A Plot With Purpose
A Plot With Purpose
How to Meaningfully Take Your Story From A to Z
So you went through weeks of hell to figure out a way to turn your nebulous idea into a solid story. You trimmed your logline into a sentence, worked out a strong central message, and fleshed your entire ensemble out. You even came up with a great opener. Awesome. Now, with all that info you should be able to just dive right into your story…right?
Well, perhaps. Some writers are able to figure it out as they go along, but many like myself need a plot design or a map to help them go from a to z. So how do you chart one for yourself? Where do you start your story? Where do you take it all, and how do you end it?
The truth is, you can design your plot in a million different ways and totally reinvent the rules as you experiment, but doing so in a way that gets people to read your work is insanely hard, which is why most people start and often stick with the 3-act structure because it’s just easier and generally works for most ideas.
Also, having a good understanding of the three-act structure can help you better understand how to break away from it and get into other structures that may prove better for your stories, like Freytag’s Pyramid or the Fitchean Curve. There are a lot of different ways you can plot your story, and I encourage you to read up on those.
But for the purpose of this blog and getting your feet wet with plot designing, I’m going to focus specifically on the three-act structure and go over everything you need to know about it in detail from a to z. Now plot designing, itself, isn’t really all that complicated. What is complicated, though, is designing a plot that drives the story in a meaningful way using allegories.
This means creating things that happen in your story and making them connect to your premise. For instance, if your character is a king who is blindly after power, that is a physical trait of your story that speaks to a deeper meaning or premise behind the story. In this case, your premise might be, “Blind ambition leads to ruin.” The King and his quest for power are the physical things that happen and these physical things show us the moral lesson so that it doesn’t have to be directly spoken.
That's what makes writing so difficult because it’s not just about connecting scenes together in a way that builds tension. It’s also about making those scenes, actions, and dialogue sequences allegorical to the deeper meaning of the story.
So that’s what this piece is about, annnd. Yeah. Period. Done. Okay, cool. I’m happy with that introduction. I hope you are too. Let’s go!
The Three-Act Structure:
This is a three-act structure template that I made a long time ago for myself. As you can see, it’s pretty short and simple, which actually makes it more challenging because by using something that limits how much you can put in, you’re forcing yourself to trim the fat and widdle your main points down to their lowest common denominator. It’s tough, but it can really help you gain clarity on your story. So let's take a closer look using a simple example, and then at the end, I’ll provide a filled-in template so you can see everything from start to finish.
Act I: The Setup
This is probably the most manageable part of plot structuring because it’s just painting a picture of who your main character is at the beginning of the story. You’re not in the thick of the complicated web that you’ll find yourself in Act II. No, Act I is much more straightforward. Basically, it’s just establishing the following:
Setting: This is the world that your character lives in and where you establish time, place, and anything relevant about the World surrounding the main character like geopolitical or environmental (if it’s relevant, of course). Be as specific or as general as you need to be, but when it comes to establishing a place, it’s a good idea to be very specific.
Don’t just say something like, “New York” because that could refer to the state or the city, and if it is the city…Well, it’s big and diverse, so it’d be nice to know if your main character is living in downtown Manhattan or Tremont. But even just saying inner city, downtown, or suburbs can be sufficient. It just depends on how important the specific area is. So let’s start our example by introducing the setting and keeping it really simple: Washington D.C suburbs, present day.
Characters: This is where I list my ensemble out, which isn’t every single character in the story. It’s just the main character, the antagonist (if any), and the secondary characters. At this point, I like to try and name my characters, but it’s okay if you don’t have one for them just yet. Use a placeholder if need be. I also like to state the relationship that each character has to either the protagonist or antagonist. Obviously, none of this is a must. It’s just nice to have.
So going back to our example, let's say we have two characters. Dave, the main character, and Jon, Dave’s brother who is the fake opponent/real ally or for simplicity’s sake, the secondary character. Maybe Dave is conservative and safe and Jon is liberal and wild.
Situation: This is your basic introduction to the main character’s life. Who is your main character? What are they doing job-wise, if any? What about in their personal life? What’s the physical weakness that’s holding them back, and what is the lie they tell themselves to justify their weakness?
