Activity

Good morning, Avensers!

Apologies that this is so late. I really meant to do it yesterday, but had dinner guests which meant cooking and cleaning and both took a lot longer than I expected. But here we are now and I’ve got the first topic of the year.

Second Act

The second act comprises roughly 50% of the book. This is where most of your character’s growth and struggle will take place. It is super important to have your main characters introduced before this point so your readers can relate to them.

Toward the beginning of the second act, the characters should react promptly and strongly to the first plot point (see previous topic for more about this). In Pride and Prejudice, this would be when the Bennett’s react to the Bingley’s and Darcy’s abrupt departure.

First Pinch Point – this is toward the end of the first half of the send act and is where the antagonist is given a chance to shine. It raises the stakes and foreshadows the Climax. An example of this in Pride and Prejudice is when Jane visits her aunt in London and Lizzy goes to visit Charlotte.

Midpoint – this happens halfway through the second act and is where everything changes yet again. This midpoint keeps the second act from dragging. There is also a second inciting incident (see the first one in the previous topic), but the difference is that the MC begins to take charge rather than simply react. For example, Mr. Darcy’s proposal.

Next week (or the week after if I decide to do every other week), we will discuss the last half of the second act.

In the meantime, let’s discuss these points. How many of them have you already done or did you know about? What surprised you the most in this topic? What do you need to work on the most?

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