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With all of the different guides on how to write, you've probably come across a number of different story structures. So, which one is the best? The answer: YES! But seriously, there are several ways to tell a story in the same way there are several ways to compose music. Some figure these out intuitively, but others (like me for instance) need guides, and here are the myriad ways to shape stories.
The basic unit is always the scene: a series of actions (called beats) that always begin in one state and shifts to another with each action. These actions are often in opposition to one another: one character wants to achieve X, and the other wants to achieve Y, and X and Y are mutually exclusive. These actions finalize at a turning point that cements the new state. A series of scenes is often called an act (though it is possible to subdivide series of scenes within acts as sequences).
But how do we organize all of these scenes/sequences/acts?
Origin: Used in the theater, improvisational theater codifier Keith Johnstone adapted this concept to turn improv into a legit form of theater.
Usefulness: Great for individual scenes. This is also great for improv and roleplaying.
Structural Framework:
Platform: The opening state of the scene/story. For example, guy sits down at a park bench: a normal situation.
Tilt: A new element that is introduced that disrupts the platform, often creating a new platform. For example, from the previous scene, guy sits down at a park bench and reveals to the person sitting next to him he is insane (ala Edward Albee's The Zoo Story).
Kishotenketsu - Japanese 4-Part Structure
Origin: Used in all manner of East Asian narratives, this is a structure of synthesis of ideas.
Usefulness: Great for comics and sequentail stories/sketches. Examples include any 4-panel comic series like Azumanga Daioh, K-On!, Life of Maid, and so on. Also seen in Western comics like Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, and more. The structure can also be applied on a larger scale to compose entire scenes or a set of scenes.
Structural Framework:
Ki - Intro: Sets up a situation
Sho - Development: A situation that elaborates on the opening situation.
Ten - Twist: Something that contrasts the first two parts.
Ketsu - Result: A new situation results from the first two situations mixed with the twist.
Origin: Originally to describe Japanese court music, this philosophy extends to virtually any Japanese art: start slow, speed up, and end swiftly. Within each act, every part also starts slowly, speeds up, and ends swiftly. This form is very similar to Freytag's Pyramid: start slow, rise to a climax, offer a quick resolution.
Usefulness: This is a design aesthetic that can be applied to all stories at large.
Structural Framework:
Jo - Beginning: Start slowly. This section alone starts slowly, speeds up slowly, and ends swiftly into the next part.
Ha - Break: Speed up. This section also starts slowly (but swiftly), speeds up, and ends swiftly as it reaches the climax.
Kyu - Rapid: End swiftly. Again, follows the same form as before.
Origin: The Greeks held playwriting competitions for their festivals. Philosopher Aristotle did his best to organize how the best plays were written and his notes were organized as "The Poetics." Most famously are his notes on the tragedy and its many parts in order of ascending importance: plot, character, thought/theme, dialogue, melody/music, and spectacle. Here, we will look at the plot.
Usefulness: As we'll learn in the functions, classic Greek tragedies don't just concern the downfall of the protagonist: tragedies concern the downfall of its most powerful characters in-general. The tragic framework is great for showing consequential character arcs.
Thematic Functions:
Peripeteia - Reversal of Fortune: A large-scale turning point when somebody in good fortune falls into bad fortune or vice versa. As previously mentioned, these are how scenes operate and how climaxes work. For tragedies, the largest reversal plunges the most fortunate character into doom (sometimes it's the main character, but there are also tragedies where it is the villain who takes the largest fall, such as Oedipus at Colonus or Elektra), resulting in Catharsis, a purging of emotions (the Greeks saw sadness as a bad emotion, so the goal was to get all the sadness out during festivals).
Hamartia - The Tragic Flaw: From ignorance, the fortunate hero creates their own doom through hubris, the pride that kills. Despite all warnings, they wish to continue doing the very things that will lead to their doom/the reversal of fortune.
Anagnorsis - Self-Revelation: The point where the tragic character realizes their tragic flaw is leading to their undoing. In a tragedy, the tragic character only comes to this point upon the point of no return to the reversal of fortune or soon after.
Structural Framework:
Prologue: An opening scene/speech that introduces the main character, setting, and stakes. It ends with the Chorus entering.
Choral Odes: Scene changeovers where a chorus expounds thematically on what is going on.
Episodes: A series of events with an interchanging cast that ties together a number of subplots. There are between 3 and 5 Episodes. These eventually peak at a climatic Peripeteia.
Epilogue: Upon reaching the Peipeteia, we learn what happens to the previously-tied plots.
Campbellian Structure - The Hero's Journey
Origin: Mythologist Joseph Campbell studied myths from all over the world for decades, and each follows a series of patterns in both characters and structure. In addition, the Hero's Journey steeps itself in Jungian psychology to give a mental perspective as to how these journeys affect the characters.
Usefulness: Great for longer stories that need a cohesive plot. Disney swears by this structure, and their once-story department staff Christopher Vogler published his own take on it, The Writer's Journey.
Character Functions:
Hero: The person to takes the journey and is changed by it: either they grow into a positive hero or descend from anti-hero into villain into death. The characters they meet proceed to change them over the course of the journey.
Ally: Helps the protagonist directly. May have a sub-archetype: helps the hero emotionally, mentally, physically, and so on.
Threshold Guardian: Helps the protagonist indirectly by challenging their limits. They hold the hero back if the hero isn't strong enough, and they challenge the hero to rise to the challenge of getting past them.
Shadow: What the hero is to avoid becoming: a representation of all things society detests.
Higher Self: What the hero should become: a representation of all things society celebrates.
Herald: Steers the hero into taking on challenges.
Mentor: Directly teaches the hero how to handle challenges.
Trickster: A character whose psychology constantly shifts. Their function often switches between the Ally and Threshold Guardian.
Shapeshifter: A character whose outer roles constantly shifts. Their function often switches between the Higher Self and Shadow.
Anima/Animus: Characters who embody the positive and negative forms of masculine and feminine energy.
Structural Framework:
The Ordinary World: What's life like for the hero? What's missing?
The Call To Adventure: The hero is offered a chance to take a journey to restore balance to the Ordinary World.
Refusal of the Call: The hero might have a chance to reject the journey, but the problem eventually builds to a point where refusing just doesn't work.
Meeting the Mentor: The hero meets with somebody who can equip them for the journey.
Crossing the Threshold: The hero leaves the Ordinary World for an unfamiliar world of new rules and values.
Tests, Allies, and Enemies: The hero is tested by the inhabitants of the new world, making friends and enemies in the process.
Approach: The hero and allies prepare for a supreme Ordeal with the worst forces of antagonism in this world.
The Ordeal: The hero faces their worst fear or challenge, facing a metaphorical (and sometimes literal) death. They survive this and are reborn stronger than before.
Reward: For surviving the Ordeal, the Hero has attained the thing they sought after to restore balance to the Ordinary World. Of course, after a brief celebration, their return will be perilous...
The Road Back: Now the hero must escape the Special World back to the Ordinary World, but it is very likely they will be pursued on their way out.
The Resurrection: Upon finally reaching the exit, the hero is tested one last time, likely to face one more death and rebirth, this time on a higher level. Their exit of the Special World should have reversed things from when they first entered.
The Return: The hero returns home, either to stay or prepare for another journey, with the treasure they obtained from the journey to restore balance to the Ordinary World.
Freytag's Pyramid - Gustav Freytag
Origin: German writer Gustav Freytag studied the classical storytelling techniques that divide stories into five acts. It is one of the most common structures introduced in English class.
Usefulness: This is what most kids grow up with in English class, but generally ignore to their storytelling disadvantage. Going back to the Jo-Ha-Kyu form, it is possible to pace each scene within this structure with its own Freytag's Pyramid (or even Jo-Ha-Kyu or Kishotenketsu) within it.
Structural Framework:
Exposition: The opening act that sets up the setting, characters, situation, and stakes.
Rising Action: The following acts that involve the protagonist taking a series of actions to get what they want under increasing pressure/conflict.
Climax: The final turning point that creates irreversible change for the protagonist.
Falling Action: The results of the climax, often involving the victory of the protagonist and fall of the antagonist.
Resolution: The results of the plot, tying up all loose ends and unraveling everything else (the other term for this is denouement, or "to untie the knot").
The Three-Act Paradigm - Syd Field
Origin: With the advent of cinema, story structure need to be more tight than ever: anyone can rewrite a play, but cinema remains forever. Three-act structure gained steam since the Golden age of Hollywood, and one of its most popular teachers is the late Syd Field, who organizes the events of the story into this a series of overarching beats that can organically link a story's scenes from beginning to end. For best results, you write the ending first, then the beginning, then the midpoint, then the plot/pinch points.
