Reading and Writing and 'Rithmetic

I attended my first comic con last week, mostly because a friend couldn't use her ticket and didn't want it to go to waste but partly because I was curious about the writing panels. It was interesting sitting in panel after panel over three days listening to authors break down their processes and how they developed conflict etc. etc. 

I didn't notice the first or even the second time, but by the third day I was trying very hard not to laugh in every panel. I don't know how they managed to get so many authors saying the same thing, but buried in the talk about conflict, pacing, character development, outlining, plotting, and just plain writing there sat this recurring fundamental difficulty. The first third of a book, they say, should contain the rising action, character introduction and so forth. The middle two-thirds is the main guts of the story, the hero fighting everything you can throw at him, really wrenching out what makes your hero the hero and so forth. And the final third is the resolution, hero gets the girl, hero dies tragically, whatever. 

Did you catch that? According to every panelist who used this division system, every book has four thirds. Ah, my author friends, read and write to your hearts' content, but leave the 'rithmetic to someone else.