Write Your Novel Step by Step (87)

Man Made follows a mysterious force as it sweeps around the globe erasing anything man made - from buildings, vehicles, and technology to medicines, clothing, and dental work.

Governments stagger under the panic, religions are at a loss for an explanation, scientists strive for any means to stop or divert the phenomenon, and the world’s population from families to individuals struggle to prepare for The Event, which will drive humanity back beyond the stone age.

The Event is coming.

Are you prepared?

Storymind

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~ Step 87 ~

Plot - Act Two

This is the act of development. The second act further develops plot points that you set up in your first act, adding richness and detail to your story and adding any new plot information that will come into play near the middle of your novel.

If there's a journey in your story, act two is about the beginning and progress of that quest. As progress is made, the obstacles to progress become more substantial. Every step taken towards that goal increases in difficulty.

Somewhere in act two there is a major plot twist, due either to new information uncovered or some physical or logistic change that throws the whole story into left field.

In some stories this twist happens in the middle of the act. The second half of the act is then spent trying to recover from the set back and begin anew. In other stories, this twist occurs at the end of the second act, driving the quest in a whole new direction for the beginning of act three.

In all cases, the plot development in act two adds to the detail of each plot point and the complexity of the web that holds them all together.

In this step, review your plot exposition material and list the plot points you wish to reveal to your readers in the middle of your novel.