Usefulness: An absolute must for boiling down giant plots to their essentials. It also works on scenes. Writer Dan Wells has another variation to speed up the brainstorming proccess: combine the Opening image and Exposition into one part, the Incident Incident and Plot Point 1 into one part, and the Showdown and Resolution into one part, resulting in a seven-step paradigm.
Structural Framework:
Opening Image: The opening "hook" if you will, this sets up the tone of the story to come (or, to through off people from the story to come, only letting them know that not everything is what it seems).
Exposition: The opening scenes that set up setting, characters, situation, and stakes.
Inciting Incident: A situation is forced onto the protagonist and now they must deal with the consequences and restore balance for the rest of the story.
Plot Point 1: The big turning point of Act 1 where the protagonist embarks upon their journey.
Pinch 1: The first major series of challenges.
Midpoint: The protagonist survives the first series of challenges and learns new insights, getting them closer to the goal.
Pinch 2: The protagonist must now face worse challenges, resulting in them getting overcome by the conflict, thus ending Act 2.
Plot Point 2: The protagonist rises back up with new insights, realizes their own strength, and gets ready to conquer the forces of antagonism once and for all.
Showdown: The climax: the protagonist takes one final action to overcome the forces of antagonism to restore balance.
Resolution: The after-effects of the climax. All of the subplots have been resolved. This also may include a final image contrasting with the opening image.
Origin: Since the times of Freytag, not everyone has agreed with classical structure, nor did they agree with the developments of Three Act structure. A turning point in story structure began with Lajor Egri, who argued that stories can fit many shapes as long as they adhere to a thematic premise and build to a climax, and Joseph Campbell, who espoused the timeless structures and symbols of the previously-mentioned Hero's Journey. One such advocate of organic structure is John Truby, whose framework provides the basic bones and allows writers to fill in the rest.
Usefulness: Extremely useful for organic writers who don't like outlines since it relies more on plot dynamics than pure structure. Once the dynamics are in place, you just fill in the rest.
Premise Framework:
Objective Premise: What the story is physically about, removed of any story structure.
Possibilities, Design Challenges, and Story Challenges: What's possible both physically and thematically, and how hard would it be to pull off?
Design Principle: Based on the challenges, how would you best tell this story?
Best Character: Of the characters of this premise, who should be the primary focus?
Conflict: What's the hero fighting against and for what reason?
Basic Action: The single cause-and-effect pathway that the hero follows through the story.
Character Change: If the character arcs, what action do they take to overcome their weakness and change? Or, in reverse, what action do they take that leads them from hope to tragedy?
Moral Choice: Regarding the conflict and change, what moral dilemma does the hero suffer approaching the climax? It must be a difficult-but-plausible choice (the better of two goods, or the worse of two evils).
Audience Appeal: Who would like this story? Pitch it, test it, or otherwise rewrite it.
Character Framework:
Hero: The protagonist. The one who becomes the driving force of the plot.
Opponents: Characters in opposition to the hero's goals. Not necessarily an antagonist: they just have different goals/ideologies.
Ally: Aids the hero in achieving the story goal.
Fake-Ally Opponent: An opponent masquerading as an ally.
Fake-Opponent Ally: An ally who seems like an opponent.
Structural Framework:
Weakness and Need: The hero has a major flaw that effects other people, and they need to develop new traits in order to overcome that weakness. Be careful about using flaws that do not affect others: not only does it lower the stages, but laws that affect others are often moral laws, which make for the most gripping stories. If you have trouble with this, think of a personal weakness for the hero, then ask what kind of immoral actions would come of that: you now how a moral weakness. If you only see the good in your character, crank up their virtue until it becomes oppressive.
Desire: The hero's ultimate goal within the story, often tied to the hero's need: either attaining the goal would destroy the weakness, or the goal is so much in opposition to the weakness that the hero is forced to give up the weakness in the process.
Opponent: Characters that stand in opposition to the hero's desire. This may include the hero's own behavior, people the hero knows (and usually, they're competing for the same goal), or even external opponents like the environment or society itself. The best opponents are cast based on the hero's weakness and need.
Plan: The hero's plan to achieve the desire against the opponents. Often, these plans have disastrous consequences (especially if the hero bases the plan based on the weakness), thus fueling the conflict of the story.
Battle: The previously-mentioned disastrous consequences that make up much of the plot: the hero and opponents are caught in a war of attrition that destroys both sides: mostly the hero's since they have not overcome the weakness yet.
Self-Revelation: Sooner or later, the hero is going to realize that their weakness is getting in the way of the desire. The hero then must take a difficult-but-heroic action to strip away their old behavior and become a new person (this is often based on the moral choice as set up in the Premise). By this point, the hero fulfills their Need and overcomes the Weakness. In tragedies, however, they don't overcome the weakness, leading to even worse disastrous consequences. Self-help expert Anthony Robbins studied this form of story structure and said it like this: "All stories are either an example of humans overcoming their Weaknesses, or a warning."
New Equilibrium: The after-effects of the hero overcoming the weakness, achieving the desire (or not: sometimes just the character arc alone is worth it), and overcoming the opponent(s).
Origin: After writers Chris Huntley and Melanie Anne Phillips failed to write a successful movie after what they believed to be good story theory, they went back to the drawing boards to find out how stories really worked. What they eventually settled on was that each story was a single mode of expression for an idea, and if told correctly, best expressed that idea. The two developed a whole host of difference variables, thematic elements, and character archetypes that, when put together, would orchestrate a theoretically perfect thematic story. Dramatica has its own software to calculate the right theme and arrange of elements to ensure nothing conflicts. Dramatica theory has been picking up steam as of the 2000s, including college courses using it as a key writing tool.
Usefulness: Dramatica is seen as the most daunting of all structures for its sheer complexity, assuming the below run-through doesn't tip you off. However, it's indispensable as a "theme calculator", and the ideas it brings up are often ignored by writers of all experience levels (such as the concept of story perspectives, plot dynamics, main character dynamics, casting dynamics, and more).
Note: Due to the complicated nature of Dramatica, the frameworks will also have additional notes.
Thematic Framework:
Situational Themes: Static external events. Also known as Universe (i.e. story universe).
Activity Themes: Dynamic external events.
Psychology Themes: Dynamic internal events. Also known as Manipulation.
Mind Themes: Static internal events. Also known as Fixed Attitudes.
Thematic Concern (sub-type): Within each theme are more variations of the above classes. Within each class is a Concern: for example, within Activity, you have activities that involve external static situations (called Understanding, since the most Activity you can do to a static external situation is figure out the facts), external dynamic situations (called Doing, since you're actually Doing the Activity), internal dynamic situations (called Obtaining, since you're actively gaining something of internal value), and internal static situations (called Learning, since you're internalizing an activity into what you know).
Thematic Issue (variation): Within each Concern is a variation on that theme called an Issue. For example, within Activity and within Doing, you have the external static variation (outer Knowledge that affects Doing the Activity), the external dynamic variation (outer Skill), the internal dynamic variation (inner Experience), and the internal static situation (inner insight, also called Enlightenment).
Thematic Elements: Within each variation are the variables that control how character act out the theme. For example, within the variation of Doing called Experience, the elements include the situation being within tolerable Accuracy, Expectations based on a cause, Determination based on inner thoughts, and determining if something is Non-Accurate (take a guess which each of these elements fall under, and you probably got this theory down). These elements are later used to balance out a character's behavior in response to the goal and story problem.
Plot Framework:
Overall Story Throughline: The overall story view, i.e. looking at a battle from atop a hill. What is everyone trying to achieve in the story?
Main Character Throughline: The main character's view, i.e. being a soldier within the battle. What is the main character trying to achieve within this larger main story?
Influence Character Throughline: There will also be a character trying to achieve same goal as the main character, but in a different way. Depending on what the story is about, the outcome is made or broken by whether or not the main character listens to the influence character.
Relationship Story Throughline: The story between the main and influence character and how the two go about influencing eachother whilst on the way to the story goal.
Additional notes: Each throughline takes place on different themes. The Overall Story and Relationship Story, along with the Main Character and Influence Character Stories, must both be static/dynamic. For example, if your Overall Story regards an Activity, then your Relationship Story must focus on the Manipulations of the characters. In the same example, if your Main Character Story focuses on their Situation, the Influence Character Story will focus on their Mind; a common dynamic in mentor relationships. The above example is actually from the Storyform (i.e. all of the variables put together) of Star Wars: everyone is trying to win the war (an Activity), Luke is stuck on a boring farm and wants things to change (a Situation, and he's later thrust from situation to situation, only going where the Overall Story needs him), Obi Wan acts as the central mentor figure and tactician for the characters (a Fixed Attitude), and Obi Wan teaches Luke about the ways of the Force (a Manipulation).
Dynamics Framework:
Character Dynamics: There are four dynamics that regard the Main Character: Resolve, Approach, Growth, and Problem-Solving Style. These are all binary decisions: you cannot choose both.
