Three Act Structure: A Pair of Spanx for Your Novel

By Sheryl Scarborough

If the writer’s closet of useful tools could be likened to Carrie Bradshaw’s fabu walk-in,  masterful accessories such as simile and metaphor would equate to exquisite Louboutin’s and Jimmy Choo’s footwear… exotic word choices would sparkle like Tiffany’s finest… and you would most likely find three-act structure in the drawer labeled: Spanx!

This is my way of saying Three-Act Structure may not be sexy, but once you try it, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. What exactly can Three-act structure do for you? I’m glad you asked.

• Simply organizing the main points of your manuscript into a structured beginning, middle and end will give you a comfortably shaped body of character, narrative and pace.  (Spanx, baby!)
• Three-act structure streamlines the creative process, allowing you to focus on great dialog and important story points, not the organization of them.  (When you’re busy being brilliant who wants to organize?)
• Which part of your story belongs in each act can be defined in enough detail that, once you learn it, you will never forget it.  (Can you just give me the crib version? Yes. Read on!)

There are plenty of whole books, which define Three-Act structure and demonstrate how it works. For the purpose of this blog I’m just going to give you the basics. Three-Act structure is a specific way to balance and pace your story. The breakdown is simple:

Each Act encompasses a certain number of pages. This is the pacing part. Each act also plays a specific role in telling your story. This is the structure part.

In Act 1 the purpose is to introduce your characters and orient your reader to the setting and world you imagine.

Act 2 is where your story develops; this explains why it’s twice as long as Act 1 and Act 3.

Act 3 should be reserved for the exciting climax and conclusion of your story.

Act 1: Think of a Knight on a Quest… 

Act 1 should answer WHO, WHAT, WHEN and WHERE… but not why. It should install your character in his world in a way that quickly orients your reader. Use Act 1 to identify your main character’s problems and introduce us to his friends and foes. Establish his goals and make us care about him.

If you’ve done your job, Act 1 is when your reader develops empathy with your main character. You need for this to happen… don’t blow it. The transition at the end of Act 1 is the point where your character commits to a course of action and your reader settles into her chair and thinks, “okay, here we go.”

Act 2: Facing the Two-Headed Dragon… 

If Act 1 is a Quest, then Act 2 is a series of challenges… sort of like facing a two-headed dragon!  In Act 1 your reader has learned WHO, WHAT, WHEN and WHERE. By the time she reaches Act 2 she wants to know WHY.

In Act-1 your job was to establish your character’s goal.

In Act 2.1, your job is to play keep away with that goal.

Just like in real life, adversity creates character.  The goal of the first half of Act 2 is to throw a series of try/fail obstacles into your character’s path. With each test your character’s commitment becomes apparant. Each time he fails, you deepen his character and reveal more about him… this is how readers find out what he wants and needs and especially how invested he is in his goal.

Not only will your character come alive through these challenges, but as you raise the stakes your reader will become more involved, intrigued and invested in your story.

The length of the trial and error portion of your story is dictated by Three-Act structure. In the first half of Act 2 you are writing toward the mid-point, which is a mere 25% of your total story.

The Mid-point: It Changes Everything…

The Mid-point can be a down moment – the catastrophic end of your character’s goal. Or, it can be an up moment – a moment of shaky success that’s so tenuous and delicate your reader will be worried that this is just one more thing for the main character to lose.

Just remember, the purpose of the Mid-point is that it changes everything.

The Second Half of Act 2: Rebuild the Character’s Goal… 

Depending on your Mid-point you have either destroyed your main character’s goal or you have pushed it to such a pinnacle that it is in jeopardy. In either case, the second half of Act 2 asks “now what” or “what now.” This is where you begin to rebuild your main character’s goal. To keep the reader intrigued you must keep the pressure on your main character. Achieving his goals should be hard and take real grit and determination. This is what keeps a reader in their seat.

You also want to begin to bring your storylines together in the last half of Act 2 so that you won’t crowd the climax and conclusion of your story with loose ends.

The End of Act 2: Your Character’s Darkest Moment

Pull out all the stops and really make this moment count. This is the low point your reader has been worried about for your entire novel. And now you must give it to them. Slam your story down on your main character with all the brutality you can muster and I guarantee your reader won’t be able to stop reading.

If you have built your story to this moment, the hopes and dreams that your reader has for your main character will carry them over the end of Act 2 and straight into the climax and conclusion.  They won’t be able to put down your book.

