- Act 1 presents an idea or situation
- Act 2 involves a complication or other turn-of-events that raises the stakes of the idea or situation
- Act 3 is the resolution
Viewed this way, stories become manageable. And they certainly do not
have to be long. This is demonstrated time and again by the writers and
editors of The Wall Street Journal, whose anecdotal leads are revered in the newspaper business. Though the Journal’s
front-page stories often run 20 to 40 column inches in length, their
anecdotal leads are stories told in a compact three or four paragraphs.
Let’s review an example. Notice how this lead abides by the three-act story structure.
Twyla Pohar expected her bachelor’s degree in molecular biology to help launch her career.
But employers told her she needed either a doctorate, requiring years of research, or business experience, which she didn’t have, to land her ideal job as a biological information analyst.
She turned instead to a newly available alternative: a degree that combines science and business. In 2002, Ms. Pohar earned a professional science master’s, or PSM, in computational biology from New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark. She parlayed it into a $55,000-a-year job managing the development of software for researchers at Ohio State University’s cancer center.
The first paragraph talks of a circumstance and expectation.
Graph two tells of a complication that arises.
By graph three a resolution is found in the form of a newfangled college degree.
The business arena is loaded with people and companies who move from
circumstance to complication to resolution. These are stories waiting to
be told.
Use the power of story. Use the power of the three-act story structure.
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