: Re: My first act is lengthy. And I cannot shorten it. Any Suggestions? After the great amount of encouragement that you all gave me here, you'd be happy to know that I finally started writing

@Debbie451

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Quit bean-counting.

Finish the novel and then go back and worry about whether the first act works. Methods for structuring a story are guides, not laws. The novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is 850 pages. I remember vividly that the first six hundred were a complete slog, and then suddenly something happened and the last 200-odd pages went like a shot. That worked for that book. Who knows what will work for yours?

Put the entire story together, set it aside, and then go back and look at it with fresh eyes. If your first act is the right length, stop worrying. There will be other things to fix.

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