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One of Aristotle’s theories; that has proven invaluable over time is the Three Act Structure. In it, he defined a story as having three sections or acts: a beginning, middle, and an end. The structure is about as basic as you can get, but it represents the cleanest linear way to tell a story. Each act must represent actions that drive the characters through an event.

The Roman poet Horace is credited with modifying the Three Act Structure in his work Ars Poetica (18 BC) to include two more acts, the additions being Rising Action and Falling Action. These plot points were added to further clarify the action. This creates the Five Act Structure.

The Five Act Structure

 Act 1: Exposition | Beginning

 Act 2: Rising Action| Plot Point 1

 Act 3: Climax | Middle

 Act 4: Falling Action| Plot Point 2

 Act 5: Denouement | Ending

Act 1: Exposition | Beginning

In the first act, the setting, characters, and pace must be explained. If a premise is used for a story, this is the time to formulate it. A premise is simply a purpose or overall message you are trying to convey. This act establishes your world; therefore, you want to grab the reader’s attention early so you can hold it all the way through. Missteps in the first act of any story can push your audience into the, “I don’t care what happens to the characters,” zone.

There must be a balance between description and dialogue. If you get too hung up on describing the setting, your character development suffers. If you use too much dialogue, the audience can lose track of setting details. A great first act should introduce the main characters of the story. Whether they are introduced as a group, individually, or by chapter is up to you, but the main core of characters should be introduced here. One of the biggest downfalls at the onset is under developing characters or simply introducing too many at once.

Setting and pace are two additional features that are critical to the first act. The setting can change, and depending on how much of your world you plan to introduce to your audience, you should have a good idea how much detail on setting you should add.

You should also be conscious of the pace of the story from the start. Whatever pace or overall speed you decide to create for your story must be consistent. Some stories open up with great action, then get slower as time goes on, only to fizzle out at the end. On the flip side, some stories take forever to get started, then do pick up speed later to a great climax, but you may have lost your audience by then. Keep the pace; if a scene or chapter feels too slow, add dialogue or describe a point of interest.

The end of the first act will do so with a point of no return event for the characters. This event should be enough to naturally keep the audience wanting more. The event also needs to ask a few questions of the stories characters. What exactly was the event and how many main characters were affected? Why did this event take place? Was it part of some bigger plot and if so, who or what is ultimately behind it? How do the characters feel about this emotionally? Can they learn something from this event? Are the characters for it or against it?

These questions can start to be answered as soon as the second act begins. Each major twist should spawn similar questions. If the questions are left unanswered, the plot points may be too weak to stand alone. Too many questions left unanswered will frustrate your audience. You do not want to get in a situation where the audience is nearing the end of your story, but still thinking about unresolved issues from the beginning.

Great stories will answer the why things happened questions rather than focus on what happened questions, especially in mystery stories or any mystery that is implied, for that matter. Audiences will expect these questions to be answered by the end of the story. Taking a, “Some questions are best left unanswered,” stance is truly a storyteller cop out if a mystery is implied. Audiences will think you could not come up with anything and the story has a greater chance of failing.

Keep track of the ongoing questions in your story and answer them by the end of the story or series, if sequels are to be made.

By the end of the first act, the main characters and subplot characters should be easily identifiable. You should already know what all these characters have to do next as a result of the point of no return event. The narrative voice (whose point of view the audience should be following) also needs to be clearly established.

Act 2: Rising Action | Plot Point 1

The second act represents a point of no return for the main characters. This point of no return generally takes the form of a struggle that may be physical; or emotional. Classic narrative conflicts including: Man vs. Man, Nature, Himself, God, Woman, or Society describe plot points, for examples. It will involve some kind of action that drives the plot forward. It is an act that would not allow the main characters to go back to how things were before the event. The rising action should allow the characters to move forward, but not allow them to go back to how things were, necessarily.

The second act is also where the storyteller needs to define sympathy for the character. Often the point of no return event will make the audience feel sorry for the character, but that does not mean they are hooked. The point of no return is a call to action for the heroes. He reaches a point of no return situation where he is either forced to act or simply does so out of duty. The villains, who may or may not have had a hand in the event, will look for opportunities to exploit or use it for their own gain.

The transition into the third act begins when the hero and his supporting characters respond to point of no return event.