Resolve: Does the main character heighten their resolve in the face of conflict, or eventually change their approach?
Growth: Does the main character need to start doing something to face the story problem, or stop doing something?
Approach: Does the main character think their way through problems, or are they more hands-on when resolving problems?
Problem-Solving Style: Does the character solve things logically (breaking things into steps, if-then thinking) or intuitively (gut feelings and creativity)?
Overall Story Dynamics: There are four more dynamics that regard the Overall story: Driver, Outcome, Limit, and Judgement. Again, these are binary decisions: you cannot choose both.
Driver: Do actions force decisions or do decisions force actions? For example, is it like Classic Football (the players follow the ball) or American Football (with each play, teams are forced to change their strategy each time).
Limit: Does the story reach its conclusion after time runs out, or after the characters run out of options?
Outcome: Is the Overall Story a success or failure?
Judgement: Is the Main Character Story a success or failure?
Overall Story Theme: From here, if the previous eight dynamics are in place, all of the other variables can be calculated based on the Overall Story Theme alone. The dynamics here include Throughline Location, Concern, Issue, and Problem.
Thematic Dynamics: Within each set of Thematic Elements, each of the four Elements may be used as a Problem, Symptom, Response, and Solution for both the Overall Story, Main Character Story, Influence Character Story, and Relationship Story.
Problem: What is keeping this story from being resolved? Think of it like a sickness plaguing the people involved.
Symptom: The negative side-effects of the problem. Going back to the sickness metaphor, this is the pain caused by the sickness; you don't see the problematic virus or failing body part, but you do feel the pain.
Response: What the characters involved do about the side-effects of the problem. Going back to the sickness metaphor, these are the painkillers that ease the symtpoms, but do not kill the virus or replace the bad body part.
Solution: What the characters really need to do to stop the problem. Going back to the sickness metaphor, these are the medicines, therapies, and surgeries that destroy the illness for good.
Character Dynamics:
Passengers: Characters who do not effect the story, but are there to give multiple viewpoints on the theme, measure the Dividends and Costs of heading towards the goal, determine what is essential to completing the goal, and illustrate the joys/frustrations of trying to reach the goal. They include the Sidekick, Reason, Emotion, and Skeptic. These can also be individual traits assigned to complex characters, and you don't have to use all of them.
Sidekick: Has the main character's viewpoint and often paired with the main character.
Reason: A character who acts in a logical and reserved manner in reaction to the story.
Emotion: A character who acts emotionally and in an explosive manner in reaction to the story.
Skeptic: Has the opposite of the main character's viewpoint, doubting what they do when they meet.
Drivers: Characters who effect the story. They include the Protagonist, Antagonist, Contagonist, and Guardian. These characters all show why the goal is important, the consequences if the goal is lost, forewarnings of the chance the goal can be lost, and requirements to achieve the goal.
Protagonist: The character trying to achieve the Overall Story goal.
Antagonist: The character(s) trying to stop the protagonist from achieving the goal.
Guardian: The character(s) trying to aid the protagonist in achieving the story goal. This is often a Mentor character.
Contagonist: The character(s) trying to hinder the protagonist's efforts to achieving the goal. Think of it as an anti-Mentor or general trap-layer: where the Guardian encourages the Protagonist, the Contagonist discourages them.
Structural Framework:
Additional notes: Writers may choose to write from the Signposts or Journeys first, then filling in the other they chose second. If you do not have the Dramatica software, do your best to judge what kind of actions/themes come before which.
Signposts: There are four major events called Signposts for each throughline, and each plot moves through its theme's Concerns depending on the Overall Story Dynamics and Main Character Dynamics. Assuming you write these first, you then write the Journeys between each Signpost.
Journeys: Three are three series of events between the four Signposts called Journeys. Each Journey transitions from one story Concern to another. Assuming you write these first, you then write the Signposts to mark where each Journey begins and ends.
Origin: Blake Snyder was a Hollywood insider for a while with such not-quite hits as Stop, or My Mom Will Shoot! and Blank Check. While he wasn't exactly a top-notch writer, he knew his way around the business and exactly what studio executives were looking for, so he mainly spent his time teaching screenwriting. At his peak, unfortunately, he passed away, but his students still uphold his teachings, now acting as the teachers themselves.
Usefulness: Think of this as a more pinpointed version of Syd Field's Paradigm: it follows the same three-act structure, but all of the beats are named after exactly what happens. The downside is that the structure is very rigid: only three acts and one major protagonist (however, if you remember the previous structures, it can be scaled down and re-applied into four/five act structures). It's main use is in archetypal stories and scenic short stories: experimental works will require some clever use of rescaling. Plenty of examples are available on the Save The Cat website, plus an entire book of examples, Save The Cat Goes To The Movies.
Note: Snyder uses page numbers for the below examples, but not every story has page numbers. Rather, we're going to use percentages since every story varies in length.
Conceptual Framework:
Act 1 as Thesis: Act 1 is the ordinary world of your main character: what they're used to, what they're about, and what's wrong in their life.
Act 2 as Antithesis: Act 2 is the opposite of this ordinary world: once the main character crosses into this new world, they are a fish out of water, and everything that happens will fix their faults and enhance their heroic traits.
Act 3 as Synthesis: By Act 3, both worlds will collide, and the main character will become a master of both.
Framework Genres:
Monster in the House: Wherein the hero is stuck in a confined location trying to escape a deadly beast. (Jaws, Alien, Jurrasic Park, etc.)
Golden Fleece: Wherein the hero is trying to get something from a dangerous location. (The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Road Trip, Back to the Future, etc.)
Out of the Bottle: Wherein the hero's wishes are fulfilled (or nightmares come true) to entertaining results. (Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar, Groundhog Day, etc.)
Dude with a Problem: Wherein an ordinary hero is found in extraordinary circumstances. (Die Hard, Schindler's List, The Terminator, etc.)
Rites of Passage: Wherein the hero's change is that of maturity; especially in comparison to the hero's peers. (Ordinary People, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Napoleon Dynamite, etc.)
Buddy Love: Wherein the hero requires another protagonist, often one with opposite traits, to accomplish a goal. (E.T., Lethal Weapon, Finding Nemo, Wayne's World, and many romances also fall under this category.)
Whydunit: Wherein we figure out the motivation/nature of somebody's good or not-so-good (mainly not-so-good) acts. (Chinatown, Citizen Kane, JFK, etc.)
Fool Triumphant: Wherein the hero is a so-called idiot, but manages to pull the rug out from so-called "intelligent" society. (Forrest Gump, Being There, Amadeus, etc.)
Institutionalized: Wherein the hero is part of a larger group struggling for a larger goal, and must ask themselves, "Who's crazier? Me, or the group?" (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, American Beauty, M*A*S*H, The Godfather, etc.)
Superhero: Wherein an extraordinary hero is found in ordinary circumstances. (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, X-Men, Spiderman, and even horror stories like Dracula and Frankenstein)
Structural Framework:
Opening Image: The first thing we see, setting the tone for the rest of the story.
Theme Stated: The story's thematic argument briefly foreshadowed and set up early on in the story. Can happen anywhere within the first 10% of the story.
Set-Up: The first 10% of the story, setting up the main character and their problem(s). A strategy here is to find about six things that need fixing in the protagonist's life so they can be fixed within the story.
Catalyst: The inciting incident that launches the protagonist on a journey to restore the balance of their life and perhaps fix those things mentioned in the setup.
Debate: After the Catalyst, taking up the 10%-25% mark, the protagonist must either get ready for this new adventure, question the logistics, or delay the adventure if they are scared. Of course, there must be no other choice left by the end of this part: they must go on this journey.
Break Into (Act) Two: By the end of the first 25%, the protagonist has run out of arguments for the Debate and must now embark upon the journey. This action thrusts them out of their normal world and into the world of conflict that is Act 2. If you remember the Hero's Journey, this is Crossing The Threshold.
B-Story: By the 30% mark, you should have started your biggest subplot, which ought to settle/accelerate the pacing. This often introduces new characters.
Fun And Games: From 25%-50%, you now have the character embarking on their journey to restore the balance, and this is where the meat of your premise comes from: the adventure in an adventure story takes off, the romantic hijinks of a romance comedy start their jokes, the person with supernatural powers uses them for selfish-but-comical reasons in wish fulfillment stories, and so on.
Midpoint: As the name describes, it is your midpoint. By this point, you raise the stakes, make the journey that much more important, add a time constraint, and/or give the characters a false victory or false defeat.
Bad Guys Close In: From 50%-70%, you now push your Fun and Games to its limit and have them eventually get overturned by the forces of antagonism, be it internal and/or external.
All Is Lost: By the 70% mark, the forces of antagonism have briefly won. The protagonist gets a whiff of death, seeing failure just over the horizon, and now both the protagonist and the audience must ask, "How are they going to get out of this mess?"
