To love others’ books and your own
To do what you can to help books sell
To write, rewrite and eventually hone
Your own skills until your work is out there
In all you read and write, prepare!
And the best thing of all is that reading and writing is fun! You’re in the wrong line of work if you can’t enjoy these! I’ve found I have learned a lot about story structure, how things are set out, plot structure and so on as I read. You kind of lap it all up as you read. Besides if you ever want others to support your work by buying it, you really ought to return the compliment, yes?
The Three Act Structure or the Rule of Three
Is common to fiction forms, you can see
It appears obviously in most stage plays
It is used by William Shakespeare always
So I guess it will do for you and me!
Act 1 - the set up and the problem.
Act 2 - the crisis - everything at its worst.
Act 3 - the climax and resolution.
Even in short stories you can see this structure at work though naturally the “acts” are also much shorter. The Structure helps divide your book/play/story up. I think it helps with the writing of your work too as you have “pegs” to work towards.