Episode 7: Novel Planning Part 5 – The Grand Finale in Act III

So you captured your readers’ attention in Act I, delivered the action they craved in Act II, and now you’ve reached Act III. How can you deliver a grand finale that satisfies readers and lets your story resonate long after your book is closed?

Your conclusion creates the impression readers walk away with.

In this episode, 25-year editing, coaching, and writing veteran, Deborah Froese, provides a few pointers to ensure your closing act seals the deal.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Hey, writers, talk about plot twists. Just as I was wrapping up the Novel Planning series a couple of months ago, tech chaos struck and wiped out my recordings. My laptop came back from repairs at the same time I was heading out of town. I got to spend two weeks wrangling two adorable preschoolers, and that part was fun. But I got hit with a nasty bug—and then an unexpected series of rush projects overtook my schedule.

So yes, it's been a minute. Thanks for sticking with me and welcome back for a closer look at Act III in the Novel Planning series.

(Intro Sequence)

Hi, I'm Deborah Froese.

Today we'll continue our exploration of story form with the two segments of act three that bring your novel to a close. As usual, we'll take a look at , Lessons in Chemistry, and The Kite Runner.

Third act demands are every bit as high as those for Acts I and II. They're just different. Readers may come to your book craving the action delivered in Act II but Act III is what they've been turning pages for. What happens to your hero? How do they resolve the situation? How can you conclude your story and leave readers feeling satisfied?

The best stories have readers closing the cover while carrying the story and your characters with them.

Act III begins with Beat 7. All is lost. This is your hero's lowest moment. They think they've given everything they have and they're struggling. But something happens to make them dig deeper. They face their deepest fears and give it one more try.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peter run to escape Cato, the only other tribute left standing, but he barrels right past them, chased by a pack of monstrous, wolflike creatures. They need to deal with the wolves before they can deal with Cato, but if they can beat Cato, they'll win.

In Lessons in Chemistry, the reporter who interviewed Elizabeth for life magazine quits his job after his editor mangles his story and ruins Elizabeth's reputation. He sends Elizabeth a copy of the original article, but the truth doesn't do anything to end her despair until a friend from Calvin's past helps her realize that she will only be happy if she pursues the life she really wants.

In The Kite Runner, Amir locates the orphanage where Sohrab was sent, but he's too late. Sohrab was sold to a Taliban official. Amir tracks the official down and arranges a meeting. And it turns out the official is a Assaf, the same Assaf who violated Hassan and tested Amir's loyalty when he was a boy.

Now we come to Beat 8, the final showdown.

Here is where your hero confronts the antagonist for the last time. A quick wrap up follows, and the story concludes with a glimpse of your hero in their new world, their new state of normal, forever changed by whatever journey they've been on.

In The Hunger Games, the creatures snatch Cato first and tear them apart. It takes so long for him to die that Katniss ends his suffering with an arrow.

That means Katniss and Peeta have won, but they're too weak to celebrate. The Capital, their real enemy, switches gears again. It retracts the two-winner rule, which means Katniss and Peeta are expected to fight each other to the death.

Infuriated by the Capitol's manipulation, Katniss divides her stash of poisonous berries between her and Peeta. The audience sees this as a threat of double suicide.

It's a potential romantic tragedy. Their deaths and games with no winner would publicly humiliate the Capitol. So before they can eat the berries, the Capitol switches gears again and pronounces them dual winners.

The story concludes with Katniss returning home. She won the games, which means she and her family will now have resources. But her pretend romance with Peeta has grown complicated with real feelings and lots of questions. She's angry at the Capitol for its cruelty and manipulation, and fully aware that her defiance has made her a symbol of rebellion against it.

This particular ending meets the tricky needs of series writing. There's no greater turnoff for readers than a disappointing finale, or one that forces them to delay gratification until the next book. You can leave readers with a hook, but you can't tear their guts out.

