Establish, then Disrupt the Hero’s Ordinary Life

In Act 1, your task as a writer is to establish, then disrupt your Hero’s flawed, mundane, ordinary life. In the course of doing this, you will establish the genre, setting, main characters, and theme of the story.

Several key things happen in Act 1 to establish the story, characters, and situation:

  • The story typically starts by showing the protagonists normal life before things change. We are introduced to their personality, quirks, regular world and wants - though they don’t understand their deeper need yet.

  • What’s called the "catalyst" soon happens - an event early on that disrupts the normal world and hints at the antagonism to come. This starts to push the protagonist out on a journey.

  • The protagonist states their desire - what they think they want. Usually this addresses the disruption, but we the audience sense their true need may be something different.

  • Over the course of the act, we meet other important characters, and see opposition start to build via skirmishes with minor enemies or revelations of a coming threat. A promise of exciting story change is set up.

  • The theme is stated by a minor character. Often by saying, "You know what your problem is? It’s _."

  • The hero debates whether to become personally involved in the conflict. Until he’s give an offer he can’t refuse, or something intolerable happens, making it impossible for life to stay the same.

  • At the act’s climax, the protagonist fully commits to going after their stated desire, and into the new world of Act 2. They say goodbye to their normal world in a point of no return. They have crossed a threshold but don’t understand the true nature of obstacles yet.

To summarize, introduce the protagonist in a characteristic moment that defines his normal situation. Then introduce an event which disrupts and ultimately forces the hero to leave his comfort zone. After debating whether to pursue a desire into unfamiliar situations, and potentially bigger issues to come, he accepts the challenge or opportunity presented by the catalyst. Only then can his real transformation begin.