Second Act

I used to write feature scripts. That's how I discovered my passion to write novels. With scripts, you can't get too descriptive, the most important part of the story is the action, and dialogue. Novels can be a lot more character driven, or to phrase it better, you as a writer spend more time with your characters, and I like that. It feels as if you are growing together with them, you are learning with them, experiencing what they are going through. When writing scripts, everything seemed too rushed for me, it felt as if there was no time to intimate with the characters.

When writing novels, I often find myself dividing the story the same way I did with scripts; in acts that is. Now, I am not a fan of formulaic explanations on how to write a novel, or tips to write a novel. I don't think you can learn to write a novel from someone else. The only way you can learn is by actually writing.

However, I see how reading about how other people have done it helps. I read tons of books —On Writing, Stephen King; Your First Novel, Writer's Market, and blogs (authors, agents blogs), and I even got grammar books—which I find useless, but that I'll explain in another post. I tried to follow advice from experienced writers when writing my novel, and every time I found myself hitting the wall at mid-story (or second act).

Now, the acts. I divide the story pretty much like a script. First Act (conflict), Second Act (Development), Climax, Third Act (Resolution of Conflict). The Climax I consider it to be part of the Third Act, and I place it sometimes at the beginning or in the middle of it. As much as I would like to give you the exact location of the climax in my WIP, I can't. I can't get pass the Second Act. <sigh>

I know this is a common occurrence with writers, experienced or not — I am not that experienced, I write hoping one day (by that I mean within the next two months) I can get to finish this story which is driving me absolutely insane!— the second act seems to be the point where most often the writing comes to a halt. What happens next? Is the question preying on us every wake minute of the day. What happens NEXT? I find this to be the easiest thing to solve, being that I'm never out of ideas to fill pages.

The problem with my Second Act, the one thing that makes me stop writing and pushes me to just sit there and start reading Business Insider, is that it turns into an impossible-to-climb mountain. It becomes My Own Private Everest. I am exhausted, thirsty, hungry, lacking oxygen, I even forget English. Yo, escribo?

I've never tried to rationalize the reason for this, but I think this post might be an excellent opportunity for it. Let's see, what could be the reason for my Second Act Alexithymia (I love this term, from the Greek:"without words for emotions").


1) The story is not compelling enough for me.
I once considered this possibility. But I'm afraid it's not it. I love my story and my characters, I feel that they have so much to say and do, they might need a better creator than me. Sniff, sniff. I currently have my hero locked inside a catacomb, trying to figure out how to get out.

2)Too much going on.
Simplicity works best, in every case, no exceptions. The best books I've read, even if they're long, deal with one part of the story at the time. Even the Lord of the Rings, which is a massive, epic tale, still manages to present the story and characters in a simplified way. I tried to do the same with my book, every chapter deals with an aspect of the story, and it feels almost as if every chapter can stand on its own. This last thing I believe was a choice I had to take based on my current job situation, I write one chapter at a time if I can. I have a 9-6 job, and dealing with complicated story structures would not work for me.

3)Conflict.
Once the conflict is established properly, the characters have motivation for action–there's no other way but to do something about it. I believe this is something my story may be lacking. I set up my conflict, but so far I don't feel is powerful enough to compel immediate action, and most importantly, to compel sympathy from the reader towards my hero. My hero is a tall handsome young man, with innocent hazel eyes, and dark golden brown hair; he has the strength of a man, but he is gentle and protective. I know you want to meet him already, don't lie. Unfortunately, looks alone are not enough to make people care about one's hero —or are they, Edward Cullen?— so I think I need to work on this one. Conflict, who knew.

Now I have to think on a way to introduce conflict into a story which is partially written. Which means, somewhere in the first act I must add an action-inspiring event, which creates a change that can't be undone. Something powerful enough to shake everything in its path. I guess I have some homework for tonight.