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Three Act Structure

Act 1
• Hook: An event that gets your readers involved in both plot and story.

• Backstory: Introduces your protagonist and the situation—it’s both plot and story.

• Trigger: An intense plot event that propels your protagonist into crisis.

Act 2
• Crisis: A story moment when your protagonist is overcome by her flaw.

• Struggle: Your protagonist struggles against ever-increasing obstacles (plot) with

deeper despair (story) after each setback.

• Epiphany: A story moment when your protagonist realizes her flaw and decides to
change (unless this is a tragedy).

Act 3
• Plan: Your protagonist, as a result of the epiphany, can now devise a plan (plot).

• Climax: Your protagonist confronts the antagonist, who is defeated (unless this is
a tragedy) in plot-heavy action.

• Ending: The plot and story conflicts are resolved.