Act 3: The Unexpected and Long-Anticipated…

“Act 3 begins with the unexpected and ends with the long-anticipated.“ 

                                                            Author, Ridley Pearson

What this means, is as you conclude your story, you want to make the ending as exciting and unexpected as possible… and yet you want to fulfill your promise to the reader and wrap up the story they expected you would tell. In most cases, your main character will achieve a satisfying goal – maybe not the goal he started out with, but one the reader will accept as a good conclusion to your story.

Example: staying with my Knight on a Quest theme, the end of my story should involve rescuing the Princess – or in my case – The Prince.

But don’t forget to keep an element of surprise… your reader will be working with you to create a successful conclusion to your story.

My surprise that my Knight was really my Princess will be all the more delicious to my reader.

Three-Act structure is writing with purpose!

For more information, check out some of these books that do a good job explaining Three-Act structure:

King, Vicki. How to Write a Movie in 21 Days. HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. Print.

McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York: ReganBooks, 1997. Print.

Schmidt, Victoria. Story Structure Architect. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer’s Digest;, 2005. Kindle Edition.

Snyder, Blake. Save the Cat!: the Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need. Studio City, CA: M. Wiese Productions, 2005. Kindle edition.

Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. 3rd ed. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007. Print.

Or, you can write to me at mediasherpa@gmail.com

Sheryl Scarborough learned Three-Act structure during her 20 year stint as an Award-winning writer for children’s television. Now, a recent graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in writing for children and young adults, Sheryl has turned her creative attention on writing young adult mystery/thrillers.

Follow Sheryl on Twitter: @scarabs

Read more by Sheryl on her blog: Sheryl Scarborough Blog

The blog post was brought to you as part of the March Dystropian Madness Series.

Obsessed with Story Structure

Today you’re going to get a glimpse into my own personal kind of crazy. It turns out I’m slightly obsessed with story and novel structure.

Slightly is an understatement.

In fact, I’ve been thinking a lot about story structure lately. Partially because I’m going to be giving my VCFA graduate lecture on the topic in January, but also because I’m in the midst of structuring (or more accurately re-structuring) my current novel-in-progress.

After spending a lot of time this week color coding, cutting, pasting, and outlining, I created (and posted on Facebook and Twitter) the following  structure chart image:

A lot of people who saw this image were both fascinated and confounded. But mostly, they wanted to know what I’d done here and why. So, today’s post is going to be about how I created this chart and what exactly is going on in it.

DISCLAIMER: This process helps me. I’m a visual learner. This is something I’ve developed to help me get a big picture look at my novel. I have no idea if it will be helpful to anyone else. If this all sounds like gibberish to you – then it probably is!

Step One: Write the First Draft

Some people like to think about structure before they begin their novel. If you are one of those people – awesome! I’m not. I usually have no clue where my novel is going and I let my characters take me for a ride to find out. But if you find any of the following good to think about while you write your first draft – fantastic! But don’t worry if you don’t want to think about structure till draft two.

Step Two: Broad Strokes and Color Coding

Once I have a draft, I like to type up the whole novel based on major scenes and events. Because my current WIP is in vignettes, I went a step farther and typed up each vignette. In each strip, I noted four pieces of information. First, the POV of the character (my novel is in dual POV). Second, the title of the vignette so I can find it later when I revise. Third, the location of the scene. And fourth, the major action and/or emotion of the scene.

After I typed all this up I proceeded to add color coding. This included colors for the major plot line, all the sub-plots, flashbacks, each narrator, etc. The amount of colors always depends on the complexity of the book. This book has a lot going on that I wanted to track…hence the thirteen different colors.

Step Three: Cut, Paste, and Re-Arrange

At this point, the process becomes a bit like a craft project. I cut out each vignette strip and played the re-arrange game. I looked for patterns, high points, low points, momentum, pacing, etc. I started to play around with the best way to construct this story. I asked myself questions like: Do I start with flashbacks? When do I get to X-reveal. Is there too much dead time between X-reveal and the midpoint? What can I cut out completely? Etc. This part takes a lot of time for me. I spend hours moving around and re-arranging the pieces.

Step Four: Start Graphing

I got out my graph paper and went to town!

For this structure chart I decided to let one graph-paper square equal one vignette. However, I’ve done this process with a non-vignette novel before, and I used page numbers (i.e. one square equals one page, or five pages, etc.).

