In real storytelling, this second example might be that some kids steal a car (obtaining) and are then able to do (take a road trip across the country), and en route they encounter many people with issues (learning) and eventually arrive home with an understanding about the importance of respecting the property rights of others. In one story, for example, the characters may obtain something that allows them to do something that causes them to learn which leads to an understanding – a complete different order than our first example. And, the signposts don’t always have to be in the same order. There are a several families of signposts depending on the kind of story you are telling. Now the characters do more and bigger things until they are finally able to arrive at their designation, the fourth signpost of Obtaining. Again, we feel an act break as the internal quest from understanding shifts to the external quest of doing things. In the second act (journey), the characters will progressively grow in their understandings until they are finally able to start Doing (the third signpost). That’s where we feel an act break as the story changes course from exploring learning to exploring understanding. In practice, the characters in such a story will begin with Learning this or that (the first signpost) and then the act (the first journey) will follow the characters as they learn more and more until they arrive at an Understanding (the second signpost). And while not every event or character conjecture has to pertain directly to Learning, there is that feel that establishes that Learning is what the first act is all about. It is the overall background for all that happens. So, in such a structure, the story begins with a general sense that Learning is the undercurrent of what everyone is engaged in. One such family, as an example, consists of the signposts of Learning, Understanding, Doing, and Obtaining. That’s fine conceptually, but how does it play out in actual story development? As it turns out, all four signposts belong a family which is what gives a story a consistent identity as it plays out. the other two signposts in the middle describe the two major turning points in the story when the set up is complete at the end of the first act, and when the climb to the climax begins at the end of the second. The last signpost identifies the destination. So, the first signpost marks the point of departure of the story. But the four fingers define the direction of each of the journeys. Readers or audiences feel the journeys because that is the flow of the unfolding of a story over time. If each finger is a signposts, then you can see three journeys between them. To see this more clearly, hold up four fingers on one hand as in the illustration below: In a standard three-act structure, there are four signposts. These signposts are just at the juncture points, yet in between them, you have a lot of ground to cover that is part of your journey. Signposts are like road markers that tell you when you need to turn off the highway you are on and take a side road in order to get to where you’re headed. Now all of that is just felt, but it actually comes from something very solid in story structure: the signpost.
We intuitively know that a major turning point has been reached and that things will no longer go on as they have and that a whole new direction will reveal itself as the story unfolds. There are always several points at which you feel that you’ve moved from one act to another, such as in the plot when the characters have finished preparing for a journey and actually embark or in the character arc where the main character finally realizes he has been held back by his best friends good intentions and decides to go solo for the first time. Think about any well structured story you’ve read or seen on the screen.
Signposts are the markers that separate one act from another.
#Signpost meaning how to#
First let me define what signposts are in stories and then provide a few hints on how to structure them.
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