The Structure of Stories

I bang on this a lot, and if the truth be told, this is only a minor component of a good story, but one most often missing.

Stories have a structure. Generally, three acts. There are other structures, but they all resolve, in one way or another, to three acts. There are certain things a reader (or viewer, for movies and television) expect in Act 1. There are things readers and viewers will absolutely not accept in act three. And there are ways a story transitions from one act to another that...