There were four things I wanted to look at with my graphs and they were:

Three Act Structure:

This top graph is classic three-act structure.

• Blue = Act One
• Orange = Act Two
• Green = Act Three

The yellow boxes denote major plot points, or moments that shift the energy of the story in an important way. In the text along the top I’ve outlined (roughly) the major beats of The Hero’s Journey structure (i.e. the call to action, threshold, midpoint, crisis, etc.). This particular book doesn’t really fit into three-act/hero’s journey structure nicely, but I was curious to see where the major beats fell.

The Major Relationship:

This second graph is a more accurate image of my novel. It’s a pattern that arose from the novel itself. Since my book is primarily a romance story, I see this chart as the push and pull of that relationship.  The novel is in dual POV, so the pink lines are my female character, and the blue lines are my male character. The red is where the two character’s overlap/interact. This helps me to see the motion and interaction of the major relationship of the story.

Chapters and Flashbacks:

This is my novel broken down chapter by chapter. The red is (again) the interaction between my protagonists. The yellow, however, is flashbacks. This is something I’m struggling with in the novel (when and where do I reveal background information). This allows me to see where the flashbacks are clumped as I move into revision.

Sub-Plots and Secondary Characters:

And lastly, this chart shows subplots and secondary characters. This allows me to see if a character disappears from the story for a hundred pages, or if I introduce a secondary character too late, etc.

Putting it Together…

I drew all four graphs – one above the other – so that I could use the same unit of measurement throughout. This way I can compare the charts to each other. If there’s a lull in the story I can look through the graphs and see why (maybe I’m developing a sub plot, or there’s way too many flashbacks clumped together). I can look at the big picture and see patterns, or pacing, or trouble areas (like it takes way too long to get into act two right now).  Charting like this really helps me to see the current architecture of the draft and what to be aware of when I revise.

Feel free to try this process (and develop it to meet your concerns and needs). You can create a chart for anything and color code based on what you need to pay attention to (action moments, time, dialog, character arch, whatever!). There’s no right or wrong way to do this. It’s just a tool to help see the big picture.

Let me know if you have questions. I realize this may be written in a form of geek-structure-speak that only I can understand, so let me know if there’s anything you want me to clarify. Happy charting!

TO PLOT OR NOT TO PLOT: Part 6 – Defining Story Structure

Be sure to read the first five parts of this essay:

• Part 1: Terminology and the Difference Between Narrative and Story
• Part 2: Taking a Closer Look at Story
• Part 3: Got Plot
• Part 4: Types of Plot
• Part 5: Structure and Looking at the Whole

Defining Story Structure:

What is a story structure? To address this question let’s return to Gardner’s original comments above about non-causally related stories.  We saw how a story can have a structure without a plot:  “novels can be organized… juxtapositionally, when the novel’s parts have symbolic or thematic relationship but no flowing development through cause and effect; or lyrically, that is by some essentially musical principal” (Gardner, 185).  Here we have two types of structure: juxtapositional structure and lyric structure. Let’s add to that non-linear structure which we mentioned above, and while we’re at it consider vignette novel structure. In her lecture on verse and vignette novels, Anindita Basu Sempere states that vignette and verse structure “creates snap-shots of characters lives. They’re layered into a collage and the reader has to link these pieces together into a cohesive story.” She goes on to quote Campbell in saying it’s “more like a wheel, with the hub a compelling emotional event, and the narration referring to this event like spokes, so everything is pointing inward to this one main theme or event” (Campbell, qtd in Sempere). Each of these would be an example of story structure: a way to organize the story events without a plot. Of course one could still add plot into the mix if they wanted. It is altogether possible to have a vignette novel with a plot, or a non-linear story with a plot. However, having a plot is not an exclusive criterion for story structure.

Up Next: Part 7 – Defining Plot Structure

** Full Bibliography will be provided at end of blog-post series.

TO PLOT OR NOT TO PLOT: Part 5 – Structure and Looking at the Whole

Be sure to read the first four parts of this essay:

• Part 1: Terminology and the Difference Between Narrative and Story
• Part 2: Taking a Closer Look at Story
• Part 3: Got Plot
• Part 4: Types of Plot

Structure – Looking at the Whole:

When it comes to talking about structure we need to be careful of our wording. The terms narrative structure, story structure, and plot structure seem to be intertwined and often used interchangeably, but they aren’t the same (as we’ve learned with our previous exploration of terms). First, let’s look at the idea of structure alone. The Random House Dictionary defines structure as: “a mode of building, construction, or organization; arrangement of parts, or elements.” In addition, it says “structure is a complex system considered from the point of view of the whole rather than of any single part.” Here we have the two key elements of structure. First, it’s a mode of arrangement and organization, and second, it takes into consideration the whole. Chea explains that “in examining structure, we look for patterns, for the shape that the story as a whole possesses. Plot directs us to the story in motion, structure to the story at rest”(2).  Meanwhile, film teacher Judy Lewis adds “structure is the term used to describe the organization of the story, including the order in which a story is told.”

