![The template open in Strokes: a banner picture of a footpath climbing a long ridge to a summit above a lake, above the title “Three-act outline: [Working title]”.](/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fhero-light.4183e269.webp&w=3840&q=75)
![The template open in Strokes: a banner picture of a footpath climbing a long ridge to a summit above a lake, above the title “Three-act outline: [Working title]”.](/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fhero-dark.087ff6cd.webp&w=3840&q=75)
When to use it
- Outlining a novel or novella before the first draft
- Planning a screenplay, where the beats map onto page numbers
- Diagnosing a finished draft whose middle sags or whose ending arrives too soon
- Writing a synopsis: the filled-in beat table is its skeleton
How to use this template
- Write the dramatic question and the ending first
Fill in "Story at a glance" before the beat table. The dramatic question (will she clear her father's name? will they get off the island?) is what the climax answers, and knowing the answer tells you what Act I has to set up. If you change the ending later, change this line first.
- Fill the five load-bearing beats
Write one sentence each for the inciting incident, plot point one, the midpoint, plot point two and the climax. If those five hold, you have a story. The rising action and the pinch points come next, because they exist to connect the big turns.
- Convert the percentages to your length
Multiply your target length by each placement and write the result in the Chapter column. The table below does it for a 90,000-word novel and a 120-page screenplay. Measure by word count, not chapter count: chapters vary in length, so chapter 15 of 30 is not necessarily the middle.
- Answer the act prompts, then run the structure check
Answer the prompts under each act in a sentence or two, then run the structure check. Run it again on the finished draft.
Beat percentages for novels and screenplays
The placements describe a story split roughly 1:2:1, with Act II as long as the other two together.
| Beat | Placement | 90,000-word novel | 120-page script |
|---|---|---|---|
| BeatInciting incident | Placement~10% | 90,000-word novel~9,000 words | 120-page script~p. 12 |
| BeatPlot point one | Placement~25% | 90,000-word novel~22,500 words | 120-page scriptpp. 20–30 |
| BeatFirst pinch point | Placement~37% | 90,000-word novel~33,300 words | 120-page scriptp. 45 |
| BeatMidpoint | Placement~50% | 90,000-word novel~45,000 words | 120-page scriptp. 60 |
| BeatSecond pinch point | Placement~62% | 90,000-word novel~55,800 words | 120-page scriptp. 75 |
| BeatPlot point two | Placement~75% | 90,000-word novel~67,500 words | 120-page scriptp. 90 |
| BeatClimax | Placement~85–90% | 90,000-word novel~76,500–81,000 words | 120-page scriptpp. 102–108 |
| BeatResolution | Placement~90–100% | 90,000-word novelfinal ~9,000 words | 120-page scriptlast ~12 pp. |
Three-act structure example: a filled-in outline
An original small-town mystery, outlined with the template. Notice that every beat is something that happens or something the protagonist decides, never a mood.
Dramatic question: Can Mara prove her father did not start the fire that closed the town's mill?
- Opening (0–10%). Mara Quill, 38, tunes pianos in Harrow's Landing and avoids arguments, especially about her late father, whom the town quietly blames for the 1996 mill fire.
- Inciting incident (~10%). Inside the church upright she finds an unsent letter in his handwriting: "I did it. Forgive me."
- Plot point one (~25%). Instead of burning it, she takes it to the retired fire marshal. Now someone else knows, and she cannot pretend she never read it.
- First pinch point (~37%). The mayor, whose family owned the mill, has her school tuning contract canceled. It is polite, public and clearly a warning.
- Midpoint (~50%). The marshal spots what she missed: the letter is dated two days before the fire. Her question changes from "did he do it?" to "who made him write it?", and she stops waiting for answers and starts digging.
- Second pinch point (~62%). The marshal stops returning her calls, and the local paper runs a front-page story calling her father's guilt settled.
- Plot point two (~75%). Her brother, worn down by the gossip, hands the letter to the mayor. Her only evidence is gone, and so is the one person she trusted.
- Climax (~88%). Regrouping, she pulls the church piano's keyboard out and finds what the letter was guarding: the mill's maintenance log, signed by the owner, ordering the sprinklers switched off and her father sent home the night of the fire. She reads it aloud at the fire's memorial service.
- Resolution (90–100%). The memorial plaque is rewritten. When the mayor's office calls to complain about the wording, Mara argues back, the first argument in the book she does not walk away from.
The resolution is short on purpose. Once the climax answers the question, the denouement only has to show the new normal. A long one reads like the story has lost its nerve to end.
The percentages are guides, not rules
The numbers come from film. Syd Field's 1979 book Screenplay described a 120-page script with a 30-page first act, a 60-page second act and a 30-page third, turned by plot points between pages 20 and 30 and around page 90. His 1984 follow-up, The Screenwriter's Workbook, added a midpoint around page 60, and Field placed two pinches near pages 45 and 75. Novelists later restated those pages as percentages. Field himself stressed that the shape matters, not the page a plot point falls on.
So use the placements as a diagnostic. When a beat sits within five percent of its mark, leave it alone. When it is far off, ask why. A setup that runs to 35% usually means the reader waits too long for the story to start. A climax at 70% means either a long aftermath or a missing turn in the middle. A midpoint at 40% is often fine if the second half of Act II has enough pressure to fill the extra room.
Genre moves the marks too. Mysteries and thrillers often put the inciting incident (the body, the break-in) on the first pages, with the setup folded in around it. Epic fantasy and multi-POV novels can run longer first acts because there is more world to establish. If your second act sags, the guide to pacing covers how to tighten it without moving the beats, and for a finer grid, Blake Snyder's Save the Cat beat sheet splits the same shape into 15 beats.
Frequently asked questions
How long should each act be in a three-act structure?
Roughly a quarter, a half and a quarter. In a 90,000-word novel that is about 22,500 words for Act I, 45,000 for Act II and 22,500 for Act III.
What is the difference between the inciting incident and plot point one?
The inciting incident happens to the protagonist and disrupts their ordinary life. Plot point one is what they choose in response: the decision that commits them to the conflict and starts Act II. A story with a strong inciting incident still stalls if no choice follows it.
How does three-act structure relate to Save the Cat and Freytag's pyramid?
They describe stories at different levels of detail. Blake Snyder's Save the Cat (2005) has 15 beats. Its Catalyst, Break into Two, Midpoint, All Is Lost and Finale line up roughly with the inciting incident, plot point one, the midpoint, plot point two and the climax. Gustav Freytag's five-part model from 1863 puts its climax in the middle of the play, closer to what three-act writers call the midpoint.
Does every novel need three acts?
No. Three-act structure describes how many stories move. It is not a law. Episodic novels, braided multi-POV books and much literary fiction use other shapes. The template is still a useful check on a draft: if readers say the middle drags, look at whether anything at the midpoint changes the goal.
