Hey writing frens - I have a question and I need some advice. I've outlined a new short story, and I sort of like it ...but I think it's missing something Act 1 introduced the characters and presents a mystery. Act 2 is a procedural: they solve the mystery & enter inner sanctum
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3/ where "nature" = "ignorance of what's going on" and that's fine ... but, again, the resolution is not super exciting if you've already read FS2. so I'm trying to figure out the problem in structural terms. One stab at it is "this is a 4 act structure, I've got 1 and 2A >>
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4/ ...but not 2B or 3". We've got the Hero with a Thousand Faces "gathering of the team".
@LibertyFarmNH put her finger on it "it sounds like that one terrible Robin Hood movie where the movie wraps with the title card 'and now the adventure begins'"Show this thread -
6/ i.e. "so why not tell me the story, and cut all this intro crap?" I see three possible solutions: 1) keep act 1 and act 2A, and now define act 2B - a new conflict - of about the same size as act 2A 2) realize that this ENTIRE thing is just act 1, and write a big story >>
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7/ 3) decide that this is what Elmore Leonard would call "the parts that people skip over", and thus cut it all I don't like #3, because I find the mystery and the procedural fun. I dislike 2, because it implies writing a LARGE story and I want to keep this small and light.
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8/ ...so I'm leaning towards option 1: write an act 2B - a kind of separate adventure. ...but I'm not 100% sure that that's right. Thoughts
@JASutherlandBks@AetherCzar@robkroese@NerdKing52@BrianNiemeier@MorgonAuthor ? (please feel free to tag in others I missed)Show this thread -
9/ Great advice from
@JASutherlandBks and@KarlKGallagher , and great conversation with@LibertyFarmNH over dinner. * some stories are short and simple * I need more characterization of the two protagonists, and a bit of arc for them * I need a bit of thematic unity in act 3Show this thread
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Go RL Stine? All stories have a beginning, the middle, and the twist?
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Solving the mystery is a story. Type "END" and move on to the next story. Possibly with a few paragraphs of coda. Some stories are novellas, some are short, some are flash.
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Great advice! I think you're right. Thanks, Karl!
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One possibility is introduce a villain who gets in the way in act 1 or early in act 2, and at end of act 2 set him up as the heroes' target in act 3.
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