Dark Night of the Soul: From 70%-80%, the protagonist must now look for a solution similar to how they debated going on the journey in the first place in the opening, only there's more at stake, more to lose, and quite possibly more to gain.
Break Into (Act) Three: By the 80% mark, the protagonist comes up with the solution (often thanks to what was established in the B-Story).
Finale: This finishes the 80-100% mark of your story, and it is where the main character's development comes full circle, the problem is solved, and balanced is restored. One way to write a finale is the "Storm The Castle" structure (characters can also defend the castle or escape the castle: it's mainly a metaphor). It is made up of five parts...
Storming The Castle - I. Gathering the Team: The protagonist decides there's no other way to solve the problem other than brute force, so they gather up all the people/equipment they need/can get.
Storming The Castle - II. Executing the Plan: The plan actually works, resulting in many of the memorable opening moments of any archetypal climax (the Lobby shootout of The Matrix, the air battle over the Death Star in Star Wars, etc.).
Storming The Castle - III. The High Tower Surprise: Unfortunately, the heroes still have their weaknesses left, and the bad guys exploit those weaknesses for one last All Is Lost moment.
Storming The Castle - IV. Dig Deep Down: With the selfish, not-entirely perfect solution dashed on jagged rocks, the hero has one last chance to think of a more altruistic, divine solution. This is often the point where many character arcs are solidified and final climatic decisions are made.
Storming The Castle - V. Executing the New Plan: Now the character must execute a new plan based on what they've dug up. Again, this is where you'll get some of your memorable climatic moments (Neo stopping the bullets in The Matrix, Luke using the Force in Star Wars, etc.).
Final Image: The last thing we see: something to contrast the opening. Basically, nothing is the same after this story.
Origin: From directing plays to writing TV screenplays to winning a BAFTA Award for pulling a Mr. Plinkett on Citizen Kane, Robert McKee stands atop the world's writing teachers with classes in Israel, Mexico, the UK, and in the States. His course is required for a number of television companies, he has been referenced in the Charlie Kaufman film Adaptation (which he later got a hand in after his lawyers asked him to sue Kaufman for using his material, but decided to instead help him out if he gave him a redeeming scene and fixed the finale), and offers quite possibly the most comprehensive view on story structure.
Usefulness: McKee's structure can be used in any number of ways, styles, and lengths. It can be outfitted to fit any of the previous paradigms or structures as well.
Creative Limitations:
Storytelling Style: How your tell your story also controls what you may use. The three plots run on a triangular spectrum of Archeplot, Miniplot, and Antiplot. Below Miniplot and Antiplot is Nonplot, a fourth option.
Archeplot: The story is told normally: single protagonist, mostly external conflict, linear timeline, logically connected events, arcing plot, and closed ending.
Miniplot: The story is told minimalistically with its details blunted or toned down: ensemble cast, mostly inner conflict, and open ending. Still maintains the linear timeline, logically connected events, and arcing plot of the Archeplot.
Antiplot: The story is told absurdly, reversing the Archeplot: non-linear timeline, random/coincidental events, ending that may be closed or open, may or may not have a single protagonist. Still maintains the arcing nature of Archeplot.
Nonplot: The "story" loops right back to where it started. All other variables do not matter because stories focus on change, and nonplot doesn't change.
Setting: How small is your setting? Where you set the story affects what options are available. Here's a guide on that.
Genre: Genres focus what thematic values are at stake. Here's another guide on that.
Characters: What are the characters like on the surface and what are they like under pressure?
Controlling Idea/Theme: The point of your story narrows down what scenes should be included and excluded. The point of your story, the Controlling Idea, is illustrated at its peak in the climax of the story. Throughout the story, you have a number of opposite arguments to the Controlling Idea: a negative side (the opposite of the Controlling Idea), a neutral side (which also generates conflict), and something worse than the negative side (often the opposite masquerading as the Controlling Idea). Once again, here's yet another guide on that.
Structural Framework:
The Gap Between Expectation And Result: Also just known as "the gap", this is the difference between a character's expectation when they take an action and the actual result: when they expect to get one thing based on their actions, then get another. In stories, all conflict, tension, suspense, and even jokes resonate from these moments. Every scene should split open this gap, beats must play with widening the gap or closing the gap, and so on.
Beat: A moment of action/reaction, often trading value charges.
Scene: A series of beats that finally tip to one value at a turning point.
Sequence: A series of scenes that finally tip to a large value at a turning point/sequence climax.
Act: A series of sequences that finally tip to a huge value at a turning point/act climax.
Framework Patterns:
Progressions: Scenes, Sequences, and Acts often come in odd numbers and fit like magnets with opposite charges at each end, always building in size. The only way to disrupt the negative/positive turning point progression is to place two extremely contrasting positive scenes or two extremely contrasting negative scenes back to back. You might include seven short scenes in a sequence to make a montage, or perhaps five powerful sequences in an Act to speed up the pace. How you divide each scene/sequence/act will change the pace.
Inciting Incident: At the beginning of the story, the main character's (or characters') life is in balance. Then, for better or for worse, something splits open the gap, disrupting the main character's life, resulting in this first turning point.
Progressive Complications: From that first turning point, the main character will take increasingly difficult actions to restore the balance of life. They can have a conscious goal, or both a conscious and (possibly contradictory) unconscious goal. The actions they take will often split open the gap and provoke reactions of inner conflict, interpersonal conflict, and/or external conflict. They will take bigger actions, and while some may succeed for a while, bigger forces will soon work against the hero(s).
Crisis: Eventually, the main character(s) will exhaust all of their options except one last choice, forcing them to pick between two irreconcilable goods or the better of two evils. Once they pick their last course of action, the hero(s) will not stray until victory or defeat. The Crisis may be placed anywhere in the story. It can be placed at the ending, where one final decision wraps up the plot. It can be placed at the penultimate act/sequence climax, turning the final act/sequence into non-stop action. It can be placed in the middle so the latter half is nothing but action after the first half of contemplation. It can also be placed at the very beginning if the protagonist has no other choice, often typical of many spy films, filling the whole film with non-stop action.
Story Climax: The final turning point of the final Act, illustrating the story's Controlling Idea. This may end positively (an Optimistic Ending), negatively (a Pessimistic Ending), or somewhere around the middle (an Up-Ending Ironic Ending or Down-Ending Ironic Ending).
Resolution: The after-effects of the story, as well as a chance to clean up any remaining loose endings.
Final Thoughts...
First, here are the things everyone seems to agree on...
The basic unit is always the scene: a series of actions (called beats) that always begin in one state and shifts to another with each action. These actions are often in opposition to one another: one character wants to achieve X, and the other wants to achieve Y, and X and Y are mutually exclusive. These actions finalize at a turning point that cements the new state. A series of scenes is often called an act (though it is possible to subdivide series of scenes within acts as sequences).
But how do we organize all of these scenes/sequences/acts?
Platform and Tilt - Keith Johnstone
Origin: Used in the theater, improvisational theater codifier Keith Johnstone adapted this concept to turn improv into a legit form of theater.
Usefulness: Great for individual scenes. This is also great for improv and roleplaying.
Structural Framework:
Platform: The opening state of the scene/story. For example, guy sits down at a park bench: a normal situation.
Tilt: A new element that is introduced that disrupts the platform, often creating a new platform. For example, from the previous scene, guy sits down at a park bench and reveals to the person sitting next to him he is insane (ala Edward Albee's The Zoo Story).
Kishotenketsu - Japanese 4-Part Structure
Origin: Used in all manner of East Asian narratives, this is a structure of synthesis of ideas.
Usefulness: Great for comics and sequentail stories/sketches. Examples include any 4-panel comic series like Azumanga Daioh, K-On!, Life of Maid, and so on. Also seen in Western comics like Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, and more. The structure can also be applied on a larger scale to compose entire scenes or a set of scenes.
Structural Framework:
Ki - Intro: Sets up a situation
Sho - Development: A situation that elaborates on the opening situation.
Ten - Twist: Something that contrasts the first two parts.
Ketsu - Result: A new situation results from the first two situations mixed with the twist.
Jo-Ha-Kyu - Japanese 3-Part Structure
Origin: Originally to describe Japanese court music, this philosophy extends to virtually any Japanese art: start slow, speed up, and end swiftly. Within each act, every part also starts slowly, speeds up, and ends swiftly. This form is very similar to Freytag's Pyramid: start slow, rise to a climax, offer a quick resolution.
Usefulness: This is a design aesthetic that can be applied to all stories at large.
Structural Framework:
Jo - Beginning: Start slowly. This section alone starts slowly, speeds up slowly, and ends swiftly into the next part.
Ha - Break: Speed up. This section also starts slowly (but swiftly), speeds up, and ends swiftly as it reaches the climax.
Kyu - Rapid: End swiftly. Again, follows the same form as before.
