We’re talking writing here, but the terminology is based on movies. An act is actually what’s written between the beats. A group of scenes that make up the story.
Like beats, the number of acts is pretty much determined by genre. Romance, for example, has a basic 3 acts: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl. Simple.
Mysteries have between five and nine acts. Fantasy and drama have a whole lot more.
The pinch points are minor (though necessary) and are therefore contained within the acts.
The number of scenes in an act is entirely dependent on you. But, a good rule of thumb for a three act story is 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. Beginning, middle, end, respectively. Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, same thing.
If you write science fiction or fantasy, the front end of your novel might be packed heavy with world building and such. Your first act might be bigger than the other acts. That’s okay and to be expected.
Here’s an example from my latest book, Sly As A Fox. I use a five-act structure.
Obviously, this is pretty vague (because I really, really want you to read the book). And there are a whole lot more scenes in the book than just these few. But these are the main points.
So, that’s pretty much the basics of Acts. Any questions, hit me up on my FB page: WendyLKoenig.
wendylkoenig.com 