Confronting Act Two

How to Confront the Second Act so the Middle Doesn’t Sag

Ready to confront your fears of being stuck in the middle. If you think of the middle of a story as a series of try-fail cycles, it can make it a bit clearer as well as more exciting! A Try-Fail Cycle has three parts: Growth, Setback, and Regroup.

Previously, we created a sketch of Act One in our tale. We got to know our main character and we started to care about them because we made them empathetic. When a reader empathizes with a fictional character, they come to care about their goals as though they’re real. We began to respect our character even more because they made a Plan and went after that goal, regardless of whether it was a Need or Want. They were determined to gain it. And then you, being the string pulling Puppet Master that you are, threw a wrench in those plans.

In the middle of the story, the hero/heroine must confront many obstacles which will test their skill and their resolve. You are going to throw more than one obstacle at them. The amount and difficulty of obstacles depend on the length of the story. They’ll face false victories and setbacks and likely have to regroup once or twice before advancing the cause.

But let’s first deal with the last obstacle you threw at them at the end of Act One.

At the start of Act Two, it's time to watch your character react to the outcome of facing their first obstacle. You’ll need to have a Growth scene after the main character faces that first obstacle.

After the impact of the obstacle hits them, the hero typically has two options. They may have thought they advanced, but soon come face to face with unintended consequences. This kind of setback is better known as a False Victory. Or they barely catch their breath before facing a Major Setback when another obstacle hits them.

These reactions (Growth) and actions (Setback) can be positive or negative. If your character seemingly breezed past that obstacle like Jay Z brushing off his shoulder, they would take a moment to cheer (Positive Growth) and move forward (False Victory). On the other hand, if your character went up against the obstacle and got knocked down (Negative Growth) then they might be rethinking this whole plan and even considering quitting(Major Setback).

Remember that conversation we had way back in Act One about needs and wants? Here is where your hero figures out if their goal is truly want they need and they proceed with gusto. Or they may realize this had been a want and the goal changes to the true need. This is the Regroup Scene. Either a new plan is going to be formulated from a Want into a Need. Or the hero is going to take another go at the Want, resulting in a new Try-Fail Cycle which send them back to a new Obstacle, scene of Growth, then a Setback and a new Regroup.

This cycle continues until your hero comes face to face with with major Confrontation. The Confrontation is the final obstacle that your hero will face before getting out of Act Two and onto the Resolution scenes of Act Three.

Decide how many times and how many ways your protagonist needs to hit their head against the wall before the Get It. Then meet me back here so we can resolve this mess that they’re in for Act Three!