what's up my friend Abbi here and welcome back to writers life wednesdays today we're talking about outlining the first act the beginning of a riveting novel if you didn't see last week's video it was the kick off video the introduction of this whole new series that I'm doing on my channel about outlining a novel how I do it and how I tend 10 recommend you should do it too if you haven't seen that video I do recommend going and watching that before you watch this one because I lay out the whole foundation for this whole
system and how it works and why it works and how it will save your life as in you'll never ever get writer's block and you will never have to write a second draft because your first draft will be just that good who's excited for this I am so excited let's start out with talking about sorting out the beginning of your novel and the secret to hooking readers on page one and engaging them so much in act 1 they're sold for the rest of the ride so let's begin at the beginning in the introduction video I
talked a little bit about how an outline a good outline is actually like a road map of your character arcs as well because your character arcs are your story without character arcs you really have no story so it's not a question of do you need character arcs it's a question of how do you write powerful character arcs you know what drives me crazy books that either a don't have character arcs at all or even worse the have character arcs that leave the character a worse role model then they started the book has some people might
call this a negative character arc but actually in this case they would be incorrect here's the thing about negative character arcs they're meant to be understood as negative it's obvious to the reader that they're not reading about a role-model character in fact the main character has turned from protagonist to antagonist or something very similar and no reader in their right mind would want to emulate that character on top of that I just don't see the point in writing a negative character arc for your protagonist don't throw tomatoes at me but I believe writing is a
very sacred and important job awards are world-changing the more positive stories you put out in the world the more positivity you're going to inspire and I don't know about you but I want to inspire some good in the world using this powerful tool that is writing you with me awesome so before you even begin to outline your story you have to get quiet with yourself and ask yourself why why do I want to write this story really think about why this story is important to you whether it contains a message or a theme that is
relevant to your life or a revelation that just recently dawned on you the point of a good character arc is to weave truth into your story in an artful way not a preachy way your character is gonna have an aha moment which will inspire thought and maybe even inspire an aha moment for your reader that's how you make readers think not by yelling your message at them but by definitely weaving it into your characters journey a well-told story is the crowbar that opens the readers soul lets them see the truth that you see so take
a few minutes to really think about and write down why you want to write this story what does this story mean to you personally remember what an important job it is to be a storyteller you're giving the world far more than just an entertaining story you're giving them insight and truth it's a big job so whatever you come up with for your why your reason for writing the story is most likely what your theme is going to be that's what I'm getting at the theme and your theme is obviously going to be reflected in your
characters journey in fact your characters misbelief the thing that they get wrong about the world is gonna be the exact opposite of the truth that you want to convey but don't worry they're gonna have an aha moment in act 3 with all this talk of positive character arcs you might think that I'm about to suggest that you make your protagonist a role model throughout the entire story just a total angel from beginning to end no way not only would that be ridiculously unrealistic and unrelatable but it would defeat the whole purpose of the theme that
you're trying to tell okay and already enlightened person can't have an aha moment and can't deliver a powerful message to your reader that's what a character arc is for so keeping that in mind let's dive into the outlining process you ready grab a notebook or open your Scrivener project if you really know what's up and let's get into this Act one the opening of your novel scary right the opening freaks out every writer so you're definitely not alone but let me share something with you that totally changed the way I look at and write story
openings there is a specific reason why most novel openings suck you probably think I'm gonna say because they're too wordy too boring they talk about the weather nope none of those things most novel openings suck because they start too soon see there's this common belief that most writers adhere to units the novel begins when the story begins but it shouldn't stories that have gripping compelling engaging surprising openings that really capture your attention they usually start several would be plot points after the action really starts think of it like this you have the timeline of your
book laid out in front of you most people have to see it beginning to end because they read the book beginning to end but you are the writer and so you kind of get this omniscient 3d bird's-eye view where you can see the timeline beginning and the end at the same time and the events that happen at the beginning before your story began and that's what I want you to look at what are the events that happen before your novel began what has brought your protagonist here to this conflicted place that they find themselves in
these events are called the ticks not like the blood sucking creatures that I wish didn't exist but like a ticking clock see a lot of writers think that the story should begin where the first tick happens because that's where the action starts right that's that's that should be on page one right wrong most the time the first tick the real first tick is so subtle that you can't even notice that anything is out of the ordinary but then comes the second tick and the third tick and the fourth tick cause-and-effect means that one thing leads
to another right for every action there's a reaction now you're probably starting to see that the first tick is important because yes it does unfold the rest of the story but it doesn't have the same power that the fifth or sixth or seventh tick has to grab a total stranger by the throat and make them want to read your book that's what we call the hook this is the first story beat that you'll see in the three-act story structure outline yeah it's daunting word it's a tall order it strikes fear into every writers heart because
we over complicate it but it's way more simple than people making it's all the hook really is is internal conflict plain and simple desire versus fear despite popular belief the internal conflict starts long before the inciting incident shows up to ruin your protagonists life in fact that conflict has been boiling below the surface for a long time otherwise your inciting incident wouldn't matter mmm see external conflict the plot is about what happens internal conflict the story is about why it matters so this isn't something that you have to pull out of thin air the inner
