: Re: What are the acts of a story? I'm interested in the elements of how a good story is compiled. When in high school, I was exposed to Shakespeare plays where the stories were divided into

@Berumen699

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Short answer, there are no standards.

Long answer, it depends on what you're writing. A typical TV show or movie is a three-act structure (generally separated by commercial breaks in the former case). Since all stories will feature dynamic characters, these acts are generally structured so that the first act establishes the setting (who are the players, what are their relations, what is the world like). The second act introduces the conflict... the impetus of the story that will cause the protagonists to react. The third act is a combination of the climax and the falling actions (the resolution of the conflict and the aftermath of that resolution).

In a novel or a serial story, these look like economic graphs, showing the rise and fall of the action. In its simplest application, a story must net at an improved location at falling actions, but not have as much dynamic change as the build-up to the resolution (which is the highest point in a series). The serial or novel can afford to start at a higher point and resolve to a lower point, provided that new low point will be given a correction upward (for example, one can argue that the end of The Empire Strikes Back is a low point for the protagonists compared to the beginning of itself or even of A New Hope, but that the end of Return of the Jedi still leaves all protagonists at a much better place than than any point in the entire film or six films that precede it story wise (All the heroes are reunited, the Empire is defeated and democracy is restored, Vader is repented and has seen the light, Jar Jar Binks is nowhere to be seen, everyone lives happily ever after)). Again, it's not always the case. Breaking Bad, for example was a series of progressive descent and all protagonists, despite beating the antagonists, are in a worse place than in the very first episode. This is acceptable because the whole point was the tragic nature of Walter's quest for his family's security being the very thing that destroys them all.

Even simpler, the three-act structure is merely to delineate a beginning, middle, and end, to a story. They are easy to do in stage plays and scripts that have out-of-story information for the setting and the required participants for each scene in that stage. Novels, serials, and final products of TV shows rarely show this to the intended audience and barring obvious act breaks (a sudden revelation that changes the nature of events in the story, with an intermission or pause in the action, or teasing information that will resolve in a sequel story) they are best not noticed by the consumer of the story. They would better serve the behind-the-scenes creation (when is the right time to address this prop, or show this bit of information) than assisting in enjoying the end result.

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