The 2026 Novel Writing Challenge: Task #28

Good morning everyone. Today we are going back to our breakouts of Act One. We put the Plot in so we know the basic steps that our characters are taking throughout the first act. Yesterday we looked at the emotional arc for our main character(s), today’s task we are going to look at each and every point in Act 1 and put a bit of emotion into it. It may help to look over the emotional arc you created yesterday. With Act 1 we will be using the beginning segment and going into the middle one, or at least setting up the jump into the middle point.

Let’s take Bob as our example again. The three points of his emotional Arc were…

Beginning

Bob feels trapped and overwhelmed. He is stuck in a job he hates, bound by responsibility and an unwillingness to let the company go down through mismanagement or to cause his father in law to have another stress induced heart attack because of the business, despite the fact that they have never gotten along. The fact that he is helping someone he doesn’t like because it is the ‘right’ thing to do also weighs heavily on him.

Middle

Bob feels used and under appreciated. He brought the company back from the brink of bankruptcy and they were happy to have his help then but they hate losing control and fear he has too much control so they undermine him when all he is trying to do is help them out. No one appreciated him and they take advantage of him. At this point he still feels trapped as well because he knows if he gives in and leaves they will fail. There is a little bit of determination that will start to creep in once he realizes Henry wants him to quit so he gets no severance.

End

Bob feels free and realizes that he doesn’t have to keep supporting people who don’t want him to support them. Helping family may be the right thing to do but if they don’t want it, you have to let it go. They will have to sink or swim on their own and he can not be responsible for them any more. There is release with that and a joy in finally being able to focus on what he wants to focus on.

With this Arc we need to get him through the doing the right thing stage and up to the feeling under appreciated start of the middle portion. Our Act One for Bob Stands like this…

Bob: Act 1

1: The start of the Story. Bob is working for his Father-in-law as he had a heart attack and there was no one else available to keep the family business afloat. (trapped)

The business is a lumber yard.
Bob is running the lumber yard, show a little day to day before things get crazy.
Bob is very good at organizing things and following a plan while Henry (FiL) flies by the seat of his pants calling his loose and disorganized stacks of things the traditional method that workd for him despite things going missing and the system clearly not working.

2:The issue with the everyday world: Bob went to school to be a Marine Biologist but even though he takes small jobs in his field when he can, he feels that more and more of his life is becoming about the Lumber Yard. (lost, trapped, sad, exhausted)

After work Bob goes home and we see his man cave/lab where he works on small projects, primarily data analyzation.
His wife Sarah is out with friends so he makes a sandwich and eats while he works.
At breakfast they don’t have much to say to each other. Show the repetitive circle.
Add in comments about family. He wants her to talk to her father, she doesn’t want to get involved but defends the family not Bob. He then goes back to work to start a day much like the last.

3: Inciting Incident: Bob had to change systems and processes when he started taking over because the business was heading for bankruptcy and now that they are in the black Henry insists on going back to the way things were and making things more miserable (actively miserable) for Bob at work. (determined and miserable)

Henry who is back for a limited number of hours each day tries to input something into the system and it won’t let him do it the old way because it is a new system. He is yelling at the computer when Bob arrives.
Bob explains it again and Henry points to out of date charts. Henry wants to go back to his scribbled notes and post it notations and Bob says they can’t because of the number of people accessing the data. Henry says he is the one who needs to know and everyone can just ask him.
Bob tries hard to avoid pointing out that Henry’s system was running them into bankruptcy. Specifically avoids mentioning money so as not to start that argument.

4:Chocies: His FiL hints (in several unsubtle ways) that he should quit, giving him the opportunity of walking away. (annoyed, underappreciated)

Henry says that now he is better they should get back to his system since Bob isn’t going to be there forever. Also says things along the line of getting rid of him and the new system at the same time.
Mention of how Chuck is now old enough to take on more responsibility and how he should be in charge because he is family.
Small digs in general to undermine Bob in the eyes of the family.
Show those not family appreciate Bob being there.
Bob knows they are currently in the black and he thinks about leaving.

5: Second thoughts: Bob realizes that if he leaves everything will go back to being run the way it was and the business will fail in a year or two. (responsible, determined)

Bob knows that the inventory and sales system with trackers will be shut off by Henry as soon as he walks out the door.
He also knows Henry’s system can’t keep track of things. It was fine when they were a small operation, but they are much larger and Henry’s system didn’t work before the Heart attack. Five years later dropping the system everyone else is using will cause major problems and spiral things back towards bankruptcy.
Bob knows if he leaves and they fail he will be blamed even if he isn’t there.
Bob also knows if it does start to go down, Henry could have another attack and he will be called back to fix the mess he already cleared up once before.