the internal conflict is already there just below the surface you just have to pull out your literary shovel and unearth it this is actually something that you should have figured out before you started outlining your novel because in my opinion the best way to start creating a story is to start with the characters and lucky for you I have a whole series about creating incredible characters check that out right here develop your characters first even if it's just a rough outline of their misbelief about the world and how their fear is standing in the way
of getting what they think will make them happy it will help you so much in the long run so ask yourself this question if you haven't already why does my character believe will bring her true happiness or contentment and how is her fear stopping her from going after it so many writers blow their novels opening a scene because they don't show the internal conflict of the main character there are too busy building the character's world oh my gosh if I could advise against one thing it would be don't build the characters world nobody really cares
about a world or a setting a world doesn't have feelings a setting doesn't have emotions we care about what's going on inside the protagonist that's what readers are going to connect with immediately and then once they're engaged they'll be ready to explore the world save it ok next story beat is the setup you already started setting things up in the hook right so you should have some juicy internal conflict boiling below the surface right now and that's gonna be essential in making your inciting incident awesome in other words your protagonist should be a disaster waiting
to happen or already happening they can be morally grey or just primed to not make the right decision when something goes sideways and something is definitely about to go sideways why is your protagonist a disaster waiting to happen the cuz they have this deeply rooted fear and misbelief that's been hidden in their psyche for a long time and it's only gonna take a spark or an inciting incident to make them act upon their fear in this belief and turn their whole life upside down when that becomes clear to the reader and we also know that
something's about to happen to this character it gives us this awesome sense of rising dread because suddenly it's not just a thing happening to anyone it's a thing that means something specific to this character because of who they are and what is that thing your inciting incident this is where things get good we all know that the inciting incident is what really gets the ball rolling in a story but it doesn't have to be some big crazy epic call to adventure it just has to be something that pushes your protagonist outside her comfort zone I
have a rule about the first five minutes of your story essentially you want to take normal pacing that people recommend and chop it in half most stories structures will tell you to place the inciting incident around the 12 percent mark of your story but I prefer to shoot for like the six percent mark I mean come on we live in a world where goldfish have longer attention spans than humans so if something good is gonna happen in your story something juicy something that's gonna engage me cut to the chase don't lose your readers before you
even start but where you place your inciting incident isn't half as important as why you're inciting incident matters think about this for a while and write down your ideas why does this inciting incident matter to your protagonist how does it push her outside her comfort zone it's really as simple as that don't overcomplicate it as most writers do if you know why the inciting incident matters and you let your protagonist react to it as a normal person would running for cover because of her fear congratulations you nailed it let's move on to the build-up protagonist
is gonna have to face this thing head-on the build up is different from the set up and that the protagonist now knows what she's dealing with and it ain't gonna be easy the reader can now see what her internal struggle really is and how this whole situation is gonna be especially tricky for her to navigate this is where the serious conflict comes into play what internal conflict is going to arise for your protagonist in wake of the inciting incident remember your protagonists fear has been quietly growing for a long time now so when something happens
to push her outside her comfort zone she's gonna be fighting to stay inside her comfort zone she's gonna react to it with something that's familiar and whatever decision she makes about it is going to be the first plot point I always describe this as protagonist makes the decision which determines what's gonna happen next because that's essentially what it is your protagonist is a conflicted person okay torn between desire and fear so when the inciting incident steps and shoves her outside her comfort zone her fear takes over and she responds to the inciting incident all wrong
which sets up more obstacles for the rest of the book so ask yourself how is my protagonist going to react to the inciting incident based on her fear and misbelief about the world what decision is she going to make now to avoid the most pain in the future and still get what she wants while steering clear of the thing that she's afraid of we're getting close to the end of Act one now so this decision that your protagonist makes is really what's gonna pull the reader in to see what happens next but before we close
out the first act there's one more thing that really really kicks your story up a notch the first pinch point aka antagonistic forest slash opposition blooms in the distance please don't skip this even if you don't have a villain character in your story it doesn't have to be a villain it doesn't even have to be a character it just has to be something that's gonna come back to haunt your protagonist later it can even be your protagonist misbelief seriously sometimes it's even better to make it purely something internal because then you're kind of forced to
make it matter to your characters and therefore matter to your readers remember there's also going to be another pinch point later on so don't be afraid to go subtle with this one almost so subtle that you could miss it if you weren't paying attention I loved it when I reread stories and I find little pinch points scattered around little foreshadowing of things that are gonna happen later on that I didn't even notice the first time I read it it is awesome but if you want to make your first pinch point a little more obvious that's
cool too just anything that gives the reader this sense of rising dread and anticipation of this opposition that is gonna step in later on so ask yourself this question to craft your first pinch point what is the opposition or antagonistic force that my protagonist is going to have to face head-on later how can I show my reader that it's already looming in the distance and boom that's the end of Act one hopefully you've been taking notes and writing these questions down to ask yourself because if you follow this structure and if you ask yourself these
questions and come up with these answers congratulations you're going to have a freaking powerful opening to your novel see that wasn't so hard was it next week we're gonna talk about act two the middle ground of your story as I said before a lot of writers struggle with this second act because it's a lot of ground to cover and you want to keep the reader interested and engaged but how do you do that exactly it's a little tricky so we're gonna talk about that and we're also going to talk about how to craft this awesome
game-changing midpoint plot twist thing even if you have nothing remotely plot twisty going on in your story stay tuned that's next week and if you're watching this in the future the link to part two will be right there until next time my friend rock on Shh [Music]
