Structure in a novel (part 2)
“Writing a book that makes a difference” by Philip Gerard talks about structuring a novel in a chapter entitled “Discovering themes as you write.” He says
Formerlly, we’ve inherited the three-act structure from classical Greek tragedy. Informally, storytelling just seems naturally to favor it.
So, that brings the count to two for modern day writing instructors pulling from Aristotle’s work. Gerard goes on to say
In the early stages of telling a stroy - act one - we must introduce our charactersm assign them their roles in the drama, and reveal something of their makeup; we must set them down in a particular time and place, then develop a dramatic situation around them; we must teach the reader how to read our book. And we must open up a promise, an expectation, a reason for suspense that will compel the reader to read on.
Aristotle said it well when he wrote
Again, a beautiful object, whether it be a living organism or any whole composed of parts, must not only have an orderly arrangement of parts, but must also be of a certain magnitude; for beauty depends on magnitude and order.
In other words, start the story with a correct sense of scope. If things are too huge to begin with (or for that matter at any point in the narrative) then the reader will get lost. To compel the reader to read on, they need to be caught by the story, not confused by it!