Aristotelian Structure - The Tragedy
Origin: The Greeks held playwriting competitions for their festivals. Philosopher Aristotle did his best to organize how the best plays were written and his notes were organized as "The Poetics." Most famously are his notes on the tragedy and its many parts in order of ascending importance: plot, character, thought/theme, dialogue, melody/music, and spectacle. Here, we will look at the plot.
Usefulness: As we'll learn in the functions, classic Greek tragedies don't just concern the downfall of the protagonist: tragedies concern the downfall of its most powerful characters in-general. The tragic framework is great for showing consequential character arcs.
Thematic Functions:
Peripeteia - Reversal of Fortune: A large-scale turning point when somebody in good fortune falls into bad fortune or vice versa. As previously mentioned, these are how scenes operate and how climaxes work. For tragedies, the largest reversal plunges the most fortunate character into doom (sometimes it's the main character, but there are also tragedies where it is the villain who takes the largest fall, such as Oedipus at Colonus or Elektra), resulting in Catharsis, a purging of emotions (the Greeks saw sadness as a bad emotion, so the goal was to get all the sadness out during festivals).
Hamartia - The Tragic Flaw: From ignorance, the fortunate hero creates their own doom through hubris, the pride that kills. Despite all warnings, they wish to continue doing the very things that will lead to their doom/the reversal of fortune.
Anagnorsis - Self-Revelation: The point where the tragic character realizes their tragic flaw is leading to their undoing. In a tragedy, the tragic character only comes to this point upon the point of no return to the reversal of fortune or soon after.
Structural Framework:
Prologue: An opening scene/speech that introduces the main character, setting, and stakes. It ends with the Chorus entering.
Choral Odes: Scene changeovers where a chorus expounds thematically on what is going on.
Episodes: A series of events with an interchanging cast that ties together a number of subplots. There are between 3 and 5 Episodes. These eventually peak at a climatic Peripeteia.
Epilogue: Upon reaching the Peipeteia, we learn what happens to the previously-tied plots.
Campbellian Structure - The Hero's Journey
Origin: Mythologist Joseph Campbell studied myths from all over the world for decades, and each follows a series of patterns in both characters and structure. In addition, the Hero's Journey steeps itself in Jungian psychology to give a mental perspective as to how these journeys affect the characters.
Usefulness: Great for longer stories that need a cohesive plot. Disney swears by this structure, and their once-story department staff Christopher Vogler published his own take on it, The Writer's Journey.
Character Functions:
Hero: The person to takes the journey and is changed by it: either they grow into a positive hero or descend from anti-hero into villain into death. The characters they meet proceed to change them over the course of the journey.
Ally: Helps the protagonist directly. May have a sub-archetype: helps the hero emotionally, mentally, physically, and so on.
Threshold Guardian: Helps the protagonist indirectly by challenging their limits. They hold the hero back if the hero isn't strong enough, and they challenge the hero to rise to the challenge of getting past them.
Shadow: What the hero is to avoid becoming: a representation of all things society detests.
Higher Self: What the hero should become: a representation of all things society celebrates.
Herald: Steers the hero into taking on challenges.
Mentor: Directly teaches the hero how to handle challenges.
Trickster: A character whose psychology constantly shifts. Their function often switches between the Ally and Threshold Guardian.
Shapeshifter: A character whose outer roles constantly shifts. Their function often switches between the Higher Self and Shadow.
Anima/Animus: Characters who embody the positive and negative forms of masculine and feminine energy.
Structural Framework:
The Ordinary World: What's life like for the hero? What's missing?
The Call To Adventure: The hero is offered a chance to take a journey to restore balance to the Ordinary World.
Refusal of the Call: The hero might have a chance to reject the journey, but the problem eventually builds to a point where refusing just doesn't work.
Meeting the Mentor: The hero meets with somebody who can equip them for the journey.
Crossing the Threshold: The hero leaves the Ordinary World for an unfamiliar world of new rules and values.
Tests, Allies, and Enemies: The hero is tested by the inhabitants of the new world, making friends and enemies in the process.
Approach: The hero and allies prepare for a supreme Ordeal with the worst forces of antagonism in this world.
The Ordeal: The hero faces their worst fear or challenge, facing a metaphorical (and sometimes literal) death. They survive this and are reborn stronger than before.
Reward: For surviving the Ordeal, the Hero has attained the thing they sought after to restore balance to the Ordinary World. Of course, after a brief celebration, their return will be perilous...
The Road Back: Now the hero must escape the Special World back to the Ordinary World, but it is very likely they will be pursued on their way out.
The Resurrection: Upon finally reaching the exit, the hero is tested one last time, likely to face one more death and rebirth, this time on a higher level. Their exit of the Special World should have reversed things from when they first entered.
The Return: The hero returns home, either to stay or prepare for another journey, with the treasure they obtained from the journey to restore balance to the Ordinary World.
Freytag's Pyramid - Gustav Freytag
Origin: German writer Gustav Freytag studied the classical storytelling techniques that divide stories into five acts. It is one of the most common structures introduced in English class.
Usefulness: This is what most kids grow up with in English class, but generally ignore to their storytelling disadvantage. Going back to the Jo-Ha-Kyu form, it is possible to pace each scene within this structure with its own Freytag's Pyramid (or even Jo-Ha-Kyu or Kishotenketsu) within it.
Structural Framework:
Exposition: The opening act that sets up the setting, characters, situation, and stakes.
Rising Action: The following acts that involve the protagonist taking a series of actions to get what they want under increasing pressure/conflict.
Climax: The final turning point that creates irreversible change for the protagonist.
Falling Action: The results of the climax, often involving the victory of the protagonist and fall of the antagonist.
Resolution: The results of the plot, tying up all loose ends and unraveling everything else (the other term for this is denouement, or "to untie the knot").
The Three-Act Paradigm - Syd Field
Origin: With the advent of cinema, story structure need to be more tight than ever: anyone can rewrite a play, but cinema remains forever. Three-act structure gained steam since the Golden age of Hollywood, and one of its most popular teachers is the late Syd Field, who organizes the events of the story into this a series of overarching beats that can organically link a story's scenes from beginning to end. For best results, you write the ending first, then the beginning, then the midpoint, then the plot/pinch points.
Usefulness: An absolute must for boiling down giant plots to their essentials. It also works on scenes. Writer Dan Wells has another variation to speed up the brainstorming proccess: combine the Opening image and Exposition into one part, the Incident Incident and Plot Point 1 into one part, and the Showdown and Resolution into one part, resulting in a seven-step paradigm.
Structural Framework:
Opening Image: The opening "hook" if you will, this sets up the tone of the story to come (or, to through off people from the story to come, only letting them know that not everything is what it seems).
Exposition: The opening scenes that set up setting, characters, situation, and stakes.
Inciting Incident: A situation is forced onto the protagonist and now they must deal with the consequences and restore balance for the rest of the story.
Plot Point 1: The big turning point of Act 1 where the protagonist embarks upon their journey.
Pinch 1: The first major series of challenges.
Midpoint: The protagonist survives the first series of challenges and learns new insights, getting them closer to the goal.
Pinch 2: The protagonist must now face worse challenges, resulting in them getting overcome by the conflict, thus ending Act 2.
Plot Point 2: The protagonist rises back up with new insights, realizes their own strength, and gets ready to conquer the forces of antagonism once and for all.
Showdown: The climax: the protagonist takes one final action to overcome the forces of antagonism to restore balance.
Resolution: The after-effects of the climax. All of the subplots have been resolved. This also may include a final image contrasting with the opening image.
The Trubyian Paradigm - John Truby
Origin: Since the times of Freytag, not everyone has agreed with classical structure, nor did they agree with the developments of Three Act structure. A turning point in story structure began with Lajor Egri, who argued that stories can fit many shapes as long as they adhere to a thematic premise and build to a climax, and Joseph Campbell, who espoused the timeless structures and symbols of the previously-mentioned Hero's Journey. One such advocate of organic structure is John Truby, whose framework provides the basic bones and allows writers to fill in the rest.
Usefulness: Extremely useful for organic writers who don't like outlines since it relies more on plot dynamics than pure structure. Once the dynamics are in place, you just fill in the rest.
Premise Framework:
Objective Premise: What the story is physically about, removed of any story structure.
Possibilities, Design Challenges, and Story Challenges: What's possible both physically and thematically, and how hard would it be to pull off?
Design Principle: Based on the challenges, how would you best tell this story?
Best Character: Of the characters of this premise, who should be the primary focus?
Conflict: What's the hero fighting against and for what reason?
Basic Action: The single cause-and-effect pathway that the hero follows through the story.
Character Change: If the character arcs, what action do they take to overcome their weakness and change? Or, in reverse, what action do they take that leads them from hope to tragedy?
