The 3-Act Structure for Plays and Blog Posts

The three-act structure dates back to the days of Aristotle, Gabriel Pereira reminds readers of Writer’s Digest. In Act I, the status quo is revealed, describing the world in which the story is going to take place. This first act sets the tone and gives the story a reason for starting at this particular place and time. At the end of Act I, there is either an event that shakes things up for the character, or a choice the character must face.

Act II is usually the longest of the three acts, Pereira explains. Here subplots and supporting characters can be added. It is in Act II that the character makes a choice and changes his or her outlook. By the beginning of Act III, the character has reached his/her lowest point, and, by the end, readers get a sense of closure and resolve.

One function of any marketing blog, of course, is to provide valuable information to consumers highlighting the benefits to be gained by using a certain product or service or by following a certain plan. But writing for business needs to draw attention to the “flip side of the calculator”, meaning the costs of waiting to take action. In your blog post, “Act II” might be a good place for the post’s first CTA (call to action), showing readers how to put what they have learned to use.

While the three-act design is by no means the only possibility, Pereira admits, many works of fiction do follow that design because it has a clear beginning, middle and end. “Done well, it takes the reader on a satisfying journey.”

The three-act structure has great relevance to the order in which information is presented in effective blog posts. Online readers will have landed on your blog because they are interested in finding information on your topic and possibly making a purchase. They need immediate confirmation that they’ve come to the right place. To that end, according to blog mavens Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos, key words and phrases should be among the first words in your blog title and then reappear in your first lines of the post. Then, at the “back end”, (Act III), the “pow” closing statement should tie back, we teach at Say It For You, to the opener.

Of course, when it comes to content marketing through blogs, the reader’s “journey” isn’t over at the end of the post. As writers, we can do well today what we may not have done so well yesterday or the day before.  Since blog posts typically appear in reverse chronological order, I explain in Say It For You training sessions, your best blogs will be the ones searchers see first!

The three-act structure can work well for both plays and blog posts!