Read Write Great Fiction--Plot & Structure for Free Online Page B

must flee. This thrusts Reuben into the middle — the quest to find Davy. The second doorway opens when Davy reappears, setting up the final battle within Reuben — should he reveal where Davy is?
    Is it possible to write a novel that defies these conventions of structure? Certainly. Just understand that the more structure is ignored, the less chance the novel has to connect with readers.
    The Second Doorway
    Lead is facing a series of confrontations and challenges on one side of the door. It will go on indefinitely unless some crisis, setback, discovery opens the door to a path that leads to the climax.
    On the other side of the door the Lead can gather his forces, inner and outer, for the final battle or final choice that will end the story. There’s no going back through the door. The story must end.
ORGANIZING STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS
    Here is how the structural elements line up in the classic movie
The Wizard of Oz
:
ACT I
    In the opening scene, we meet Dorothy, a girl who lives on a farm in Kansas with her aunt and uncle, a dog named Toto, and some goofy farmhands. She dreams of someday going to a place far away, somewhere “over the rainbow.”
    Next comes the disturbance. Miss Gulch arrives by bicycle, demanding that Toto be turned over to her so she can have him destroyed. Her demand is backed up by the law, so Uncle Henry reluctantly gives Toto to Miss Gulch. Dorothy is devastated.
    But Toto escapes from Miss Gulch’s basket and runs back to the farm. Dorothy, knowing it could happen again, decides to run away. She meets the Professor, who engineers a little “magic” to induce Dorothy to return home.
    She and Toto get back just as the big twister hits. Dorothy gets knocked in the head, and thus enters through the first doorway of no return. The twister picks up the house and lands her and Toto in a Technicolor world called Oz.
ACT II
    The “muddle” of
The Wizard of Oz
is all about Dorothy trying to get to the wizard so she can find a way home. Along the way, she encounters plenty of trouble. There’s a wicked witch who wants to stop her, some apple-throwing trees, a lion with more bark than bite, and so on. She picks up three allies along the way, including the aforementioned lion. The trouble increases when the quartet finally gets to see the wizard, and he delivers some bad news: Before he’ll help Dorothy, she and her allies have to bring him the broomstick of the wicked witch.
    So they set out through a dark forest, and then they fall through the second doorway of no return. Dorothy is captured by the flying monkeys and taken away.
ACT III
    The final battle has been set up. The three allies — the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Cowardly Lion — must find a way to save Dorothy from the witch. They get inside the castle where things go wrong again, and it looks like they’re all going to die at the hands of the witch and her minions. But then the witch goes too far, setting the Scarecrow aflame. Dorothy throws water on him, also dousing the witch. And we all know what happens then!
    This is not quite the end. There’s a little twist with the wizard that gives an added measure of suspense. But Dorothy winds up at home, and all is well.
WHAT STRUCTURE LOOKS LIKE
    The three-act structure comes from drama and is used extensively in film. In this formulation, the first “doorway of no return” usually happens about one-fourth of the way into a film (in other words, within the first thirty minutes of a two-hour movie):

    In a novel, however, that first doorway needs to happen earlier, or the book will seem to drag. My rule of thumb is the one-fifth mark, though it can happen sooner.
    In addition, the final act may take place more toward the end. So while the three-fourths mark is still a good signpost, you can slide it to the right a little if you so desire.
    The three-act structure for a novel should look like this:

    Mastering structure and