Act 3: Climax | Middle

The third act is where empathy needs to be established, or the story will have a hard time impressing an audience. Most of the time, this is where good stories completely tank because there is no empathy created. Storytellers will keep up the level of misfortune and sympathy for the characters as more bad things happen to them, but fail to let the characters evolve from the hardships. A character simply reacting to one obstacle after another without continued development from it will not create empathy. As an audience, we might feel sorry for the characters, but if they are not easy to identify with, people will not care what happens to them.

To be a truly great timeless story, you must make the audience fall in love with your characters. If the characters change drastically, or unrealistic situations occur (the storyteller breaks his own rules of the universe he creates), then limited character development can occur. Each time there is a major event or conversation between characters, information about the setting or characters should be revealed.

The bulk of the third act will be the ongoing conflict and main battles of the hero and villain. The back and forth of differences and points of view are important to reaffirm. The motivations for the heroes and villains must also constantly be evaluated. Has anything changed in their lines of thinking? Are they maintaining their stance on the matter or does something change their motivations? It is also important that any loose ends start to get wrapped up. Characters should start following a natural progression towards their closing arcs. Outstanding questions should also be answered.

What the characters think, feel, and how they are changing on a personal level is what the third act should emphasize. The transition into the fourth act begins with the second point of no return point and their journey towards a final resolution.

Act 4: Falling Action | Plot Point 2

The fourth act is the second point of no return event for the hero story arc. The hero might seem lost or defeated, only to find the inner strength or some other plot device to rebound back into action. It is also the point of catharsis for the hero that represents inner change. The empathy can be achieved this way. If the characters change is honest, consistent with the rest of their story arc, and builds naturally from sympathy, their chances of being empathic to an audience will be high. This will translate into believable characters, which is what you should strive for as a storyteller.

Falling action, in this case, is all about the aftermath of what has happened up till now in a story. Is there a death of a main character to be dealt with? Is the world changed in some way because of the event that happened? This is also the section of a story to think about whether there will be some kind of sequel to this story. Or will there be a spin off story later with any of your main characters?

Setting that up in this act will save you a lot of trouble as you flesh out the end. A common pitfall of storytelling, hard as it is to believe, is how and when, exactly, to end it. If there is a main conflict and the villain dies, then what? Is the death of the villain the end or is there a new adversary introduced to take his or her place?

In a way, the falling action act should mirror the first act. The fourth act should reaffirm the current setting, and touch base with how the main event affects the characters. If the characters are minor, simple conflicts should be resolved. For major characters, their struggles and their aftermath should take center stage.

By the end of this act, there should be a clear vision about what the characters want for their own end. In other words, the characters should have a sense of how they want the rest of their life to go. No big reveals or reversal of fortunes have to take place once the hero is at peace with what he/she has to do. Any loose ends you do not plan to continue with a sequel should be wrapped up.

The transition to the fifth act takes place when the main villain is defeated and any heroes remaining get their bearings.

Act 5: Denouement | Ending

In the fifth act, the major conflicts will have been resolved. This act is more about cleanup than anything else. Are all of your characters where they want to be? Have any loose ends been tied up? The main heroes of the story should be at peace with the choices they have made during their saga.

Reactions from supporting characters witnessing these events in the story should be heard, along with a final summary of what happened and why it was important, if a moral lesson has been done. If you had an overall premise in the first act, then this is the time to drive the point home. A great story does not always need a moral thread or lesson. Sometimes, just being consistent and having well loved characters is enough.

If a sequel is planned, you will need to think about your next point of no return moment. Did the villain survive or did they escape to live another day? Has this been explained? Do the remaining hero characters know about this? The characters will need to be at peace with where they are before this happens. If you plan to continue the story as an immediate follow up, the next point of no return moment will be your cliffhanger just before your current story ends and your next story continues those events. At that point, you are back to the first act for the beginning of your second story.

The Five Act Structure, while ancient, will always remain an effective blueprint from which to build a story. Acts help to break up the story into more digestible portions, giving weight and purpose to what characters should be doing. While Poetics by Aristotle and Ars Poetica by Horace excelled in what makes a great play, there was no way they could foresee the changes that would come to change storytelling forever.

The English Poet William Shakespeare used the Five Act Structure for all of his plays. Those plays are some of the most celebrated in literature and add to the Five Act Structure’s merit as a storytelling tool. Out of the confines of a play, however; the old ways begin to break down. The Five Act Structure remains the base, but how to fill those acts to form a great story and present it to an audience continues to evolve. Going forward, we move further from concepts began by the early Greeks and into modern storytelling.