Moral Choice: Regarding the conflict and change, what moral dilemma does the hero suffer approaching the climax? It must be a difficult-but-plausible choice (the better of two goods, or the worse of two evils).
Audience Appeal: Who would like this story? Pitch it, test it, or otherwise rewrite it.
Character Framework:
Hero: The protagonist. The one who becomes the driving force of the plot.
Opponents: Characters in opposition to the hero's goals. Not necessarily an antagonist: they just have different goals/ideologies.
Ally: Aids the hero in achieving the story goal.
Fake-Ally Opponent: An opponent masquerading as an ally.
Fake-Opponent Ally: An ally who seems like an opponent.
Structural Framework:
Weakness and Need: The hero has a major flaw that effects other people, and they need to develop new traits in order to overcome that weakness. Be careful about using flaws that do not affect others: not only does it lower the stages, but laws that affect others are often moral laws, which make for the most gripping stories. If you have trouble with this, think of a personal weakness for the hero, then ask what kind of immoral actions would come of that: you now how a moral weakness. If you only see the good in your character, crank up their virtue until it becomes oppressive.
Desire: The hero's ultimate goal within the story, often tied to the hero's need: either attaining the goal would destroy the weakness, or the goal is so much in opposition to the weakness that the hero is forced to give up the weakness in the process.
Opponent: Characters that stand in opposition to the hero's desire. This may include the hero's own behavior, people the hero knows (and usually, they're competing for the same goal), or even external opponents like the environment or society itself. The best opponents are cast based on the hero's weakness and need.
Plan: The hero's plan to achieve the desire against the opponents. Often, these plans have disastrous consequences (especially if the hero bases the plan based on the weakness), thus fueling the conflict of the story.
Battle: The previously-mentioned disastrous consequences that make up much of the plot: the hero and opponents are caught in a war of attrition that destroys both sides: mostly the hero's since they have not overcome the weakness yet.
Self-Revelation: Sooner or later, the hero is going to realize that their weakness is getting in the way of the desire. The hero then must take a difficult-but-heroic action to strip away their old behavior and become a new person (this is often based on the moral choice as set up in the Premise). By this point, the hero fulfills their Need and overcomes the Weakness. In tragedies, however, they don't overcome the weakness, leading to even worse disastrous consequences. Self-help expert Anthony Robbins studied this form of story structure and said it like this: "All stories are either an example of humans overcoming their Weaknesses, or a warning."
New Equilibrium: The after-effects of the hero overcoming the weakness, achieving the desire (or not: sometimes just the character arc alone is worth it), and overcoming the opponent(s).
Dramatica - Chris Huntley and Melanie Anne Phillips
Origin: After writers Chris Huntley and Melanie Anne Phillips failed to write a successful movie after what they believed to be good story theory, they went back to the drawing boards to find out how stories really worked. What they eventually settled on was that each story was a single mode of expression for an idea, and if told correctly, best expressed that idea. The two developed a whole host of difference variables, thematic elements, and character archetypes that, when put together, would orchestrate a theoretically perfect thematic story. Dramatica has its own software to calculate the right theme and arrange of elements to ensure nothing conflicts. Dramatica theory has been picking up steam as of the 2000s, including college courses using it as a key writing tool.
Usefulness: Dramatica is seen as the most daunting of all structures for its sheer complexity, assuming the below run-through doesn't tip you off. However, it's indispensable as a "theme calculator", and the ideas it brings up are often ignored by writers of all experience levels (such as the concept of story perspectives, plot dynamics, main character dynamics, casting dynamics, and more).
Note: Due to the complicated nature of Dramatica, the frameworks will also have additional notes.
Thematic Framework:
Situational Themes: Static external events. Also known as Universe (i.e. story universe).
Activity Themes: Dynamic external events.
Psychology Themes: Dynamic internal events. Also known as Manipulation.
Mind Themes: Static internal events. Also known as Fixed Attitudes.
Thematic Concern (sub-type): Within each theme are more variations of the above classes. Within each class is a Concern: for example, within Activity, you have activities that involve external static situations (called Understanding, since the most Activity you can do to a static external situation is figure out the facts), external dynamic situations (called Doing, since you're actually Doing the Activity), internal dynamic situations (called Obtaining, since you're actively gaining something of internal value), and internal static situations (called Learning, since you're internalizing an activity into what you know).
Thematic Issue (variation): Within each Concern is a variation on that theme called an Issue. For example, within Activity and within Doing, you have the external static variation (outer Knowledge that affects Doing the Activity), the external dynamic variation (outer Skill), the internal dynamic variation (inner Experience), and the internal static situation (inner insight, also called Enlightenment).
Thematic Elements: Within each variation are the variables that control how character act out the theme. For example, within the variation of Doing called Experience, the elements include the situation being within tolerable Accuracy, Expectations based on a cause, Determination based on inner thoughts, and determining if something is Non-Accurate (take a guess which each of these elements fall under, and you probably got this theory down). These elements are later used to balance out a character's behavior in response to the goal and story problem.
Plot Framework:
Overall Story Throughline: The overall story view, i.e. looking at a battle from atop a hill. What is everyone trying to achieve in the story?
Main Character Throughline: The main character's view, i.e. being a soldier within the battle. What is the main character trying to achieve within this larger main story?
Influence Character Throughline: There will also be a character trying to achieve same goal as the main character, but in a different way. Depending on what the story is about, the outcome is made or broken by whether or not the main character listens to the influence character.
Relationship Story Throughline: The story between the main and influence character and how the two go about influencing eachother whilst on the way to the story goal.
Additional notes: Each throughline takes place on different themes. The Overall Story and Relationship Story, along with the Main Character and Influence Character Stories, must both be static/dynamic. For example, if your Overall Story regards an Activity, then your Relationship Story must focus on the Manipulations of the characters. In the same example, if your Main Character Story focuses on their Situation, the Influence Character Story will focus on their Mind; a common dynamic in mentor relationships. The above example is actually from the Storyform (i.e. all of the variables put together) of Star Wars: everyone is trying to win the war (an Activity), Luke is stuck on a boring farm and wants things to change (a Situation, and he's later thrust from situation to situation, only going where the Overall Story needs him), Obi Wan acts as the central mentor figure and tactician for the characters (a Fixed Attitude), and Obi Wan teaches Luke about the ways of the Force (a Manipulation).
Dynamics Framework:
Character Dynamics: There are four dynamics that regard the Main Character: Resolve, Approach, Growth, and Problem-Solving Style. These are all binary decisions: you cannot choose both.
Resolve: Does the main character heighten their resolve in the face of conflict, or eventually change their approach?
Growth: Does the main character need to start doing something to face the story problem, or stop doing something?
Approach: Does the main character think their way through problems, or are they more hands-on when resolving problems?
Problem-Solving Style: Does the character solve things logically (breaking things into steps, if-then thinking) or intuitively (gut feelings and creativity)?
Overall Story Dynamics: There are four more dynamics that regard the Overall story: Driver, Outcome, Limit, and Judgement. Again, these are binary decisions: you cannot choose both.
Driver: Do actions force decisions or do decisions force actions? For example, is it like Classic Football (the players follow the ball) or American Football (with each play, teams are forced to change their strategy each time).
Limit: Does the story reach its conclusion after time runs out, or after the characters run out of options?
Outcome: Is the Overall Story a success or failure?
Judgement: Is the Main Character Story a success or failure?
Overall Story Theme: From here, if the previous eight dynamics are in place, all of the other variables can be calculated based on the Overall Story Theme alone. The dynamics here include Throughline Location, Concern, Issue, and Problem.
Thematic Dynamics: Within each set of Thematic Elements, each of the four Elements may be used as a Problem, Symptom, Response, and Solution for both the Overall Story, Main Character Story, Influence Character Story, and Relationship Story.
Problem: What is keeping this story from being resolved? Think of it like a sickness plaguing the people involved.
Symptom: The negative side-effects of the problem. Going back to the sickness metaphor, this is the pain caused by the sickness; you don't see the problematic virus or failing body part, but you do feel the pain.
Response: What the characters involved do about the side-effects of the problem. Going back to the sickness metaphor, these are the painkillers that ease the symtpoms, but do not kill the virus or replace the bad body part.
Solution: What the characters really need to do to stop the problem. Going back to the sickness metaphor, these are the medicines, therapies, and surgeries that destroy the illness for good.
Character Dynamics:
Passengers: Characters who do not effect the story, but are there to give multiple viewpoints on the theme, measure the Dividends and Costs of heading towards the goal, determine what is essential to completing the goal, and illustrate the joys/frustrations of trying to reach the goal. They include the Sidekick, Reason, Emotion, and Skeptic. These can also be individual traits assigned to complex characters, and you don't have to use all of them.
Sidekick: Has the main character's viewpoint and often paired with the main character.
Reason: A character who acts in a logical and reserved manner in reaction to the story.
