balance and act turn
May 28, 2005
When writing a story, typically you start out with a character who is more or less balanced at the beginning of the story. Not so much that they’re at peace, but that they’ve come to terms with the way things are for them. Then some event happens - commonly referred to as the Inciting Incident. This event forces the MC to make a choice (consciously or unconsciously) to start down a path.
In Big, the Inciting Incident for Josh (Tom Hanks) is when he becomes big - when he magically turns into his adult self. His choice at that moment is to go back to being a 13 year old. This Initial Choice sets his Resolve at a certain level. With that driving him, Josh follows along that path throughout the rest of the first Act and comes to a point where everything seems to balance out. His situation at that moment is definitely not comfortable, but to him he’s doing everything he can and it seems like it will all turn out as planned.
But then you have the Act turn - which is designed to throw everything into a different context. Now Josh will have to shore up his Resolve even greater if he is to maintain his drive and continue down that path.