second act !!!

[resolute]

can you explain me second act? if we have end and begining what should we do for second act?

[Deus Ex Machine]

Between the problem and solution is the process of solving the problem.


The process is where the drama exists.

The process is where the character tries different tactics and explores the problem in greater detail to fully understand it in order to correctly answer it.

The act of exploring the problem force the character to also explore himself as the exploration will challenge the character on many levels (intellectually, emotionally, physically) and the character will have to use all his newly discovered resources to explore and ultimately understand the problem.

Once the character actually understands the problem then and only then can he answer it.

If the character simply went from problem to solution there would be no story.

If Hamlet went right from hearing the ghost say his father was murdered by the king to killing the king, there would no story.

If Luke went right from being asked to deliver the Death Star plans to handing them over to the rebels there would be no story.

If Chief Brody went from finding the girl's body to shooting the shark there would be no story.

Act two is where the story exists.

No act two means no story.

Make sense?

:)

[altoption]

By the end of the first act, your protag takes on a problem. In the second act he sets out to achieve that goal. About halfway through, the mid-point, things get a lot more complicated for the protag. It's the point of no return. Stakes may increase substantially, or the protag's goal may shift. The second act typically ends in failure, the protag's low point, forcing him to confront his flaw and figure out a new way to solve the problem in the third act.

[argo]

Ditto what they said. And in audience terms, the second act is why the audience plunked down their $9 in the first place.
Take for example, Jurassic Park. The second act is where the Dinos are set loose and terrorize the main characters. Exactly what the audience was hopping to see.

[resolute]

what you suggested me, in fact they were exisct on my outline of the second act but I wanted to make it fresh and realy your kind responds worked very well thanks...

http://scriptsales.com/boards/images/smilies/smile.gif and sory for my poor practice !!!

[wcmartell]

Act 1: Sets up the conflict.
Act 2: The conflict and escalation of conflict.
Act 3: Resolution of the conflict.

So Act 2 is the conflict - the ongoing struggle between protagonist and antagonist (or forces of antagonism). All struggle, all the time!

Look at MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING...

Act 2 kicks in when Julia Roberts becomes a bridesmaid at the wedding she's trying to break up. She is now *trapped* in the conflict - no escape. She can not avoid the conflict and antagonist (Cameron Diaz), she'd a bridesmaid at the wedding!

So she comes up with a series of schemes to break up the wedding (battle the antagonist). She discovers that Diaz can't sing, so Julia takes them to a Karaoke Bar hoping that after Dermott hears her sing, he'll dump her. Well, Diaz's singing is worse than awful... but so bad that it's kind of endering. Dermott loves her even more after this! So Julia has to come up with another Lucy Ricardo scheme to break up the wedding. Each scheme is a battle between her and Diaz for Dermott's love... and every time it backfires and Dermott loves Diaz even more (escalating conflict). You notice that every single battle is part of that main conflict - breaking up the marriage so that she can lay claim to Dermott. None of these conflicts are pasted on to the story - they are like little battles in the big war.

So that's what Act 2 is all about - it's the war shown one battle at a time. The burger between the Act 1 and Act 3 bun. The meat of your story.

- Bill