When questions of linear vs. non-linear storytelling arise, it’s important to realize that plot is always linear. But non-linear storytelling can still have a plot, but the non-linear organization is a choice of structure. Ultimately, in a non-linear story the reader will piece together the plot to create the chronological relationships, as Lisa Cowgill states in her essay on non-linear narratives:

The unconventional structure doesn’t mean audiences understand film in a new way. Viewers understand by making cause-and-effect connections between the scenes. Each beat of information must relate to what comes before and after, even if a scene transcends the chronological order of time. In nonlinear films, relationships created between the various time segments form a specific meaning when taken all together.

Additionally, choices of organization and structure also have to do with authorial intent. “Structure is important for another reason: It provides a clue to a story’s meaning… paying attention to repeated elements and recurrent details … repetition signals important connections and relationships in the story” (Chea). After all, why would someone choose to tell a story out of sequence if not to lead the reader to make a connection between the scenes?  Therefore structure is form (choices of organization, patterns) with specific intent (meaning) that can be observed as part of the whole.

Structure as authorial intent can also be taken a step further to reveal audience manipulation.  Structural choices, as editor Cheryl Klein points out, is “the author orchestrating the emotion.” Author An Na refers to this emotional base as the root-line in her lecture on structuring stories. She elaborates:

It’s all that darker deeper stuff that works emotionally and unconsciously on the reader … I’m really talking about emotions. When I think about my root-line, it’s about what emotions I want to elicit from the reader. What is the story about at the heart? The root-line really comes from this other place, from the choices that we make in terms of structure and it should heighten the story to another level in an unconscious way.

As such, structures related to narrative should not be arbitrary, instead they should be created with audience emotion in mind, and that emotion should inform the choice of structure.

Now that we have an overview of structure,  let’s break it down to be more specific.

Up Next: Part 6 – Defining Story Structure

** Full Bibliography will be provided at end of blog-post series.

TO PLOT OR NOT TO PLOT: Part 1 – Terminology and the Difference between Narrative and Story

I often find the terms Narrative, Story, Plot, and Structure to be used interchangeably (on blogs, in articles, tweeted, and talked about), and personally, much confusion has ensued as a result. The following is an adaption of a critical essay I wrote during my past term at the Vermont College of Fine Art. My goal was to clarify each of these terms in order to feel empowered by the vocabulary and the craft concepts rather than confused. Hopefully this series will help others who find the concepts confusing as well. The series is a little long and best read in-sequence.  Enjoy!

To Plot or Not to Plot: Plodding Our Way Through the Terminology     (Defining the difference between Narrative, Story, Plot, and Structure).

At some point every writer is going to have to wade his or her way through plot and structure. Not to worry, information on these not-so-tiny topics is plentiful. It’s so abundant, in fact, as to be absolutely mind-numbing; particularly so when it come to the plethora of terminology. Is narrative structure and plot structure the same thing? The terms seem to be used interchangeably, but are they really? What if a writing teacher says “there’s no story”? Do they really mean there’s no plot, or is the structure the problem? The goal of this essay is to investigate the fundamental differences between the terms of narrative, story, plot, and structure, to help the writer obtain the proper vocabulary in discussing his or her craft, and to realize the options available. As Mark Twain so famously advised with writing: “the difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter, it’s the difference between the lightening bug and the lightning,” so too should we writers and educators discuss terminology with care. For the difference between narrative, story, plot and structure can be just as vast.

