Act Two: The Big Arrow

After my recent post discussing how to create a story by thinking about the ending first, I started thinking about the other pieces of a story and how we write those. In particular, my brain started to wrap around the concept of the middle of the story. For brevity's sake, I will refer to it simply as Act Two, but different techniques assign different names and purposes for it, which can get very confusing. The important part is that we think about just why Act Two can often be the most difficult part to write.

I know many writers who have kicked off a story guns-a-blazin', building up the world around them, offering a full, rich character, jumping into the inciting event, and sending the hero off on their journey. Amazing! How could this fail? Well, that's the thing - the reason I bring these up is that these stories usually stall after that point. The writer hits a "what now" moment, and the creation stops. In a novel, that wall hits at 70-100 pages (for me at least). It takes a special kind of push to go into the Act Two part, and it requires a deeper analysis of The Big Arrow.

I know, I know... what's The Big Arrow. Well, think of a simple question or dilemma. The next step we usually take is to solve it. We move from A to B because that's the best way to resolve a situation - one step to the next. Question --> answer. Problem --> solution. Conflict --> resolution. And what lies between those situations? The Big Arrow that we just assume happens on its own, though it is actually quite elaborate and deep (even though my font choice suggests otherwise).

The Big Arrow is something we need to tease apart, similar to a solved math problem. we see 25*12 = 300 and move on with our existence. However, Act Two is all in that equal sign; it's everything we do during that step. For Seinfeld fans, it's the "yadda, yadda, yadda" of storytelling: We can get from the beginning to the end quick enough, but it's obvious that something went on in there that we don't know about.

In terms of The Big Arrow for Act Two, it's the range where the character encounters obstacles, learns more about reaching their goal, and potentially has some kind of spiritual growth. In action stories, this is where our hero starts finding the simple henchmen of the criminal mastermind he hopes to defeat in Act Three, and one-by-one takes them out, all while working his way up the ladder to the villain's lieutenants, right-hand men, and eventually the boss himself. In a romance, this is where our protagonist develops more elaborate feelings for someone, challenges themselves to become more worthy, and perhaps prove themselves to be better than someone else vying for the same person's affections. In any case, the critical points are personal growth, facing obstacles, overcoming challenges, and if possible, raising the stakes. Is our action hero up against the clock, with a bomb set to destroy downtown Denver if he fails? Will our romantic lead be able to prove themselves before their beloved runs off to romantic Bratislava with someone else? Building tension should always be a part of Act Two (and yes, I paralleled Denver and Bratislava - deal with it.)

The only danger about Act Two is that the challenges and victories can become a kind of, "wash, rinse, repeat" cycle, technically never ending if the challenges just keep on coming. The trials of the hero should always bring them closer to victory, and measurably so, or the reader starts getting bored and the writing turns from a tense build-up of events to BOSH writing (BOSH - Bunch Of Stuff Happens). It short, The Big Arrow needs to hit its target - Act Three. And we should know all about that target from the moment we finish Act One - which will be next week's post.