Friday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

3 ACT STRUCTURE: HOW BUILDING A FRAMEWORK HELPS ORGANIZE A STORY

By: Jody Hedlund, @JodyHedlund

I received an email from a blog reader, Anna, asking for help with figuring out the framework of her story. She was struggling with how to handle diary entries (whether to use flashbacks or make them chronological), who to make the protagonist (mother, daughter, or both), which POV's to use (1st person for one and 3rd for another or something different), and a host of other questions.

Essentially I got the feeling from her that her story resembles a big 1000 piece puzzle dumped out on the table. And she doesn't really know how to piece it all together in the most meaningful way possible. Sure there are lots of different ways to go about organizing all the pieces–but what is the right way? Is there even a right way?

As I thought about Anna's struggle, I realized that one of the most helpful tools for organizing any story is the 3 Act Structure which has been used in classic writing and has also been adapted by modern screenwriters. Here's my summary of what the Acts contain:

I. Act 1: Big Set Up

• The character lives in her ordinary world, in the status quo, with limited awareness.
• The character has a call to adventure, the inciting incident, which is a situation that forces the character to see the world in a different way.
• The character has inner debates and reluctance but ultimately commits to the new goal.

II. Act 2: Middle Confrontation

. . .

Read the full article HERE!

~*~

If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. How to Improve Your Amazon Book Description & Metadata | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/MWoWt
2. The Writing Bug: Dialogue Dos http://ow.ly/MWp8J
3. How to Write in Deep POV + get inside the mind of your character | She's Novel http://ow.ly/MWphh
4. QueryTracker Blog: The 5 Essential Steps to Getting a Literary Agent (Guest Post) http://ow.ly/MWpu4
5. First Pages that Shine - Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/MWpz0
6. 6 Stylistic Techniques in YA Novels | Writers' Rumpus http://ow.ly/MWpFG
7. Book Proposals - Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/MWpMX
8. How To Craft A One-Page Synopsis Using Story Beats | Crime Fiction Writer Sue Coletta http://ow.ly/MWpT2
9. The Essential 10: The First Page | YAtopia http://ow.ly/MWpXH
10. QueryTracker Blog: Query Lessons Learned the Hard Way http://ow.ly/MWq0I
11. Fiction University: I've Revised My Novel. Now What? http://ow.ly/MWq7r
12. Art Holcomb on Rewriting Your Novel or Screenplay - Storyfix.com http://ow.ly/MWqWc
13. Music For Writers: Brad Lubman — An ‘Explosion Of Compositional Languages’ | Thought Catalog http://ow.ly/MWr0U
14. Balancing Industry and Promo Research and Writing - Elizabeth Spann Craig http://ow.ly/MWrb3
15. Author, Jody Hedlund: 3 Act Structure: How Building a Framework Helps Organize a Story http://ow.ly/MWrwl
16. How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/MWrEF
17. Fiction University: Study the Pros: Map Your Favorite Novel http://ow.ly/MWrOv
18. ARE YOU MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR GIVEAWAYS? « http://ow.ly/MWrTe
19. Should You Write Third Person Omniscient? | A Writer's Path http://ow.ly/MWscL
20. Stroppy Author's guide to publishing: "I've been looking at your website..." http://ow.ly/MWspM
21. Rhythm and Time - Part 1: Give Your Writing a Beat of Its Own | Fantasy-Faction http://ow.ly/MWsue
22. How to Write Scenes in Novels and Short Stories http://ow.ly/MWsDB
23. Is digital-first best for authors? | The Bookseller http://ow.ly/MWsI2

Happy writing and running, Kathy