A footpath climbing a long ridge to a summit above a lake

Three-act outline: [Working title]

Genre and length

Protagonist and goal

What they need

Opposing force

Dramatic question

Ending

The spine

Rough positions by word count or page. Plot points one and two are choices, not accidents.

Turning point

Where

What happens

Ch.

Inciting incident

~10%

Plot point one

~25%

Midpoint

~50%

Plot point two

~75%

Climax

85–90%

See an example spine

Dramatic question: Will Nadia get her brother out of the city before the border closes?

Inciting incident: Her brother is arrested at a checkpoint, and the border closes in nine days.
Plot point one: She accepts a smuggler's price: one delivery, no questions asked.
Midpoint: She opens the parcel: it is the evidence that convicted her brother, and she keeps it. She stops running errands and starts making plans.
Plot point two: The smuggler sells her out, and her brother is moved to the border prison.
Climax: At the last open crossing she trades the evidence for her brother, in public, where it can't be buried.

Resolution: They cross together. She can never go back.

What each part does

Inciting incident: the event that disrupts the ordinary world. It happens to the protagonist.
Plot point one: the choice that commits them to the conflict and closes the door behind them.
Pinch points: scenes that show the opposing force's power directly, not just another obstacle.
Midpoint: a revelation, false victory or false defeat that changes the goal or the approach. The protagonist stops reacting and starts acting.
Plot point two: the plan fails, they hit bottom, and face a choice they can't make the old way.
Climax: the confrontation that answers the dramatic question, decided by the protagonist.
Resolution: the new normal, and what the change cost. Echo the opening image if it helps.

Act I: Setup (0–25%)

  • Opening image:

  • Ordinary world:

  • Want and flaw:

  • Hesitation:

Act II: Confrontation (25–75%)

First half: reacting (25–50%)

  • New situation:

  • Allies and enemies:

  • First pinch point:

Second half: acting (50–75%)

  • New plan:

  • Second pinch point:

  • The choice:

Act III: Resolution (75–100%)

  • Regroup:

  • Where the climax happens:

  • The answer, and its price:

  • Resolution:

Subplots

Subplot

Starts

Turns

Resolves

Resolve each subplot before or at the climax.

Before you draft

  • The inciting incident happens to the protagonist, and plot point one is something they choose

  • Each pinch point shows the opposing force itself, not just another obstacle

  • The midpoint changes the goal or the approach, not only the setting

  • At plot point two, things are worse than at the start of the story

  • The protagonist decides the climax, and nobody rescues them

  • The ending answers the dramatic question asked in Act I