If you haven’t read my piece about Character Engines, I’d consider checking it out to get a better understanding of what I mean by physical weakness and lie they tell themselves. Of course, if you really want to learn about these things and how to build your characters, you can always fiddle around with the character engine tool we built at Story Prism where you can design your characters and turn them into chatbots. So you can literally have conversations with your own creations. It’s trippy stuff!
But anyway, a physical weakness basically refers to something that a character does, which indirectly expresses a deeper reason for why they do what they do.
Let's go back to the example again. Let's say this story is about a guy named Dave who works as an accountant for an accounting firm. He lives a safe, quiet life and is alone. Maybe Dave could have physical weaknesses like being shy and afraid to go out of his comfort zone. And this can be because deep down he’s afraid of taking chances and thus, feels stuck in his own life.
So the physical weaknesses he expresses at the beginning of the story shed light on what this character believes deep down inside, which is also referred to as the “Moral Weakness”. But usually, they’re not going to own up to their flawed belief. They’re going to lie to themselves.
The lie they tell themselves refers to the excuse or reason they give for justifying why their physical weakness is actually a strength. This is what causes the character to hide their true view of the world from others or themselves. So going back to our example, our main character, Dave, might lie to themselves by claiming they’re just being responsible. But really, that’s just an excuse to hide from the harsh truth, which is that they are afraid of taking risks.
It makes total sense to supplant your character’s physical weakness and lie they tell themselves in the first act because, ultimately, your first act is about establishing the flaws of your character and what they’re telling themselves to justify those flaws, which prevents them from understanding that what they believe about the world (moral weakness) is why they’re physically weak and unable to live the kind of life they should be living. You can reveal this, “Moral weakness” to the audience and even the main character at the beginning, but oftentimes it’s more satisfying to see the main character discover this over time.
To do that you show us their physical weaknesses and the lie they tell themselves to justify their weaknesses in the first act. And remember, all of this should be allegorical. So you shouldn’t just have the characters outright explain it. Create interesting situations that act as metaphors to the deeper meaning behind the story, and have those situations build to something. Also, fill those situations with choices that your character must make, which can reveal who they are without having to explain everything.
So in this example, maybe Dave gets invited out for drinks with his friends that he hasn’t seen in forever. But, he ends up declining because he has to wake up early for a meeting with his boss. That’s a big physical action that shows he’s afraid of taking risks. Then the next day Dave finds out that he’s being let go. He never switched jobs when the writing was on the wall months ago, and now he’s paying the price.
Of course, you want to sprinkle in other physical actions to further suggest he’s afraid of taking risks. However, these are the main beats that not only suggest these flaws but also drive the story somewhere. Not knowing what to do, Dave decides to further wallow in his despair until he gets a phone call one day, which leads us to…
Plot Point #1
Also known as the inciting incident, plot point #1 is how you propel your character from their normal day-in-day-out in the first act to a “Journey towards discovery” that is played out in the second act. Now, understand that when we say the character’s journey we’re also talking about the audience’s journey through the story. Therefore, you don’t actually need to have the characters discover anything about themselves, nor do you need them to change. You just need the audience to go through the journey of discovering what the character needs to learn in order to change. And plot point #1 is the entrance to that journey.
More specifically, plot point #1 consists of two very important parts:
The Opportunity: This is the moment when your character is given a chance to do something or go somewhere, and it’s this opportunity that will propel them towards achieving a goal of some kind, which is really just the thing they are physically after. Let’s go back to Dave and create an opportunity for him.
He gets a phone call and it’s his wild brother who tells him their mother died and she wants them to travel to England and spread her ashes. Dave is hesitant but eventually decides when his brother offers to pay. This character is moving from their normal daily life to a new part of their life, and a desire or goal is set. He has to travel and spread his mother’s ashes.
The New Situation: The new situation is the moment that comes after the opportunity when they take the call to action, whether they want to or not. Now, they’re placed in a different part of their life where they must acclimate to this new environment. Going back to our example, the new situation might be having Dave and Jon travel by boat because Jon, the wild brother, never traveled that way and thought they could use the time to bond. Dave is obviously not happy about this.