6:Decision:Bob decides he will train some of the others so they will understand the system and then once they can manage things competently he will pull himself out of the company so it doesn’t just collapse. (pleased with himself, hopeful for an exit strategy)

Bob realizes he can’t stay. It is killing him.
He also knows he doesn’t want to come back when the ship goes down again.
Bob looks at the family members trying to figure out who can keep things running or keep Henry from destroying the system so it won’t collapse and he can escape.

We broke out the emotions for the main act points in an earlier task, Now today’s Task #28 is to add the emotional points to each bullet point in the act.

Bob: Act 1

1: The start of the Story. Bob is working for his Father-in-law as he had a heart attack and there was no one else available to keep the family business afloat. (trapped)

The business is a lumber yard.(no real feelings about the business in general)
Bob is running the lumber yard, show a little day to day before things get crazy. (competent, maybe a little bored)
Bob is very good at organizing things and following a plan while Henry (FiL) flies by the seat of his pants calling his loose and disorganized stacks of things the traditional method that worked for him despite things going missing and the system clearly not working. (annoyed with Henry)

After work Bob goes home and we see his man cave/lab where he works on small projects, primarily data analyzation. (relieved to be able to spend some time doing what he wants but sad that it is only a small corner of his life)
His wife Sarah is out with friends so he makes a sandwich and eats while he works. (lonely, isolated)
At breakfast they don’t have much to say to each other. Show the repetitive circle. (distant)
Add in comments about family. He wants her to talk to her father, she doesn’t want to get involved but defends the family not Bob. He then goes back to work to start a day much like the last. (annoyed, emotionally drained)

Henry who is back for a limited number of hours each day tries to input something into the system and it won’t let him do it the old way because it is a new system. He is yelling at the computer when Bob arrives. (annoyed and frustrated as he has explained the same things multiple times)
Bob explains it again and Henry points to out of date charts. Henry wants to go back to his scribbled notes and post it notations and Bob says they can’t because of the number of people accessing the data. Henry says he is the one who needs to know and everyone can just ask him. (irritated but trying to be understanding and calm)
Bob tries hard to avoid pointing out that Henry’s system was running them into bankruptcy. Specifically avoids mentioning money so as not to start that argument. (trapped)

4:Chocies: His FiL hints (in several unsubtle ways) that he should quit, giving him the opportunity of walking away. (annoyed, underappreciated)

Henry says that now he is better they should get back to his system since Bob isn’t going to be there forever. Also says things along the line of getting rid of him and the new system at the same time.(irritated, and under appreciated, worried for the family if Henry goes through with things)
Mention of how Chuck is now old enough to take on more responsibility and how he should be in charge because he is family. (annoyed as he knows Chuck is incompetent)
Small digs in general to undermine Bob in the eyes of the family. (irritated but determined to do the right thing, despite everything)
Show those not family appreciate Bob being there. (relieved and determined to protect the workers from Henry)
Bob knows they are currently in the black and he thinks about leaving. (slightly hopeful)

5: Second thoughts: Bob realizes that if he leaves everything will go back to being run the way it was and the business will fail in a year or two. (responsible, determined)

Bob knows that the inventory and sales system with trackers will be shut off by Henry as soon as he walks out the door. (irritated but begins to think of ways around henry, still slightly hopeful)
He also knows Henry’s system can’t keep track of things. It was fine when they were a small operation, but they are much larger and Henry’s system didn’t work before the Heart attack. Five years later dropping the system everyone else is using will cause major problems and spiral things back towards bankruptcy. (slightly sneaky in a good cause)
Bob knows if he leaves and they fail he will be blamed even if he isn’t there. (annoyed)
Bob also knows if it does start to go down, Henry could have another attack and he will be called back to fix the mess he already cleared up once before. (worried, guilty)

Bob realizes he can’t stay. It is killing him. (understanding)
He also knows he doesn’t want to come back when the ship goes down again. (annoyed, worried)
Bob looks at the family members trying to figure out who can keep things running or keep Henry from destroying the system so it won’t collapse and he can escape. (hopeful)

As you look through the example you will see there is a lot of back and forth as well as mixed emptions. Your emotional path does not need to be a straight line. Different things are going to make your character feel a different way and all those emotions are going to tangle. There will be ups and downs and sideways meanderings but it will all lead in the general direction of your Act two and the midpoint of your emotional arc. If you find that the points of your plot are leading you away from where you want Act 2 to go, do a read through and see if you need to add/adjust a few plot points or if you need to tweak your emotions just a bit. I wouldn’t worry if they don’t match up exactly at this point as once we lay them all out we will be going back through all three Acts and the Arc to make sure everything flows. If you see something glaring here, go ahead and adjust, but don’t sweat the little things right now.

And that is our Task 28 done for the day. See you tomorrow morning.

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