Plot! The 3 Act Story Structure

Language, rhyme, meter--words have never been difficult for me. Plot, however has been my nemesis for years. I started out as a novelist. I still write novels, or attempt to at least. Plot was (is) a difficult thing for me to nail down. 80,000 words that nead to have a logical progression and cause/effect. I'm still battling that challenge.

When I began dabbling in picture books, I thought it was wonderful to only need to come up with 500 words that related to each other. Easy peasy! BUT it isn't so easy. Plot is still a challenge for me. I can't just willy nilly write cute rhyming lines that sorta paint a scene.

I've been reading some books about novel plotting. The funny thing is, they mention how plotting is universal, whether you're writing an epic fantasy over 100,000 words, or writing a romance novel, or a screenplay, or writing a picture book of a mere 500 words. You need structure. People expect story in a certain way.

Many of my early picture book drafts had a long set up, then a conflict that was resolved quickly, and a happy moral ending. But what's the draw in that? People want conflict! That's what will keep them turning pages.

Novel plotting advice has the story broken into three acts. Boiled down to their essence, these three acts are as follows:

• Act 1: This is the first quarter of the story. This is where the main character (MC) is surviving in their every day world, until a challenge comes up that they can't ignore.
• Act 2: This takes up the second and third quarters of the story. That's right--half the story. When we reach Act 2, the MC is reacting to the challenge and trying unsuccessfully to overcome it. The latter part of Act 2 has the MC reach an all-time low just before figuring out how to conquer the challenge!
• Act 3: The last quarter of the story tells us the outcome of the MC overcoming the challenge, how their life has changed, often how the MC has grown.

Surprisingly, this same structure can apply to picture books.

• Act 1 should be very brief. In a line or two, establish who the MC is, what the setting is, and then give us the challenge they will have to overcome. Get to the problem quickly! Don't dawdle like I used to (still do).
• Act 2 shows them trying and failing. Many people use the rule of three: two fails and a success like in the three little pigs.
• Act 3 quickly wraps things up.

Photo by Leah Kelley from Pexels

Of course there are variations to this standard form, but this is a good starting place. Read some published picture books. Can you spot the three acts? Leave a comment of a book where you found three act structure. Or drop a comment about your own plot struggles.