(courtesy of Renee Stern)
Whether you're an outliner or a pantser*, or fall somewhere in between, taking
a close look at story structure can help when it comes to creating your first
draft or revising it later. (*Outliners
figure out the main beats or plot points of their stories before they start,
sometimes even in more detail than that. Pantsers prefer to discover the story
as they go, writing by the seat of their pants.)
It doesn't matter whether you're writing
short stories, novels or multi-volume sagas--structure is the skeleton
that holds the tale together. If you hit a point in the story where it’s
falling apart or you’re struggling to move forward, the problem may lie with
structure.
A few structural elements to consider:
1.
Plot and character arcs
A. External journeys, or what changes in the world around your
protagonist, ideally as a result of your protagonist’s actions? This is your
plot arc.
B. Internal journeys, or how does your protagonist change and grow, over
the course of the story? This is your character arc.
C. Some stories may lean more heavily toward one over the other—straight
action/old-school pulp adventure vs. literary.
D. Arcs have a start point, but do your story’s progress beyond that? If
the character doesn’t act or nothing happens to her, the plot arc remains a
single point. If the character doesn’t learn something, doesn’t change, or
stays in the same emotional/mental state, the character arc remains a single
point.
E. An arc should rise to a peak, or even several peaks with dips in
between, to include conflict and setbacks as well as triumphs; an arc that
moves forward in a horizontal line is missing conflict and tension. (Note that
conflict does not necessarily require fight scenes or physical confrontation;
an internal conflict could include the character struggling over an action that
will benefit him but harm others or break the law.)
F. The longer your story, the more peaks and dips your structure needs
to provide tension all the way to finish.
2.
Three-act structure
A. The most basic definition: beginning, middle, end.
B. A common structure, but not the only way to tell a story!
C. The beginning introduces the protagonist and her everyday state as
close as possible to the point when everything changes, also known as the inciting
point, or the moment when the protagonist must choose to pursue a goal or solve
a problem. Ideally, this moment of decision feels integral to the character as
introduced.
D. The middle, when the protagonist tries to solve the problem/achieve
his goal, but meets opposition and obstacles. (This opposition is your
antagonist, and may not necessarily be a separate person, but could be the
environment—man vs. nature—or the protagonist herself—man vs. self.)
The process of solving the initial problem or achieving the original
goal may reveal a new problem or goal, or modify the original approach. It
should also require at least one try-fail sequence, where the protagonist
attempts to solve the problem but makes the situation worse, and more of them
in longer works—these are the peaks and dips in the plot and character arcs—that
ultimately leads to a point of doubt and despair for the protagonist.
E. The end picks up at that dark moment when failure seems inevitable.
Something or someone (an internal resolution or outside force) pushes the
protagonist to the final confrontation, resulting in success or failure,
followed by a wrap-up that shows the change(s) from the starting points of the
plot and character arcs.
F. Not all endings have to be happy. Some protagonists fail their test
and run away from their moment of truth. What sort of ending suits your
story and these characters?
Variations on complete triumph or complete tragedy in endings could
include:
i. The protagonist loses but realizes he didn’t actually want to win.
ii. The protagonist wins but realizes victory isn’t as sweet as she
imagined.
iii. The protagonist sacrifices his goal for someone else or for the
greater good.
iv. The protagonist sacrifices herself for someone else or for the
greater good.
3.
Protagonist vs. Antagonist
A. Also called the hero and the villain.
B. Man vs. man, man vs. self, man vs. nature.
C. Ideally, the antagonist should have his own arc, with a goal or
problem that brings him into conflict with the protagonist. Also, the
antagonist should be the hero of her own story.
D. Give your antagonist ways to outmatch your protagonist at the start
of the story, but give your protagonist opportunities to level up. This
provides tension for the story without allowing an easy win; remember, there’s
a reason Superman’s creators developed kryptonite!
4.
Brainstorming exercises
A. What is your protagonist's beginning state? What is the inciting
moment? Identify the initial problem or goal. (Remember, this could change as
the story progresses!)
B. Who or what will block the protagonist from solving the problem or
reaching the goal? Are there internal obstacles to overcome as well? If the
antagonist is a person, what does she want or need, and what stands in her
way?
C. What obstacles could you put in your protagonist's path? What can go
wrong for him? Play on his weaknesses, flaws and blind spots!
D. How can you raise the stakes? Can you add a ticking clock?
E. What keeps the protagonist on her quest instead of walking away when
the going gets tough?
F. What will be the moment of doubt and despair for your protagonist?
What need or realization drives him onward?
G. How far will the protagonist and antagonist go to achieve their
victory and what will they balk at? What constitutes a victory for the
protagonist?
H. To achieve that victory, what will the protagonist's moment of change
or epiphany involve?
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