3 Act Structure, story editing, & what is done | author panel hosted by William R. Hincy

What in the world is the “three act structure” and is it even important? If so, why? How do you edit your work? And what the hell does “done” mean? Join a cast of writers from every stage of their career as we discuss, laugh, and dig deep into the writing questions of today.

Today’s drinking game: drink whenever we say “act!”

Bios:
“Some people run from their demons; others sit down and have cocktails with theirs.” William R. Hincy is a man who does and writes about the latter. Having become a writer after deciding it was the only sensible thing for a problem drinker to do, Hincy has won three American Fiction Awards, an International Book Award, and his anthology of short Fiction, Without Expiration, was named one of the Best Books of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews. He now lives outside Los Angeles with his wife and kids, having found solace in the notion that the only things sacred are self and whiskey-winged interludes.
WDW Intro video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lev5KHRpc5s
Website: https://williamrhincy.com/

John Gilstrap is the New York Times bestselling author of award-winning action novels including the Jonathan Grave Thrillers and the Victoria Emerson Thrillers. A master of action-driven suspense, he's touted as one of the most accomplished writers on the planet and his books have been translated into more than 20 languages. He is the recipient of an International Thriller Writers' Award for Against All Enemies and a two-time ITW Award finalist. He also won the ALA Alex Award for Nathan's Run, which was optioned for film by Warner Bros. John lives in Fairfax, Virginia and can be found online at JohnGilstrap.com.
Gilstrap on WDW: https://youtu.be/LJ2sU3nBXt0
Website: https://www.johngilstrap.com/
Books: https://bookshop.org/p/books/harm-s-way-john-gilstrap/19279470?ean=9780786050086

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She also writes the Grace Harper series for adults (Starting with Blood Ties) under the name, J.T. Hardy. When she's not writing fiction, she runs the popular writing site Fiction University, and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series.
Janice on WDW: https://youtu.be/UfoyfCkw8SA
Website: http://www.janicehardy.com/

Gabi Lorino is a writer, editor, and ukulele player. Her first book, A Magical Time Called Later, was inspired by several conversations with a disgruntled 38-year-old bridesmaid and came to her while she was washing dishes one night before Christmas 2015… hence the Christmas undertones.
Her next project was contributing to the Made in L.A.: Stories Rooted in the City of Angels anthology, which was released at the 2018 L.A. Festival of Books. Both of her stories in the first anthology tie into characters who were introduced in A Magical Time Called Later.
Made in LA Writers has since created additional anthologies, for which Gabi has also contributed stories. In addition, she has performed content editing, copy editing, and proofreading for the anthologies, spoken and/or presented at book events, and marketed these books as well.
Her upcoming book, tentatively named Single in December, travels back in time to the Great Recession and follows a group of fun, cool, socially awkward friends through 2019.
Gabi’s episode of WDW: https://youtu.be/vYMLY7frtjg
Gabi’s website: https://gabilorino.wordpress.com/about/

Dario Ciriello is a professional author and editor as well as the founder of Panverse Publishing. His fiction includes Sutherland's Rules, a crime caper/thriller with a shimmer of the fantastic; Black Easter, a supernatural suspense novel which pits love against black magic and demonic possession on a remote, idyllic Greek island; and Free Verse and Other Stories, a collection of Dario's short science fiction work.
Dario’s 2011 nonfiction book, Aegean Dream, the bittersweet memoir of a year spent on the small Greek island of Skópelos (the real Mamma Mia! island), was an Amazon UK travel bestseller. The Fiction Writing Handbook: The Rebel Author’s Guide to Writing Beyond the Rules (Panverse, 2017) is his second nonfiction work.
In addition to writing, Dario, who lives in the Great Lakes Area, offers professional editing, copyediting, proofreading, and coaching services to indie authors.
Dario’s episode of WDW: https://youtu.be/fpDdxz5ChLM
Dario’s blog: dariospeaks.wordpress.com
Dario’s editing service: exactlyediting.com

Chapters:
00:00:00 Start
00:00:21 Introductions
00:13:58 Round 1 The Three Act Structure
00:57:24 Round 2 - The editing process
01:35:43 Round 3 - What is done?