
Then the Hero/ine goes in alone for the Final Battle with the Antagonist, and in some way faces their Greatest Nightmare. Their Character Arc, everything they’ve learned in the story, helps them win it. (Or not, if it’s a tragedy).
The Hero/ine has come Full Circle
And we see the New Way of Life that they will live.
— — — — —
In the next posts we’re going to work through these elements step by step. And that means before anything else, make sure you really understand the double punch of Dark Night into Dawn that creates the Climax of your Act II. Review here:
So— in the depths of despair, your Protagonist has gotten a CLUE, TWIST, or REVEAL that will propel them into the Final Battle.
Whatever that Clue, Twist, or Reveal is —
The Protagonist can now make a NEW PLAN that will get them to the Villain or Antagonist’s CASTLE, their home turf, where Protagonist and Antagonist will have the final showdown, or BATTLE to get what they want.
(And - their DESIRE may well have changed from what they thought it was in the beginning of the story. That’s a sign of CHARACTER ARC or GROWTH.)
So your challenge this week is to:
Write out the NEW PLAN your Protagonist makes based on the information they just got at the Climax of Act II.
Seriously. Write it out.
Not so clear on what the Plan is? Before you read anything more, review this absolutely critical concept:
Now that you’re getting good at this story structure thing, I want to point out that you can actually look at all three internal Act Climaxes: Act I Climax, Midpoint Climax, and Act II Climax as each creating a twist that calls for a NEW or ADJUSTED PLAN.
Look at your own book or script. Do you have a twist, clue or revelation at each one of these climaxes?
These don’t have to be mind-blowing, multimillion dollar twists (although I do wish that for you!). What I’m talking about is, at minimum, some new development that requires an adjustment in your protagonist’s thinking and behavior and a new tactic for getting what they’re after.
And this is really, really important: It helps your reader or audience enormously if you SPELL OUT THE NEW PLAN at each one of these junctures!
This statement of the new or adjusted plan can be in your Protagonist’s thoughts, or they or another character can say it aloud—but somebody should say it. Your story will instantly become much clearer with just that simple trick.
If the story structure grid above is new to you, read more:
Stealing Hollywood Chapters 5-6
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From Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, © Alexandra Sokoloff