Emotion: A character who acts emotionally and in an explosive manner in reaction to the story.
Skeptic: Has the opposite of the main character's viewpoint, doubting what they do when they meet.
Drivers: Characters who effect the story. They include the Protagonist, Antagonist, Contagonist, and Guardian. These characters all show why the goal is important, the consequences if the goal is lost, forewarnings of the chance the goal can be lost, and requirements to achieve the goal.
Protagonist: The character trying to achieve the Overall Story goal.
Antagonist: The character(s) trying to stop the protagonist from achieving the goal.
Guardian: The character(s) trying to aid the protagonist in achieving the story goal. This is often a Mentor character.
Contagonist: The character(s) trying to hinder the protagonist's efforts to achieving the goal. Think of it as an anti-Mentor or general trap-layer: where the Guardian encourages the Protagonist, the Contagonist discourages them.
Structural Framework:
Additional notes: Writers may choose to write from the Signposts or Journeys first, then filling in the other they chose second. If you do not have the Dramatica software, do your best to judge what kind of actions/themes come before which.
Signposts: There are four major events called Signposts for each throughline, and each plot moves through its theme's Concerns depending on the Overall Story Dynamics and Main Character Dynamics. Assuming you write these first, you then write the Journeys between each Signpost.
Journeys: Three are three series of events between the four Signposts called Journeys. Each Journey transitions from one story Concern to another. Assuming you write these first, you then write the Signposts to mark where each Journey begins and ends.
Save The Cat Beat Sheet - Blake Snyder:
Origin: Blake Snyder was a Hollywood insider for a while with such not-quite hits as Stop, or My Mom Will Shoot! and Blank Check. While he wasn't exactly a top-notch writer, he knew his way around the business and exactly what studio executives were looking for, so he mainly spent his time teaching screenwriting. At his peak, unfortunately, he passed away, but his students still uphold his teachings, now acting as the teachers themselves.
Usefulness: Think of this as a more pinpointed version of Syd Field's Paradigm: it follows the same three-act structure, but all of the beats are named after exactly what happens. The downside is that the structure is very rigid: only three acts and one major protagonist (however, if you remember the previous structures, it can be scaled down and re-applied into four/five act structures). It's main use is in archetypal stories and scenic short stories: experimental works will require some clever use of rescaling. Plenty of examples are available on the Save The Cat website, plus an entire book of examples, Save The Cat Goes To The Movies.
Note: Snyder uses page numbers for the below examples, but not every story has page numbers. Rather, we're going to use percentages since every story varies in length.
Conceptual Framework:
Act 1 as Thesis: Act 1 is the ordinary world of your main character: what they're used to, what they're about, and what's wrong in their life.
Act 2 as Antithesis: Act 2 is the opposite of this ordinary world: once the main character crosses into this new world, they are a fish out of water, and everything that happens will fix their faults and enhance their heroic traits.
Act 3 as Synthesis: By Act 3, both worlds will collide, and the main character will become a master of both.
Framework Genres:
Monster in the House: Wherein the hero is stuck in a confined location trying to escape a deadly beast. (Jaws, Alien, Jurrasic Park, etc.)
Golden Fleece: Wherein the hero is trying to get something from a dangerous location. (The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Road Trip, Back to the Future, etc.)
Out of the Bottle: Wherein the hero's wishes are fulfilled (or nightmares come true) to entertaining results. (Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar, Groundhog Day, etc.)
Dude with a Problem: Wherein an ordinary hero is found in extraordinary circumstances. (Die Hard, Schindler's List, The Terminator, etc.)
Rites of Passage: Wherein the hero's change is that of maturity; especially in comparison to the hero's peers. (Ordinary People, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Napoleon Dynamite, etc.)
Buddy Love: Wherein the hero requires another protagonist, often one with opposite traits, to accomplish a goal. (E.T., Lethal Weapon, Finding Nemo, Wayne's World, and many romances also fall under this category.)
Whydunit: Wherein we figure out the motivation/nature of somebody's good or not-so-good (mainly not-so-good) acts. (Chinatown, Citizen Kane, JFK, etc.)
Fool Triumphant: Wherein the hero is a so-called idiot, but manages to pull the rug out from so-called "intelligent" society. (Forrest Gump, Being There, Amadeus, etc.)
Institutionalized: Wherein the hero is part of a larger group struggling for a larger goal, and must ask themselves, "Who's crazier? Me, or the group?" (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, American Beauty, M*A*S*H, The Godfather, etc.)
Superhero: Wherein an extraordinary hero is found in ordinary circumstances. (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, X-Men, Spiderman, and even horror stories like Dracula and Frankenstein)
Structural Framework:
Opening Image: The first thing we see, setting the tone for the rest of the story.
Theme Stated: The story's thematic argument briefly foreshadowed and set up early on in the story. Can happen anywhere within the first 10% of the story.
Set-Up: The first 10% of the story, setting up the main character and their problem(s). A strategy here is to find about six things that need fixing in the protagonist's life so they can be fixed within the story.
Catalyst: The inciting incident that launches the protagonist on a journey to restore the balance of their life and perhaps fix those things mentioned in the setup.
Debate: After the Catalyst, taking up the 10%-25% mark, the protagonist must either get ready for this new adventure, question the logistics, or delay the adventure if they are scared. Of course, there must be no other choice left by the end of this part: they must go on this journey.
Break Into (Act) Two: By the end of the first 25%, the protagonist has run out of arguments for the Debate and must now embark upon the journey. This action thrusts them out of their normal world and into the world of conflict that is Act 2. If you remember the Hero's Journey, this is Crossing The Threshold.
B-Story: By the 30% mark, you should have started your biggest subplot, which ought to settle/accelerate the pacing. This often introduces new characters.
Fun And Games: From 25%-50%, you now have the character embarking on their journey to restore the balance, and this is where the meat of your premise comes from: the adventure in an adventure story takes off, the romantic hijinks of a romance comedy start their jokes, the person with supernatural powers uses them for selfish-but-comical reasons in wish fulfillment stories, and so on.
Midpoint: As the name describes, it is your midpoint. By this point, you raise the stakes, make the journey that much more important, add a time constraint, and/or give the characters a false victory or false defeat.
Bad Guys Close In: From 50%-70%, you now push your Fun and Games to its limit and have them eventually get overturned by the forces of antagonism, be it internal and/or external.
All Is Lost: By the 70% mark, the forces of antagonism have briefly won. The protagonist gets a whiff of death, seeing failure just over the horizon, and now both the protagonist and the audience must ask, "How are they going to get out of this mess?"
Dark Night of the Soul: From 70%-80%, the protagonist must now look for a solution similar to how they debated going on the journey in the first place in the opening, only there's more at stake, more to lose, and quite possibly more to gain.
Break Into (Act) Three: By the 80% mark, the protagonist comes up with the solution (often thanks to what was established in the B-Story).
Finale: This finishes the 80-100% mark of your story, and it is where the main character's development comes full circle, the problem is solved, and balanced is restored. One way to write a finale is the "Storm The Castle" structure (characters can also defend the castle or escape the castle: it's mainly a metaphor). It is made up of five parts...
Storming The Castle - I. Gathering the Team: The protagonist decides there's no other way to solve the problem other than brute force, so they gather up all the people/equipment they need/can get.
Storming The Castle - II. Executing the Plan: The plan actually works, resulting in many of the memorable opening moments of any archetypal climax (the Lobby shootout of The Matrix, the air battle over the Death Star in Star Wars, etc.).
Storming The Castle - III. The High Tower Surprise: Unfortunately, the heroes still have their weaknesses left, and the bad guys exploit those weaknesses for one last All Is Lost moment.
Storming The Castle - IV. Dig Deep Down: With the selfish, not-entirely perfect solution dashed on jagged rocks, the hero has one last chance to think of a more altruistic, divine solution. This is often the point where many character arcs are solidified and final climatic decisions are made.
Storming The Castle - V. Executing the New Plan: Now the character must execute a new plan based on what they've dug up. Again, this is where you'll get some of your memorable climatic moments (Neo stopping the bullets in The Matrix, Luke using the Force in Star Wars, etc.).
Final Image: The last thing we see: something to contrast the opening. Basically, nothing is the same after this story.
Act-Sequence-Scene-Beat - Robert McKee
Origin: From directing plays to writing TV screenplays to winning a BAFTA Award for pulling a Mr. Plinkett on Citizen Kane, Robert McKee stands atop the world's writing teachers with classes in Israel, Mexico, the UK, and in the States. His course is required for a number of television companies, he has been referenced in the Charlie Kaufman film Adaptation (which he later got a hand in after his lawyers asked him to sue Kaufman for using his material, but decided to instead help him out if he gave him a redeeming scene and fixed the finale), and offers quite possibly the most comprehensive view on story structure.
