An Overview of Act II in Four-Act Story Structure
Deep Dive on Four-Act Story Structure Part 4 of 10
We are rolling right along as we cover the four-act story structure—a twin of the three-act, just more bite-sized, which is why I like it. Here’s a quick reference PDF if you would like to download it.
The four-act structure makes the book’s lengthiest part (Act Two in a three-act structure) more manageable because it breaks it into two sections.
The first section, which we will refer to as our Act II, spans from the 25% mark to the midpoint or 50% mark. Here, the character reacts to the consequences of their decision to enter the new world and fully engages with the plot and conflict.
What happens in the Second Act of Four-Act Story Structure:
Our protagonist struggles to come to grips with new information, possibly new relationships, or relationships that have taken on a new meaning. They are swimming upstream, and the water is choppy. There may or may not be sharks. There are probably sharks. Even though things are tough and a lot of internal processing is going on, they are still actively pursuing their goal, which is not pretty. They fail—a lot.
They continue acting from their false beliefs, flaws, and fears and don’t have the emotional or physical skills to conquer the main story problem yet. They may not even be completely aware of the main story problem, but they are learning, which is the point.
You want to continue to put increasingly tricky obstacles in their way that challenge them to grow internally and externally. Though they will fail more than they win, the knowledge gained via those failures will teach them powerful lessons that will help them in the ultimate battle.
The goal of the second act is to help the character grow, often in the most painful way possible.
If you think about it, their journey is not much different from yours or mine when we set a goal that requires us to learn new skills. It’s going to be messy at first. We will stumble, probably embarrass ourselves on some level, dust ourselves off, recommit, and go again until we learn enough to become proficient or better.
That is your character’s experience between the book’s 25% to 50% marks.
Here’s a quick list of specifics about Act Two in Four-Act Story Structure: 25-50%
Officially, it begins after our protagonist leaves their known world, physically or metaphorically.
We witness the character coming to grips with a new reality.
The plot expands via new events.
Stakes are reinforced. (We will talk more about how in the following article when we cover pinch points.)
New characters are introduced, or known characters get a new role. Often, this is where the mentor or lesson character is introduced. And thank goodness because our poor protagonist could use some help even if they don’t like it.
For example, in Shrek, the mentor is Donkey. In the Hunger Games, it’s Haymitch. In Finding Nemo, it’s Dory. In Romance, it might be the best friend, a wise person the protagonist respects, or the love interest.
Critical Takeaways for Crafting The Second Act In Four-Act Story Structure:
Remember, your character may be reacting to their decision to jump into the unknown, but they are still proactively seeking their goal.
They are going to have questions. It will be uncomfortable for them. Keep making them face challenges. It’s okay to give them help. Keep their character arc in mind. They are still firmly invested in their false belief and acting from a place of fear and flawed thinking, so deepen our understanding of what they want internally by playing up that flawed thinking.
In the next blog post, we will discuss the first pinch point, which happens in the middle of Act Two, about the 37% mark. But, for now, think of it as the moment the antagonist force of the story reminds us of the stakes for our protagonist.
