The beginning of your story has all the cool world building and your inciting incident. The last act gets the climax and resolution. It can make a second act feel a little lonely with much less to offer.
But that doesn’t mean that your second act should be something for readers to just get through. There are ways to write one that’s enticing and enjoyable as well. Here’s what we suggest for authors that are up against a rough second act:
Double Check Your Story Structure Checkpoints
Having a story structure that has its largest scenes in the right places can make a huge difference in your reader’s experience. Many think that story acts fall in thirds. But in reality, it's quarters, and two of those quarters are the second act. And though it accounts for half of the story, it has significantly fewer than half of structure checkpoints. There are only three: the first act break, the midpoint, and the second act break. One at each end, and one right in the middle. This is why a second half can be so difficult to get right. A lot hangs on those scenes.
If you find the timing of one of the checkpoints is off, it could be a sign you should remove or add a scene on either side. Though one scene may feel like a major change to your story, it is a relatively small increment in the context of your second act, but a vital one. This one change could rebalance your narrative structure and give your story some pep. It’s great to know that sometimes something dragging doesn’t mean it’s too long.
Know Your Midpoint
Because so much of your story hangs on just a few checkpoints, it’s useful to know which is the most important for your readers. That’s the midpoint. In fact, your midpoint scene will be your third most important scene in the entire book. After a reader gets past your exposition, the next most likely place you are to lose them is shortly after your midpoint. So, it’s vital you have a strong one with a transition that keeps them interested. After you get them past this point, the vast majority of readers will make it all the way to the end.
Key Things to Know About Writing a Midpoint Scene:
This scene is a major transition for every main character.
For most characters, that change is from reacting to the situation around them to taking proactive measures to control their story, but it doesn’t have to be.
Because this is a vital scene, readers will find the transition more believable in one that is a little longer than your average scene length.
The transition in this scene must be consequential. It should branch off from where it has been to reach toward your climax.
Your MC can second guess themselves, but they should never retreat to reaction again.
Alternate Scene Outcomes
If you’ve got a strong sense of your story structure and key scenes, the next most likely culprit to thwart your second act is scene order. It’s likely that you have scenes with both positive and negative outcomes in your second act, but having too many similar outcomes in a row feels repetitive. If your main character keeps winning with no consequences, readers will be bored by the lack of conflict. If they are always beat down by the circumstances surrounding them, readers will grow weary.
The good news is that you can change scene timing or add a new scene to alternate outcomes and keep readers on their toes. Note, not every scene needs to alternate. Two, rarely three scenes in a row can have similar outcomes to create trend lines for your larger plot. It’s also good to know that the average reader can withstand more consistent negative outcomes than consistently positive ones. Lack of conflict will kill a reader’s interest, but we’re all willing to fight long and hard for our main characters to succeed.
Interweave a Thoughtful Subplot
If you’re still having a hard time creating interest in your second act, the final Hail Mary is adding a subplot. Even though this is a last-ditch effort, a well-considered subplot is still a useful and powerful tool that can totally transform your novel for the better. The most common subplot types added at this point in your story are a mirror, contrast, or complication subplot.
While your main character is taking on their primary conflict, it’s easy to stumble upon a complication that either adds another layer to that conflict or requires a side quest in order to ultimately meet their primary goal. This typically adds a lot of words, if you’re not meeting your target manuscript length.
The mirror or contrast, however, are particularly great ways to add interest without a huge boost to your word count. Once readers are already familiar with the plight your MC faces, give a supporting character a similar situation. How they act will either follow or oppose your MC’s choices and further complicate their own internal conflict, though they may not realize it until after their own climax.
I hope that these strategies help you improve your novel’s second act. These are the tools editors help to diagnose their writer’s books, but even if you know the cause of the problems, it can sometimes be even more difficult to find solutions to them. That’s the advantage of working with a developmental editor and the best chance for your story. However, that can be cost prohibitive for some authors, for which we suggest reaching out to a book coach. The services aren’t as extensive, but they can still get you started off on the right foot.
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