And we are finally here! The Third and Final Act of the Three-Act Structure. If you’ve been with us for a while, you know that we have been talking about this structure in some of our last articles.
If you are new to our page, then some introductions are in order: We are Blue Raven Club, we offer useful tips for new writers to help them write the novel they have inside. So, stick around, and we’ll make sure you don’t regret it.
In one of our previous articles, we explained the basics of the Three-Act Structure, which is probably, the most common structure for stories out there. If you haven’t read that article, please go and do it, (it’s linked right here) because you’ll need that information to have a better idea of what we’ll be discussing here.
The Three-Act Structure divides the novel in precisely that: Three Acts (duh):
– First Act: Set up
– Second Act: Confrontation
– Third Act: Resolution
Some weeks ago, we spelled out the details of the the First Act and the Second Act, and now is the turn for the Third and Final Act.
Each one of these acts has a specific objective in molding the story. Today, we are going to get into the specifics of the Third Act of your novel. There are some points in here that we have discussed before, therefore I’ll be linking all related articles, so you can have a complete idea of what this is all about.
The Third Act is the final Act of your novel. It’s the end of the story, where everything you’ve been writing about will finally get a resolution. Done correctly, the Third Act will give your readers the satisfaction of having read a good story, that they and the hero they’ve been following for hundreds of pages have finally gotten what they deserve. Now… what are the elements in it?
The Third Act is composed of the following story beats:
- The Aha! Moment
- Climax
- Final Image
Well, now let’s see what they are all about.
The Aha! Moment
This beat is also known as the Break into Three. But what is it about? Well, if you read our article on how to write the Second Act, you’ll probably remember what was the last beat there. Yes! It was the Dark Night of the Soul. Our hero was very depressed because of very bad things that had just happened to them. They feel down and appalled, only thinking about giving up. Because, as you know, it’s always darkest before dawn. And dawn it’s exactly what we are going to give our hero now.
Then, the Aha! moment, for our hero, is a realization that there’s actually a solution to all their problems. After hitting rock bottom, he’ll figure out a way to get to the surface once more. Maybe some pieces of information he has received at some point of the Second Act (remember the loose ends we talked about before? the unanswered questions?) will somehow ignite something in their brain and, all of a sudden, make sense. They can literally go: Aha! This is the piece I was missing.
As the Aha! Moment is the piece your MC needs to solve their problems, it also works as an impulse to get into action, into the final battle. You can think of the Aha moment as a second Inciting Incident.
If we continue with the example of Mulan, for the Aha! moment, she gets back on the horse (literally) as she realizes she’s still got another chance of stopping the Huns.
The Aha! moment sends the hero right to the real action. It gives us the feeling that the final battle is coming, (just like the winter;) and that they are ready ti fight it.
Climax
For analyzing the climax, we are going to use Blake Snyder’s five-point finale. This finale lay-out is composed, of course, of five points. These five points are:
1. Gathering the team
At this point, you have either seen End Game or have been living under a rock. Well, in End Game, when the final battle is about to start, you can feel the tension building up. Our protagonists are ready to go fight the bad guy one last time, and they do what? Exactly! They gather the team. The good guys start appearing from everywhere. They join forces to defeat evil. That’s exactly what “Gathering forces” is about.
Let your hero go get those supporting characters that have been helping him all along. Get all those distinctive personalitites and sets of abilities together so you get your winning team!
In this point of the story, Mulan goes to her friends and army partners and asks for help to get into the king’s palace. Harry Potter gets Dumbledore’s Army, The Order, teachers and all students willing to fight.
Maybe you don’t have that many people in your story. Maybe, for you, “Gathering the team” is all about your protagonist and important documents with evidence. Or, perhaps, it’s getting the priest ready for an exorcism. Just make sure, you gather all the forces you have in your story and go fight the antagonist, whatever it is.
2. Executing the plan
Now you have all these people, or elements together, ready to take action. What do they do next? Well, just that: Taking action. Have someone, preferably your MC, state what the plan is. Because of course, they are about to get into a really nasty mess. They’d better have something planned or at least, a vague idea of what’s next.
Once the plan is stated, they have to execute it. The have to get into the castle, start looking for the last horcruxes, fight the last survivors in the game… etc.
3. The high tower surprise
Your protagonists are executing their plan… but! Oh-no! Surprise! Something goes wrong. So, all the preparations they had before (if any) are now nothing because the bad guy pulled a last-minute strategy. Of course, you have to make sure that whatever this surprise is, you’ll be pushing your protagonist to the edge in a clever way, pushing them to finally overcome their fault or fears. In here, it must look as of the antagonist is winning.
4. Dig down deep
Well, the bad guy has managed to destroy the hero’s plan. Now the hero is, one more time, hitting rock bottom. He’s been backed down to a corner with no apparent solution to their situation. The objective on this point is to make the reader feel as if there was no solution whatsoever. Defeat must seem inevitable here.
5. Execution of the New Plan
Based on the experiences the MC has had all along the book, everything he’s learned, and maybe using one ability he inadvertedly showed in the first chapters, the hero will come up with a new, clever idea to finally defeat the bad guy. Hopefully, they will do so, while throwing a strong, clever line to the mix.
Remember that when you write your climax, you must pull out all the big guns. Think of an action Hollywood film with cars flying and buildings crumbling down. That’s what you want in here, that’s what your readers want.
Final image
The Final Image Beat is exactly that: The Final Image you want to give your readers once the book is finished. It’s the calm after the storm.
After the major conflict has ended and everything is solved, we just want to wrap things up. And that’s where the Final Image comes in.
Remember, by this point, you shouldn’t have any loose ends, meaning: all questions should be answered, all conflicts should be resolved. Unless… you are writing a series and there’s some mystery left for the next book.
Typically, in here, you could have weddings, or people getting together, people forgiving each other and the like. It’s the “They lived happily ever after” at the end of a Disney Movie. Of course, it doesn’t have to be happy all the time but that’s what we generally get. Now, let’s see some examples:
*Spoiler Alert* for La La Land, Hunger Games and Mulan.
- The Final Image we get at the end of La La Land is the two protagonists carrying on with their lives. She has married, has a baby and is very successful. He, in turn, has accomplished is dream of owning a Jazz club. They are happy, but not together.
- At the end of Hunger Games, we get Peeta and Katniss in their own personal happy ending, they are together, they have kids and Panem is free.
- For its Final Image, Mulan returns home after saving China, she reconciles with her father, and we see her new relationship being born.
Think of your favorite books and movies: What’s their ending like? What Final Image do you get in each case?
Summing Up…
This is our Third Act. The Act that finishes all. As the other two, it can get complicated. But, if we have made a good use of smart strategies to structure our novel, it shouldn’t be a big problem. As you write it, you’ll feel every little detail of your novel rolling down, snowballing, and finally exploding in a big resolution.
Make sure you have a shocking, twisty Aha moment, and that you pull out all your resources to write the climax. Also, be sure to leave everything solved for your Final Image.
Now, you have an idea of how to use the Three-Act Structure. Our advice? Read a lot!! Observe and analyze how others do it in movies, series, books, etc, and apply what you learn and like to your own work.
We’ll soon be bringing you more tips to help you write your book. Our intention is to break down every little piece of a strong structure, so things get easier for you. So… stay tuned!
See you soon!