Keep in mind that even though all of this sounds formulaic, it’s actually not. You can modify the inciting incident in any way you want. For instance, with the opportunity, you don’t have to have an obvious goal for the character to achieve like a competition or a destination. It could just be a story about someone finding happiness and meaning in their miserable life. Or with the new situation, it doesn’t have to be something that radically alters their day-in-day-out like getting on a boat and traveling across the world. It can be a small decision like deciding to order out instead of cook.
There’s an endless number of ways you can do this, and honestly, you could just scrap the whole thing, wing it, and still make it work, somehow. I’m not a virtuoso so I wouldn’t know how to, but I’d love to hear some tips and strategies from you on our new Facebook Group, and I’m sure members would love to hear them, too!
Act II: The Confrontation
Alright, so we made it this far without losing our minds. Great. Now we have to survive the craziest part…Act II. This is pretty much the main course of your story and is often the longest and most complicated because usually there are a lot of moving parts, and it’s all usually building to some great payoff at the end. So, yeah. Not an easy task. Act II is usually broken up into three major conflicts that all have their own unique little components, which can drive the story.
Conflict #1: Change of Plans and Progress:
Change of Plans: So your character is placed in a new situation. The moment you introduce a complication that destroys their initial plan and disrupts their acclimation to the new situation, that is the moment when the plans change and they must do something else to achieve their goal. This is also the moment when the goal, itself, can change and a new goal can emerge.
So let's say the two brothers are traveling on a boat to spread their mother’s ashes, but as they’re traveling, the boat sinks and now they’re stranded out in the middle of the ocean. The plan has been disrupted, and the goal has changed from spreading the ashes to surviving. On top of that, you just created a situation where Dave, the main character, must take risks in order to survive, which makes this a journey that will test him and force him to finally choose to grow by learning the importance of taking risks.
Progress: After introducing the first major conflict that disrupts the initial plan, you want to give your character some leeway so they can progress forward. Let's say Dave and Jon’s boat crashes and almost drown, but they manage to get on a life raft with a few remaining survivors.
Now things are calm and they’re at least able to make it another day to try and figure out how to reach land. But this is a story, of course, so you can’t stay in this calm moment for too much longer. You have to take something away from your characters, then give them something, then take something away, and so on. Torture your characters through their journey, give them obstacles to overcome, and make those obstacles harder as you move along.
So maybe it starts with extreme thirst, followed by a massive storm that almost wipes them out. But since they survived, now they have a bunch of water. And remember, this is a story with meaning so Dave and Jon should express this through their actions. Dave is afraid of taking risks so he should be a coward who is constantly saved by Jon who seems to be a hero that is able to control the situation better with plans left and right.
Conflict #2: The Point of No Return
This is the moment in your story when your character has to fully commit to their goal. It’s a moment where they’re given a choice, and if they choose to end the journey then the story ends right here. But we’re writers and the last thing we want to do is abruptly end the story, so naturally, the character will pretty much always make the choice to continue achieving the goal.
Let's go back to our example. Let's say they’re trying to catch fish and two of the passengers get into a fight that ends with Jon and the other in the water after Jon tries to stop the fight. One of the passengers is eaten and Jon gets his leg bitten. They now realize there’s a swarm of sharks poking at their raft. Jon is saved by Dave when the other passenger is shown to be too afraid to do anything. This is the moment when Dave realizes their situation is serious and that he must have the strength and courage to do what’s necessary.
Conflict #3: Upping the Stakes:
Now you wanna go full-blown torture porn on your character. No, not literally! I mean, you wanna really up the stakes and make the conflicts much more challenging. At this point in time, you want to give less to your character and take more away from them. As much as they’re trying to win and reach their goal, that opportunity should be lessening more and more.
So maybe in the example, the one who pushed the other passenger is losing their mind because of the guilt while Jon slowly bleeds to death. All the while, they’re out of the water they had from the last storm and they still don’t have food. Then, they find a leak in the raft and have to take turns blowing it up. This drives the other person even crazier and he ends up committing suicide by slitting his wrists. But due to all the blood, Dave and Jon can’t push him out because it will attract the sharks. So they’re forced to keep his decomposing body on board.
