The Two-Part Act II
Screenwriting Tricks for Authors
So how is everyone doing?
I am so grateful to be able to lose myself in writing this book for most of the day, every day. Winter is a hugely productive writing time for me - darker days and the Scottish cold mean I am really happy to just huddle under heaps of blankets and write. The end of the year gives that edge of deadline to everything, and not reading the news —for now—frees up an amazing amount of time. Right now that focus is just about lifesaving.
I hope you’re finding the same refuge in your own writing.
Today I thought I should revisit a concept that is SUCH an important guide to story structure, whether you’re writing a book, script or show: The Two-Part Act II.
This is not just for Nanowrimo people. No matter where you are in your process, understanding this pattern will help!
If you’re not familiar with the Three-Act, Eight-Sequence Structure, here’s the post you want to start with - or see Chapters 5-6 in Stealing Hollywood or Writing Love
Even though we talk about the Three-Act Structure, I always look at it and teach it as four acts.
Whether you’re writing a book or a script, it’s incredibly useful to think of Act II as two separate Acts, which we’ll call Act II: 1 and Act II: 2, which have their own very specific story elements, and which are very different in feeling and tone from each other.
In a 2-hour movie, Act II: Part 1 starts at about 30 minutes and ends at about 60 minutes. In a 400-page book, Act II: Part 1 starts at about page 100 and climaxes at about page 200.
In a 2-hour movie, Act II: Part 2 starts at about 60 minutes and ends at about 90 minutes. In a 400-page book, Act II: Part 2 starts at about page 200 and climaxes at about page 300.
The MIDPOINT CLIMAX divides the second act of a book or a script into two halves.
And it’s really useful to look at your story as being divided into two distinct halves.
First, I want you to think about this. The dynamic of the Midpoint has been around since the beginning of theater—that is, for thousands of years! Many if not most plays have one intermission about halfway through the play. And we’ve already discussed this fact about intermissions: the playwright has to climax that first half with a CLIFFHANGER: a scene so powerful, and a question so intriguing, that the audience will actually come back into the theater after knocking a few drinks back in the lobby.
Right?
So— imagine that there is going to be an intermission halfway through your book.
What is the cliffhanger that’s going to bring your readers back to your story?
And second: I’ll repeat this classic pattern because I really want it to sink in:
It is very, very often true that in Act II: Part 1, THE HERO/INE IS WINNING.
Then something happens at the MIDPOINT that changes everything, and things go quickly downhill from there.
Suddenly in Act II: Part 2, THE HERO/INE STARTS TO LOSE. And lose big!
So while the first half of your book will be energetic and forward-moving, the second half more often looks like a disastrous spiral down into chaos and darkness (even if the chaos is comic). It’s a difference of day and night, yang and yin. And at some point (almost always the climax of Act II) everything will grind to - or crash to - a halt, called the ALL IS LOST SCENE or BLACK MOMENT.
There are exceptions, and we’ll talk about that as we move into the third quarter of your story—Elements of Act II: Part 2.
But do you see how just that pattern: first half winning, second half losing— gives you a roadmap to your long and terrifying second act?
More on this dynamic here:
And a video review:
Now, if you’re doing Nanowrimo, I am not in any way suggesting that you should be halfway through your book! The point of Nano is to write as much as you can, every day, to wherever point that takes you.
And —this post may be more useful for when you’re rewriting.
But it’s one of the most potentially useful things I can possibly tell you.
More posts on Act II: Part 1:
—Elements of Act II
—Act II: Part 1 — TEAM, TRAINING and TESTS
—Act II: Part 1 - What’s the EXPERIENCE of Your Book?
—The Hunger Games story breakdown, Act II:1
—Silence of the Lambs story breakdown, Act II:1
Find daily prompts this month here:
—Nanowrimo daily prompts
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Get the workbooks:
Stealing Hollywood ebook, $4.99, also available as print workbook
Writing Love ebook, $2.99
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All material from Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, © Alexandra Sokoloff