What the *bleep* is Narrative? Defining the difference between Narrative and Story:

When we talk about any form of storytelling, be it the written word, fine art, film or interpretive dance, the term narrative always shows up. Unfortunately this may be the hardest of all the terms to define because it’s the most elusive. The Random House Dictionary defines a narrative as “a story or account of events, experiences, or the like (true or fictitious).” This definition of a narrative is slightly misleading, as it directly states that narrative is a story, implying the words are interchangeable. But are they really? “E.M. Forester defines story as the chronological sequence of events” (Basics of English Studies), and with this definition gives the following example of a story: “The King died and then the Queen died.” If we look at the statement “The King died” alone we have a single event, an incident. There is no story until a second event is introduced: “the Queen died.” Therefore, at its base, a story is a sequence of at least two events. Is this also a narrative? Absolutely, everyone would agree that this is an example of a narrative story. The questions start to arise when we look at narratives that are not stories, which is where the elusive quality of the word hides.

Taking a look at fine art one encounters the term narrative art. A good example of narrative art would be Leonardo DaVinci’s The Last Supper. In the painting one sees an image of a single event (see figure 1). The event itself is not a story. It’s a moment trapped in time. The word narrative is associated with this type of painting because it depicts a moment within a larger story, and the viewer is able to draw upon the story he or she already knows when viewing the work. These artworks are considered narrative because they recall a story through association. Herein lies the truth of narrative, it can be a story but it does not have to be. A narrative is about story, and creates connections to story and storytelling but does not in and of itself have to be a story.

Another example of a narrative without a story would be a photo collage. Each photograph in a collage is of a separate event, moment, or object (which is not an event at all). However, the juxtaposition of images can spark a narrative relationship in the viewer’s mind. In figure 2, I’ve arranged a series of four random photos which have no initial connection with one another. However, a viewer may make connections between these images. For example one might begin to piece together a story about a girl who lives with her father in Florida and plays the piano. There is no sequence of events, thus no story. However the viewer begins to create a story by connecting these images in his or her mind, and that story (if one sees a story at all) will be different for each viewer. Hence the word narrative is applied to show that there is a tendency toward story, an implication, but no story is actually present. In the realm of literature it’s also possible to have a narrative without a story. Scenes or vignettes that create a collage of emotions would be a narrative, but not necessarily a story. Many poems, for example, would fall under this category. Therefore a story requires a sequence of events, but a narrative simply requires an implication or reference to story events without those events actually happening.

So now we know what Narrative is! But what exactly is story?

Up Next: Part 2 -Taking a Closer Look at Story

** Full Bibliography will be provided at end of blog-post series.

To Plot or Not to Plot?

Three Act Structure (from http://www.themoleskin.com)

I’m currently working on an essay on the differences between narrative, story, plot, and structure. I promise to share all of my findings in the near future, including all sorts of graphs and alternative plot structures than the good old Aristotelian model.

In my research, however, I came across a transcript from a lecture given by Scholastic Editor Cheryl Klein. If you are a little fuzzy on what Aristotelian plot is and how it manifests itself in YA and MG literature, I highly suggest checking out the links below. It covers all sorts of great topics including types of action plot, emotional plot, catharsis, and structure. It also uses great examples from YA and MG books! Don’t miss it! And it’s a great “brush up” if you already know about Aristotelian structure/plot.

Find the Transcript of Scholastic Editor Cheryl Klein’s Lecture Here: The Essentials of Plot  and Aristotelian Plot Checklist

What You Don’t Know

In a recent post about my first VCFA residency I mentioned how it was an eye opening experience. I thought I’d take a moment to elaborate on what exactly I meant.

While at residency I realized I’ve been sitting in a room with my writing. When I write I’m facing the corner of “what I know.” That doesn’t seem unnatural, obviously we are all writing with the tools we have, but what I didn’t realize is that there was a whole room behind me.  Prior to attending The Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) I’d reached a plateau in my work. I’d pushed my novel as far as I knew how and it still wasn’t ready. I was frustrated! Of course I was, I was trying to pound a square peg into a round hole.  I thought the round hole was the only option, who knew a square hole might exist?

Let me get specific for a moment. My particular corner is screenwriting. I have a degree in screenwriting and it’s how I first learned to construct character and

Screenwriting Structure

story. As a screenwriter there’s a very specific formula (round hole) with which you tell a story. There are rigid rules that include specific page numbers in which events must happen. It’s true I can take any movie and tell you within five minutes where the inciting incident will be, the first plot point, the climax, etc.  (Don’t believe me? Check out this site: Screenplay Mastery) This formula has been helpful in understanding structure, and as a screenwriter its essential. But as a novelist,

Freytag's Pyramid

I didn’t realize I’d trained myself to see only one type of structure. I didn’t realize how desperately I was trying to force my story into one line of thought.  Who knew there were other structures past Aristotle’s Dramatic Structure? Who knew we could push past the classic “climbing the mountain and overcoming of obstacles” plot line we see over and over (which actually has official names like Fichtean Curve and Freytag’s Pyramid)? There are in fact other ways to construct structure and plot including: vignettes, picaresque plots, argumentative plot, allegory, intellectual structures, expressionism, surreal fiction, and metafiction.  And who knew that the traditional (and celebrated) Hero’s Journey is a primarily patriarchal concept of story structure. Could it be true that women can enjoy a different plot structure and have different goals when reading than the overcoming of obstacles?

