A revision of the picture in: Three Act Structure

The picture in Three-Act Structure is quite illustrative, but there's something I disagree with. Maybe I'm understanding this wrong; if that's the case, please note it to me so that I can facepalm properly at my stupidity and leave the topic alone.

According to the first paragraph, the point of this structure is that the narrative is organized in three blocks, with plot-points that separate each act. So far so good, right?

However, the article doesn't say that the Plot Point #2 and the Climax have to be necessarily one and the same. In fact, from what I can read in the article, the climax isn't usually the beginning of Act Three. So the image doesn't match up the description. Given that I've seen works that follow the three act structure and have the second turning point as something quite different from the climax, I believe the image should be changed to fit the description.

In short, I'm proposing changing the current picture◊ for this one◊.

Thoughts?

edited 25th Dec '11 6:24:21 PM by Tropulastic

Works for me.

Looks good to me, nice catch there.

Actually, I think 'reversal' would be the better label for what is now 'midpoint.'

The smileys there are kinda low-quality.

The article already uses "reversal" for the important plot points, so I'd look for a better word to replace Midpoint.

Surely we have a trope for that point of the story, right? The point where it looks like the heroes are winning, but ultimately fail and things go downhill from there until the next plot point?

edited 25th Dec '11 7:53:22 PM by Tropulastic

Yeah, those really do look bad.

Your Princess Is in Another Castle!?

edited 25th Dec '11 7:54:43 PM by Firebert

...and "Incitement" for "Inciting Incident"?

1) Then they are all one word (Incitement-Conflict-Climax), and 2) "incident" is unnecessary/wrong, could be something else, say discovery.

edited 25th Dec '11 7:56:18 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Would something like this be better?◊

I like having emotion in the smilies.

While we're at it, there's a gazillion of similar graphs, if we want to adopt some elements.

Then perhaps with higher-res smilies?

Just clean up the borders of those smilies and they're fine.

Better?◊

While I was at it, I incorporated some more terms from the zillions of diagrams out there about this concept. Should we add something more, or is it okay the way it is now?

Well now let me see... Hmm, I think "denouement" is better than "descending action".

But wait, according to some boffin, it's:

1. Exposition or Introduction
2. Rising action
3. Climax + Falling action + Dénouement/resolution/catastrophe

Sure, we can change Descending Action for Falling Action. Not very sure if the dénouement will fit very well in the diagram, but we can try.

Like this?◊

Should be "climax and resolution" I think. Other than that, that looks pretty sharp.

I prefer "setback" to "reversal", personally. Mostly because the midpoint can be a stall or a situation that diverts the progress toward the goal, but isn't always a reversal.

From what I gather from our article on Three-Act Structure, the Resolution is the name of the entire act three, which includes The Climax and Dénouement. As in, they're different parts of a whole.

Setback has been added as the label for what was called Midpoint before.

How is this for a final version?◊

Looks good. Support.

Yup. Best one on the 'net.

Okay. So... how does the validation process work now?

Just put it up.

Done.

Locking up. That one does look good. Thanks for doing the tweaking.

edited 26th Dec '11 11:58:53 AM by Madrugada