three act structure
Beginning, middle, end
Three act structure is a model for organizing narrative, dividing a story into setup, confrontation, and resolution.
The first act establishes characters and conflict, the second develops complications and raises stakes, and the third brings the climax and conclusion.
The framework dominates Hollywood screenwriting but applies to novels, plays, and other storytelling forms: Every writing workshop hammers on three act structure.
- first actInitial division of drama
- second actDrama's middle segment
- third actFinal dramatic segment
- screenplayFilm's written blueprint
- climaxPoint of greatest intensity
rising action · dramatic tension · falling action · final act · denouement · protagonist · conflict · resolution · setup · payoff · turning point · inciting incident · narrative arc · storytelling · playwright · drama · tension · midpoint
- storytellingstorytelling, story, tale, narrative, narrator
- story elementsstory, plot, hero, villain, protagonist
- dramaturgydramaturgy, dramaturg, dramatic technique, dramatic form, dramatic action
- Spanish theatercomedia, auto sacramental, Don Juan, loa, Calderon
three act structurestream of consciousness
Narrative mimicking uninterrupted thought
picaresque · slice of life · non-linear narrative · anti-narrative · fragmented narrative
three act structureimprovisation
Spontaneous, unplanned creation
structurelessness · free association · automatic writing · formlessness
three, structure, thrice, thirds, threefold, threesome, actors, actress, actions