The Point of No Return.
I’ve recently been teaching a class on writing picture books, and in doing so I’ve been using the classic, three-act structure in order to explain plot exposition, rising action, and character development.
The three-act structure is not the only way to write a story, and even if it’s used it’s not by any means all that the writer needs.
Indeed, if three-act structure is used it might need to be obscured a little to avoid making a story look too “Hollywood.”
However it seems to me to be a useful tool for teaching non-writers how a story COULD be written, especially with regard to a picture book, where a story must be complete in its own right, with a finite beginning and end point.
In other words a good picture book story cannot begin before its finite beginning and cannot continue after the end point the author has chosen.
With this in mind I’ve been honing in on the first act, usually referred to as the set-up.
The set-up includes an introduction to the main character, the introduction of the central story problem, and the setting.
Underneath these items, the time line of the first act begins with “The Inciting Incident,” and ends with the “Point of No Return.”
The Inciting Incident explains why the protagonist has to deal with the story-problem right now.
The Point of No Return is the moment at which the protagonist is irrevocably committed to confronting the story problem.
Obviously a story can include many Points of No Return, but it is this first Point of No Return that ends the first act and foreshadows the account of the protagonist confronting the problem.
My question is this: The 3 Act Structure is essential to drama, and useful for picture books, but how much mind should novelists pay to it?
In the rigid structure of Hollywood movies the first act ends on page 20 of the film script, or in other words 20 minutes into the movie.
Indeed, if three-act structure is used it might need to be obscured a little to avoid making a story look too “Hollywood.”
However it seems to me to be a useful tool for teaching non-writers how a story COULD be written, especially with regard to a picture book, where a story must be complete in its own right, with a finite beginning and end point.
In other words a good picture book story cannot begin before its finite beginning and cannot continue after the end point the author has chosen.
With this in mind I’ve been honing in on the first act, usually referred to as the set-up.
The set-up includes an introduction to the main character, the introduction of the central story problem, and the setting.
Underneath these items, the time line of the first act begins with “The Inciting Incident,” and ends with the “Point of No Return.”
The Inciting Incident explains why the protagonist has to deal with the story-problem right now.
The Point of No Return is the moment at which the protagonist is irrevocably committed to confronting the story problem.
Obviously a story can include many Points of No Return, but it is this first Point of No Return that ends the first act and foreshadows the account of the protagonist confronting the problem.
My question is this: The 3 Act Structure is essential to drama, and useful for picture books, but how much mind should novelists pay to it?
In the rigid structure of Hollywood movies the first act ends on page 20 of the film script, or in other words 20 minutes into the movie.
For example, the point of no return in Paul Fleischmann’s Whirligig is the car crash.
The point of no return in Karen Hesse’s Out Of The Dust is the accident with the parrafin.
In Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet it’s the fatal heart attack.
All of these points of no return are irrevocable.
None of them are the choice of the protagonist.
But of the 3 examples on Fleischmann’s is in at about the right point in the narrative (Paulsen’s coming early, and Hesse’s coming late).
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