Chapter 19
Four Dramatica Acts, Three Classical Acts

What is an Act, anyway?

Seems as if everyone has his own definition of what an Act is.  Everyone agrees that an Act is an essential part of a story, but what defines that essential part?  What should go in it?  How does its dramatic tension work?  If everyone has his own set of rules, which sets of rules are useful to all writers?

Aristotle, for starters, gave us the classic Three-Act Structure: Beginning, Middle and End, based on the principle that "all things in the world have a Beginning, a Middle and an End."  Thank you, Mr. Aristotle, but that principle is so universal, so broad and general that it doesn't really help me in my screenwriting.  I mean, where does a story begin?  Aristotle tells us that it is up to the writer.  How does it develop?  That's the writer's work.  How should it end?  Another writer's decision.  So, when we come down to it, Aristotle only tells us how many parts our story has, but doesn't really tells us what happens in them.

(CONTINUED)