While The Hunger Games conclusion obviously doesn't resolve all of Katniss problems, it provides a satisfying close to her initial problem: surviving the games. She's home again in this new world of Act III, and for the moment, she's safe. At the same time, her realization that she's become a symbol of rebellion opens the door for the next book in The Hunger Games trilogy.

Brain science tells us that readers turn the pages seeking a reward, so don't withhold that reward just to bait readers into buying your next book. Wrapping up your story satisfactorily should be your primary objective.

Believe me, if the first book is well done and populated with unforgettable characters, you won't need to persuade readers to pick up the next installment.

In act three of Lessons in Chemistry, Elizabeth tells her audience she's leaving the show to pursue full time research. A Hastings lab secretary invites her to a job interview. Naturally, she's a little apprehensive, but she accepts. She meets the investor who had financed her previous research with Calvin, and the investor turns out to be Calvin’s mother.

 

She gave birth as an unwed teen from a wealthy family. They told her that her baby was stillborn and sent him to an orphanage. When she discovered the truth, she spent years looking for Calvin and a way to get to know him. And now, surprise, surprise, she's Hastings majority shareholder. She fires Elizabeth's old boss and gives his job to Elizabeth with all the resources she needs to continue her research.

She achieved her goal of becoming a scientific researcher and became so much more along the way. The icing on the cake? She finally feels as though she belongs.

In The Kite Runner, Amir protects Sohrab in a moment that defines his true transformation. He stands up for something and someone he believes in, with no regard for himself.

Assaf beats Amir senseless, but before he can kill him, Sohrab takes careful aim with a slingshot and strikes Assaf in the eye. In doing so, he rescues Amir from a bully just as his father had done decades ago.

Amir and Sohrab manage to escape. Amir is committed to bringing Sohrab home with him, but the process is so fraught with challenges that Sohrab attempts suicide.

When they finally make it to California, Sohrab remains withdrawn. But Amir is persistent and patient, and he shows Sohrab the love and support he had longed to experience as a boy.

One fine spring day, Amir takes Sohrab to a kite fight. When their kite wins, Amir runs to claim the last fallen kite for Sohrab, just as Sohrab’s father had run to claim the last fallen kite for Amir so long ago.

And so The Kite Runner comes full circle in this beautiful way.

And there you have it. The eight beats and segments of a three-act story form.

Act I draws readers into your protagonist's ordinary world.

Act II provides them with the action they're looking for as your hero adjusts to a new situation.

And Act III leaves a lasting impression for readers to walk away with a vision of your hero living in a brand new world.

Planning your novel requires a lot of thinking and a lot of juggling. If you're averse to detailed planning, remember understanding the rhythm of story form is far more important for initial drafting than knowing all the details or planting them in just the right place. Leave that for future you and future drafts.

If you know your characters well and pay attention to the emotional resonance of your beats, you can usually feel your way through the initial draft without getting tangled in logistics or structural analysis.

Of course, some projects are naturally more complex than others, and it's hard to move forward until you solidify the details. For example, my now out-of-print novel Out of the Fire is framed around a young burn survivors recovery. It has multiple subplots concerning mental, physical, and emotional healing that don't occur simultaneously, so I had to plan in greater detail. I charted a healing timeline for each aspect of recovery and coordinated it with other plot elements.

Remember, whether you work with a detailed plot or prefer beginning with only general objectives in mind, there is no right or wrong way to write, only the approach that works for you.

Now that we've covered all eight beats and you have a stronger sense of story form, I'd like to share a super simple approach to outlining your novel by responding to a series of story prompts. Here's the juicy part. Doing so gives you a high-level overview of your story, and at the same time inspires a lot of potential subplots.

You can use this approach to start building your story whichever way you prefer to write. Curious? Join me for the next episode and the final installment in the Novel Planning series.

In the meantime, pick up a new novel or maybe an old favorite, and see if you can locate the eight story beats holding it together. If you want a refresher around those beats, check out the show notes for episode four.

Thank you so much for joining me again today. Until next time, enjoy that novel and Write, Writer, Write!