Eventually, the raft fails, and now they’re floating in the ocean on their backs waiting for the sharks to come. Dave falls asleep but quickly wakes up as he sinks. That’s when he realizes he’s all alone. Jon, his brother and rock, fell asleep and drowned, or worse, he was taken by a shark. Dave must now do what he’s always struggled to do. He must find the courage to carry on himself and take the necessary risks to survive.
Plot Point #2:
Now we’re at the lowest point for your protagonist. Everything is taken away from them, and there is seemingly no hope. Typically, they’ll retreat to a safe space and contemplate giving up. But eventually, they’ll get back in the fight and formulate a final plan that will put everything on the table.
Now with this example, I’m not sure there is a safe space for Dave to retreat to. Perhaps fond memories of their past, maybe. Either way, this is a moment when you can imagine them getting ready to throw in the towel. But then, they see a ship out in the distance crossing by. He has a chance to survive. But he has to do something to get noticed.
Act III: The Resolution
The final act of your story. We’re almost done! So this part is basically broken up into two parts:
The Final Conflict: This is the moment when your character decides to risk everything to achieve their goal, and it's usually very overwhelming for them. Ideally, it’s supposed to build up to a climax where they face the biggest obstacle, typically the main opponent. And It’s here where their fate is ultimately determined. Are they able to fulfill their physical desire or not?
Back to the example, let's say the main character is frantically yelling, trying to get this ship’s attention, but nothing is working because it’s too far out. It’s passing by, and it seems that he won’t be saved. But then he remembers the metal pocket watch his brother gave him before they got on the ship at the beginning of the story. Miraculously, he still has it (yeah, I know. Too coincidental. I’m writing this example on the fly, so cut me some slack!) He then reflects the sunlight from the metal to get the ship's attention, which is a long shot. But at the last second, we see it change its course and head towards the main character.
Conclusion: We finally reach the conclusion, which we all know as being the moments that happen after the big fight...Or not. Remember, there aren’t any rules to this, so you could just as easily end the movie as soon as the character wins or loses, or end it shortly after or even years later. Just end the damn thing! So in the case of this example, you can show the main character get rescued and then recover. Then end it with him spreading his mother’s ashes, wishing his brother had survived. Or to add more meaning to it, you could show him back at his old life, only this time instead of blowing off his friends he decides to go out. He is no longer afraid of taking risks and knows that life is too short to always be afraid.
And that is how you meaningfully plot your story in a three-act structure. Granted, I used an extremely simple example that obviously needs some added depth so as to really express Dave’s character change…That and to also make it more interesting and less cliche.
Either way, I hope this at least illustrates plot structuring. Again, creating and connecting the beats together is pretty straightforward, but what isn’t straightforward is creating meaningful beats and connections. It’s not just about driving the character from point A to Z. It’s about driving them from A to Z in a way that gets the main character to understand the error of their ways and grow from that realization.
In this example, Dave learns that taking risks in life can be necessary to survive a life that’s too short. In the beginning, he’s this non-outgoing shy person then he’s thrust into a life or death situation with his brother who shows him that having the courage to take risks can pay off. And the whole situation, of course, shows Dave just how fragile life is and how he’s wasted most of it. So when he ends up surviving in the end, he’s a changed man. Maybe he’s not quite like his brother, but he’s now willing to go out of his comfort zone for new opportunities, he’s less afraid of risks, and he values the time he has on Earth instead of taking it for granted.
So that’s gonna do it for this post. Really hope you got a lot of insights from this because I know the writing process, in general, is hard and can be overwhelming when you put, “Pen to page”. That’s why I’m a huge fan of the pre-writing process and why I love to share these kinds of things with you because there are a lot of amazing ideas out there, but unless you know how to land that in the writing, then they’ll never come to be.
And I like stories more than I like ideas, so please, keep writing! Also, as promised, below is a link to a breakdown of the example I weaved into this post so you can see this three-act structure in action. Enjoy and best of luck in your writing endeavors!
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