Three-act structure: the framework that's held for twenty-three centuries.
Aristotle laid it down in the Poetics, Syd Field modernised it in Screenplay (1979) with his plot points. Ninety percent of classical cinema and nearly all commercial fiction rest on it. Extypis pre-loads the three acts, the plot points, the midpoint, and the AI measures the actual proportion of your manuscript.
Structure
Act 1, Act 2, Act 3 pre-loaded with Plot Point 1, Midpoint, Plot Point 2 and Climax.
Three acts, four turning points — and everything else falls into place.
Set-up (ordinary world, hero, central conflict revealed), Confrontation (escalating trials, allies, midpoint, dark night of the soul), Resolution (climax, denouement). The four plot points — inciting incident, point of no return, major crisis, final confrontation — are placed as a canvas. Adapt to variants (Act 2A and 2B, kishōtenketsu, Story Circle) as you wish.
From Aristotle to your finished manuscript, by way of Syd Field.
Understand the three acts, place the plot points, hold the 25/50/25 pagination, measure the drift, export — without burning out on tools that ignore dramaturgy.
Manuscripts that die don't die for lack of ideas.
They die because the framework didn't hold. The three-act structure exists precisely to make it hold.
Three promises, atop a stack of features.
Hold the three acts, measure the drift, ship a locked manuscript — ready for publisher, contest, or self-publishing.
The classical framework, laid down in advance.
Three-Act narrative plan pre-loaded with Plot Point 1, Midpoint, Plot Point 2 and Climax at canonical percentages. Adapt to variants (Act 2A and 2B, kishōtenketsu) or follow Syd Field to the letter.
The AI measures the actual proportions of your manuscript.
Act 1 at 25%, Act 2 at 50%, Act 3 at 25% — Field's golden rule. Extypis displays in real time the gap between your manuscript and the classical pagination. Missing plot points, drifted midpoint, misplaced climax: all flagged.
From locked manuscript to publishing house.
Publisher-spec DOCX (Penguin, HarperCollins, Random House, Hachette), EPUB for beta reads, book-quality PDF for self-publishing. Title page, ISBN, dedication if you want.
Give your project a real reading address.
Once the text is ready, you don't have to leave Extypis to find your first readers. Publish in one click on the public catalog and give your book a clean, readable, shareable page.
Published directly on Extypis — no fees, no middleman.
Publishing opens a dedicated page for your project: cover, title page, chapters, table of contents. The content is frozen at publication, so your readers always see a stable version while you keep working. You decide when to push a new version.
A reading page for each project
Customizable URL, title page, cover, table of contents and chapter-by-chapter navigation.
A catalog that helps readers find your book
Your project can appear in the public catalog, categories, subcategories and trending page — or stay accessible only through the direct link.
Readers who can actually react
Readers can comment chapter by chapter, mention a specific paragraph, and you get notified for every feedback.
A stable version without breaking your work
The text is frozen at publication time. You keep writing on your side, then decide when to push an update.
Everything Extypis unlocks for you
Hold your story, from outline to final page.
Narrative tools you won't find elsewhere — turn a tangle of ideas into a structure that holds.
AI that suggests, never replaces
The AI permanently sees your whole project — outline, sheets, scenes already written. Every rewrite, every completion, every suggestion, every cover stays consistent with your entire work, and at no extra cost or setup. You approve every word.
Estimates if you only use this feature. Credits are shared across every AI tool.
Daily writing comfort
Everything that makes long-form writing sustainable: shortcuts, templates, anchored notes, versions, goals.
Ship a book, not a file.
From manuscript to finished book: professional exports, academic citations, direct publishing.
Analyse and refine your prose
Style tools that go beyond the spell-checker: readability, poetic meter, repetitions, connectors, passive voice.
Lifetime updates
Every future Extypis innovation included, no extra cost, no paywall.
Backing an indie project
Extypis is an independent, self-funded project — no ads, no venture capital.
Human support
Got a question? You talk directly to the creator, never a chatbot.
Free to begin, even to finish. Serious when you need to go deeper.
The work of structuring and writing is entirely yours. The subscription gives you a thoughtful co-pilot, an occasional co-author, and an objective reader drawn from your target audience.
Frequent questions, plain answers (still friendly).
Does the three-act structure really come from Aristotle?
Yes, and the formula from the Poetics (4th century BC) is famous: « Every fiction has a beginning, a middle, and an end. » Aristotle laid down the rule for Greek tragedy. Twenty-three centuries later, Syd Field formalised in Screenplay (1979) the 25/50/25 pagination and plot points for Hollywood screenwriting — that's the modern, technical, operational version. But the framework is the same.
What's the difference with Save the Cat or the Hero's Journey?
Save the Cat (Blake Snyder) adds 15 internal beats to the three acts — more precise, more mechanical, designed for the Hollywood pitch. The Hero's Journey (Joseph Campbell, Christopher Vogler) extends the three acts into 12 mythological steps (call to adventure, refusal, mentor, ordeals, transformed return). Dan Harmon's Story Circle simplifies it to 8 circular steps. All these methods rest on the three acts — they enrich them, they don't replace them.
Does Extypis pre-load the three-act structure?
Yes, it's the default narrative plan. Start a project and you find as a canvas: Act 1 (Set-up, Plot Point 1), Act 2 (Confrontation, Midpoint, Plot Point 2), Act 3 (Climax, Resolution). The four turning points are placed at Syd Field's classical percentages. Adapt as you wish (Act 2A and 2B, additional beats), or follow Field to the letter.
Does the three-act structure work for every genre?
For nearly all commercial Western fiction, yes. Mystery, thriller, romance, fantasy, science-fiction, literary fiction: Stephen King, John Grisham, Gillian Flynn, Lee Child, Donna Tartt — all structured in three acts even when they don't claim it. It works less well for experimental fiction, slice-of-life, classical Japanese novels (which follow the kishōtenketsu, a four-act structure), some fragmented narratives. But even those works dialogue with the three-act — often by deliberately departing from it.
What exactly is a plot point?
A plot point is a precise event that pivots the story from one act into the next. Syd Field identifies four: Plot Point 1 (end Act 1, ~25%) — inciting incident that propels the hero into adventure (Luke finds the droids in Star Wars). Midpoint (~50%) — point of no return that flips the situation. Plot Point 2 (end Act 2, ~75%) — major crisis, dark night of the soul. Climax (~85-90%) — final confrontation. These are turns, not transitions.
Can Japanese fiction or slice-of-life step out of the three acts?
Yes, and it's a fascinating debate. Japanese kishōtenketsu (4 acts: introduction, development, twist, conclusion) works without central conflict — slice-of-life manga, some Murakami novels, many experimental European narratives draw on it. The main critique of the three-act is that it's structurally Western, founded on Aristotelian dramatic conflict. Extypis lets you switch narrative plan at any time — you're not locked into one canvas.
Twenty-three centuries of dramaturgy, distilled into your manuscript.
The three-act structure isn't a recipe, it's a map — the one that carried Oedipus Rex, Star Wars, Schindler's List, and nearly all of modern commercial fiction. Extypis gives you the framework, the diagnosis, and the publisher-ready output in a single workshop. If you write seriously and want to honour the classical promise, this is where it starts.