Structure in a novel (part 4)
Aristotle may have given the overall blueprint for writing, as noted by Gerard, Marshall and Vogler but he doesn’t break it down much below the level of a philosophy. For the detailed breakdown we need to turn to more modern thinkers. Although the three books that have been referenced so far agree on the three act structure for a novel they also go beyond that level of agreement.
Gerard introduces a very helpful diagram of the 3 act structure, showing visually how acts 1 and 2 dovetail into the act that follow, keeping the reader hooked and preserving a unified flow. Without such dovetailing the work would devolve into three standalone pieces without a pressing need to move on to the next.
His choice of diagram also communicates something at a purely visual level: the inexorable pull of gravity in a downward direction correlates with the steady drive forward, the even pace of our hero’s journey and the inevitability of trials arriving as part of that journey. The triangles point the way. There are no loops, no going back and no dawdling on the roadside for our hero. While the even sized triangles tell us to keep an even and measured pace through our story they hide a major element of story structure, namely the universal agreement over the relative sizes of acts 1, 2 and 3…