ScipTips 14: The All Important Box

Now that we’ve covered the All Important Triangle, it’s time we talked about another polygon! It’s also time we move ahead to our next lesson.

Presenting…

The All Important Box.

The All Important Box is actually one big box, with four smaller boxes inside it.

Remember how I said that a plot had three acts? But the middle act is double-sized? And then we split it in the middle?

For this lesson, we’re going to stop pretending and split our plot into four equal parts, but as a nod to Aristotle we’ll label them Act 1, Act 2a, Act 2b, and Act 3.

Now imagine these four parts of our plot are four small boxes of equal size. All their lids are off, and they are placed in a larger box like so:

Now imagine that our protagonist is a rabbit. And when we structure our plot, we place them in Act 1. But they are a rabbit, and rabbits can’t sit still. So they hop from Act 1 to Act 2a. Then they hop to Act 2b. And finally, they hop to Act 3.

Each time they hop, they change.

And how they change is their journey.

Now, I’m going to say the Four Most Important Words I have said so far.

Are you ready?