Usefulness: McKee's structure can be used in any number of ways, styles, and lengths. It can be outfitted to fit any of the previous paradigms or structures as well.
Creative Limitations:
Storytelling Style: How your tell your story also controls what you may use. The three plots run on a triangular spectrum of Archeplot, Miniplot, and Antiplot. Below Miniplot and Antiplot is Nonplot, a fourth option.
Archeplot: The story is told normally: single protagonist, mostly external conflict, linear timeline, logically connected events, arcing plot, and closed ending.
Miniplot: The story is told minimalistically with its details blunted or toned down: ensemble cast, mostly inner conflict, and open ending. Still maintains the linear timeline, logically connected events, and arcing plot of the Archeplot.
Antiplot: The story is told absurdly, reversing the Archeplot: non-linear timeline, random/coincidental events, ending that may be closed or open, may or may not have a single protagonist. Still maintains the arcing nature of Archeplot.
Nonplot: The "story" loops right back to where it started. All other variables do not matter because stories focus on change, and nonplot doesn't change.
Setting: How small is your setting? Where you set the story affects what options are available. Here's a guide on that.
Genre: Genres focus what thematic values are at stake. Here's another guide on that.
Characters: What are the characters like on the surface and what are they like under pressure?
Controlling Idea/Theme: The point of your story narrows down what scenes should be included and excluded. The point of your story, the Controlling Idea, is illustrated at its peak in the climax of the story. Throughout the story, you have a number of opposite arguments to the Controlling Idea: a negative side (the opposite of the Controlling Idea), a neutral side (which also generates conflict), and something worse than the negative side (often the opposite masquerading as the Controlling Idea). Once again, here's yet another guide on that.
Structural Framework:
The Gap Between Expectation And Result: Also just known as "the gap", this is the difference between a character's expectation when they take an action and the actual result: when they expect to get one thing based on their actions, then get another. In stories, all conflict, tension, suspense, and even jokes resonate from these moments. Every scene should split open this gap, beats must play with widening the gap or closing the gap, and so on.
Beat: A moment of action/reaction, often trading value charges.
Scene: A series of beats that finally tip to one value at a turning point.
Sequence: A series of scenes that finally tip to a large value at a turning point/sequence climax.
Act: A series of sequences that finally tip to a huge value at a turning point/act climax.
Framework Patterns:
Progressions: Scenes, Sequences, and Acts often come in odd numbers and fit like magnets with opposite charges at each end, always building in size. The only way to disrupt the negative/positive turning point progression is to place two extremely contrasting positive scenes or two extremely contrasting negative scenes back to back. You might include seven short scenes in a sequence to make a montage, or perhaps five powerful sequences in an Act to speed up the pace. How you divide each scene/sequence/act will change the pace.
Inciting Incident: At the beginning of the story, the main character's (or characters') life is in balance. Then, for better or for worse, something splits open the gap, disrupting the main character's life, resulting in this first turning point.
Progressive Complications: From that first turning point, the main character will take increasingly difficult actions to restore the balance of life. They can have a conscious goal, or both a conscious and (possibly contradictory) unconscious goal. The actions they take will often split open the gap and provoke reactions of inner conflict, interpersonal conflict, and/or external conflict. They will take bigger actions, and while some may succeed for a while, bigger forces will soon work against the hero(s).
Crisis: Eventually, the main character(s) will exhaust all of their options except one last choice, forcing them to pick between two irreconcilable goods or the better of two evils. Once they pick their last course of action, the hero(s) will not stray until victory or defeat. The Crisis may be placed anywhere in the story. It can be placed at the ending, where one final decision wraps up the plot. It can be placed at the penultimate act/sequence climax, turning the final act/sequence into non-stop action. It can be placed in the middle so the latter half is nothing but action after the first half of contemplation. It can also be placed at the very beginning if the protagonist has no other choice, often typical of many spy films, filling the whole film with non-stop action.
Story Climax: The final turning point of the final Act, illustrating the story's Controlling Idea. This may end positively (an Optimistic Ending), negatively (a Pessimistic Ending), or somewhere around the middle (an Up-Ending Ironic Ending or Down-Ending Ironic Ending).
Resolution: The after-effects of the story, as well as a chance to clean up any remaining loose endings.
Final Thoughts...
First, here are the things everyone seems to agree on...
- All stories begin at the last moments of ordinary life, just before entering the extraordinary.
- All stories must rise in action until they hit a climax.
- Casts are written in opposites.
- Plots are a matter of duality: for every good moment comes a bad moment, and for every bad moment comes a good moment.
- A good story knows how to pattern its feel-good moments, its feel-bad moments, and its cast, no matter how much its job is to imitate life.
- Single protagonists with character arcs are easier to work with.
- The longer your story is, the more important it is to have a good premise.
- Stories don't really follow a set pattern: many of these cite Star Wars as an example, and yet it fits into each structure perfectly.
Second, here are some important lessons to learn from each structure...
- Platform/Tilt, Kishotenketsu, and Jo-Ha-Kyu all teach that using or disrupting patterns can create stories.
- Aristotle taught that all theater/poetry/art is the act of mimesis, to imitate life. In tragedies, the goal is to imitate how somebody reaches tragic consequences. According to all of the possible outcomes, Aristotle found the best to be a situation where somebody of great power ignores/instigates the consequences until it is too late to be the most tragic; especially compared to situations where they don't ignore it (which is just false dilemma) or the tragic consequences come from an outside source (which is just a misadventure).
- The Hero's Journey provides tons of great casting dynamics and archetypal scene possibilities.
- Both Gustav Freytag and Syd Field have structures that allow us to shortcut structure: large plots/smaller scenes can be outlined by Field's Paradigm, and sequences/scenes can be broken down thanks to Gustav's Pyramid (Freytag's Pyramid is much more difficult for larger plots). Blake Snyder helps break down these paradigms into workable parts.
- John Truby teaches us how to design a working premise. Most writers fail at the premise, leading audiences to point out the writer's many holes in logic as the story progresses.
- Dramatica asks many questions writers tend to ignore: How does the main character think? What are the limits/dynamics of the plot? From who's perspectives do we see each story problem? Its view of theme is also the most comprehensive, asking us to look at themes in new ways: does this concern the inner world or outer world? And does it concern active things or things that do not change?
- Robert McKee's Framework is the well-rounded workhorse of structures: it is possible to apply McKee's concepts to every single above structure.
And lastly, some disadvantages and solutions:
- Platform/Tilt, Kishotenketsu, and Jo-Ha-Kyu are merely patterns: they do not provide characters. Look at The Hero's Journey for a cast or archetypal characters.
- Aristotle's writings on comedy are lost, so we do not have an understanding of what he thinks would make for a good up-ending story. Instead, just remember that plot is more important that every other element and focus on the others for structures.
- The Hero's Journey, Freytag's Pyramid, Field's Paradigm, and Truby's Paradigm are very rigid in structure. Plus, it is possible to only write out the plot points and ignore everything in-between, resulting in useless scenes. For non-linear plots or plots with multiple characters, use McKee's Framework. For scene writing, break down each Paradigm on a smaller scale (this is actually recommended by John Truby himself, plus he also mentions paying attention to location in character arc and scene key words).
- Dramatica, for all its innovations, has just as many limitations: it's extremely complicated, and each storyform does not guarantee a good story. Plus, it only focuses on single protagonists. Again, combine with McKee's Framework if you need to use multiple characters. Combine with Field's Paradigm, Truby's Paradigm, or The Hero's Journey for plot results.
- Robert McKee's Framework requires enough life experience and morality to ensure you don't tell a backwards story that could compel and audience to do something they'd rather not want you doing. If you're short for themes/Controlling Ideas, combine it with Dramatica to inspire you to write a moral story.
If you got any more story structures you'd like us to look at, just post them in the comments below.
In the meantime, Happy Writing/Plotting!,
-Spaztique
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----- Original Message ----- I recently came across an article you wrote about the Gothic story structure. ... Your article was incredibly straight forward and informative. Do you have any resources you would recommend for aspiring ... authors to ensure they are hitting all the wickets? -- J Sadly, there's not a whole lot out there on the different types of Plotting Structures. Most of what is available are somewhat...simplistic derivatives of Aristotle's 3 Act Structure for a Tragedy, Freytag's Pyramid, and The Hero's Journey based on Campbell's 'Hero with a Thousand Faces.' Unfortunately, those structures only cover a small amount of very common, very basic stories. Certainly not what I wanted to write. So, what I did was outline the plots of some of my favorite stories from books and movies to figure out their plotting patterns. This is how I came up with the Gothic plot, the Fairy Tale plot, the Horror plot, and the Romance plot patterns. (INTJ here.
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Made this guide while sick, updating it every day until it got finished. It's finished, so enjoy!
© 2014 - 2024 Spaztique
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Sometimes I wonder, what would a political commentary be placed in.