I didn’t know any of this.

Yes, it’s true that in terms of structure the use of a sequence of causally related events is the most common. Myths and Hollywood have been using them for years! I’m not saying it isn’t useful or we can’t use it. But my personal revelation is that not every story must fall into that structure. In fact, maybe a story needs to be told with a different structure. Just because something is popular, doesn’t mean it’s the only way to get it done. Personally, I’ve been struggling with structure for awhile because I thought there was only one way to skin a cat.

Turns out I’m wrong!

At every conference, agents and editors tell aspiring writers to work on craft. For a long time hearing this felt like a dead end. Craft, was such an ambiguous word to me that I didn’t even know where to being. But in truth, now that I’ve begun to see what areas of craft I can (and should) work on, I’m starting to agree.  Craft may be the only thing I can affect. I can’t control the market, after all, but I can control my own ability to tell story.

Story structure was just the tip of the iceberg for me, a humbling and inspiring iceberg! As I hack away at that iceberg, I’m going to post tidbits of what I’m learning here on the blog, and hopefully it will spark something for you as well. I know it’s already February and we’ve all forgotten our new year’s resolutions, but maybe a good one to think about is pushing ourselves to look at the rest of the room, at what’s behind us, at what we don’t know.

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain

Harry Potter Star Wars

In a galaxy far, far away… (or while browsing through the internet), I discovered that Harry Potter is really Star Wars in disguise! Get out your lightsaber or your wizard wand and get ready to battle, because I think it’s time for a show down. Of course, what I’m really talking about here is the Hero’s Journey, and Harry Potter and Star Wars both follow it to a T.

While I was researching story structure this week, I came across the following (hilarious and insightful) image that shows just how similar Harry Potter and Star Wars really are. And I couldn’t help but share:

The above image comes from the 510 Stage Hero’s Journey website, and includes half a dozen more examples of how one story is almost identical to another! So go check it out!

If you aren’t familiar with the Hero’s Journey, in addition to checking out the website link above, I would also suggest reading:

• The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
• The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher E. Vogler

A Crash Course in Screenplay Story Structure

Do you struggle with story structure? Do you need a refresher in plot or visual storytelling? Do you live in Southern California? Then you need to attend screenwriter/producer/teacher-extraordinaire Patty Meyer’s Crash Course in Story Structure!

“Structure is the key to effective screenwriting.  There is no substitute for it.  To tell a story in this most challenging visual storytelling medium, you need to build it brick by brick.  In my class you will build your screenplay structure so that you can move forward and write the script of your dreams.” – Patricia Meyer

Outlining Your Feature Screenplay: A Crash Course in Screenplay Story Structure

Instructor: Patricia Meyer

First Class Begins on Sunday, September 12th

Register Now at  www.vidiotsannex.com

Why should you attend this workshop? Patty Meyer was my [Ingrid's] instructor and thesis adviser in graduate school and she is one of the most influential teachers in my writing life. The knowledge and expertise that she shared with me created the foundation with which I build all of my stories (screenplays and novels). She is a hands-on teacher, who cares about each student’s individual project and success. A master of her craft, Patty holds the keys to unlock your frustrations and help build (or re-build) your story in a way you never thought possible.  She’s frackin’ awesome!

What are you doing standing there! You know you want to sign up!

Coupon: Take 15% off if you are a Vidiots Member or KCRW member using “VM” or “KCRW” Discount Codes.

Patricia  Meyer has been a Senior Lecturer in Screenwriting at the AFI Conservatory for the past five years and for the past 20 years, she has had a diverse career as a motion picture and television screenwriter and producer. With her passion for dark comedic true crime stories, she has had the privilege of writing numerous screenplays for Martin Scorsese, Harry and Mary Jane Ufland, Brillstein-Grey and Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Productions.