Story Structure—A Brief Refresher
I’ve been reading about plotting and story structure. Do I see a collective eye-roll? Don’t blame you. As my Mom liked to point out, “Galen, you’re educated beyond your intelligence.” She’d deny saying that, but, I love to attribute it to her anyway. Sounds like something she’d—or the wonderfully wacky and cranky Myrtle Clover—would say. Elizabeth, please feel free to use that line.
At any rate, this particular book, written by James Scott Bell–and very readable–is aptly entitled, “Plot and Structure.” Some of the things I’ve been reading, I knew, some not, some I’d forgotten. In one section, he highlights James Campbell’s Mythic Structure, or hero’s journey–with which you’re probably familiar.
Bell modifies the structure a bit and breaks it into a classic three acts model. I thought I share that approach with you, in the event you’ve never thought of them in this way. Here’s the “act approach” advantage from a practical standpoint…
Breaking the manuscript into acts…or more likely, your outline into acts…is a nice, clear, unambiguous way to organize the plot from what can be a fuzzy mess into something with structure and cohesion.
Using Campbell’s structure, Bell suggests the following approach…
ACT ONE
—-Readers are introduced to the hero’s ordinary world.
—-A call to adventure, or, disturbance interrupts his world
—-The hero tries to ignore the call
—-The hero crosses the threshold and the story is joined.ACT TWO
—-A mentor may appear to teach the hero (Kindley adds, or, a sidekick to help)
—-Various encounters with the villain and dark forces
—-The hero sustains a dark moment within himself that he must overcome
—-A talisman may aid in the conflict (Kindley ads or any helpful thing, force, or person)ACT THREE
—-The final battle is fought
—-The hero returns to his (Kindley adds, new) ordinary world.
Okay, a couple of thoughts–
- Clearly, if Bell can modify the structure, so can you. If you see a better way, experiment with it.
- Bell also talks about “doorways” that transition from one act to the next. These doorways propel the hero AND the reader forward. So, they gotta be compelling and, for the hero, irreversible. Bell didn’t do it, (at least for Act Two) but I’d stick them in the structure design.
So, for the doorway from Act One to Act two, Bell says
…unless there is something to push the Lead into Act Two, he’ll be quite content to stay in Act One. He desires to stay in his ordinary world. …you must create a scene where your Lead is thrust into the main conflict in a way that keeps him there.
The doorway from Act Two to Act Three, Bell says…
…something has to happen that sets up the final confrontation. Usually it is some major clue or piece of information, or a huge setback or crisis, that hurtles the action toward a conclusion.”
There are great examples in Bell’s book, I won’t retype them here, but think about Star Wars, the original. We have:
- An action prologue with Princess Leia and Darth Vader,
- Luke in his ordinary world,
- The droids arrive (disturbance in the ordinary world),
- Obi Wan is the mentor and delivers the call to adventure,
- Luke declines the call–gotta work on the farm,
- The farm is destroy, (The doorway) and
- Luke steps through and is propelled in to Act Two. Show me one viewer or reader that doesn’t want to go with him.
Pretty cool, huh. That’s just Act One. It works.
This format, in its entirety won’t fit all novels. But, parts of it will fit every novel. So, toss aside the parts that are not applicable to your genre and focus on the parts that do work. Again, rearrange to fit your needs. Perhaps you’ll find a new way to look at what you’re writing, or, find a more simple and effective way to organize what you’re planning. Heck, you might even improve your manuscript. Either way, giving it a try can’t hurt.
Themocracy
I really like this way it is presented. I don’t think I’ve seen this before and when I think about books I’ve read, I can see this. Thanks!
For one who is still thinking about venturing into the world of fiction-writing, this is extremely helpful. thanks.
karen
I love your mother’s comment (even if she didn’t say it)! I also love it when people can reduce things down to something even I can understand. I found this post so helpful, I’m printing it off so I can refer to it later. I might even be inclined to look for his book next time I mosey through the bookstore. Thanks.
Great post, Galen. This is an interesting dissection of plot building – something I need plenty of practice with. Thanks for sharing.
The three-act structure is so basic for mystery and suspense that I can’t figure out why I so blatantly ignore it in my first drafts and then need to fix it. I need to read this book.
It’s kind of fun to get this structure down in your head, Terri, then, as you watch movies try to identify the various components as the happen. They’re their, you just gotta watch for them.
Great, Karen, this structure would be helpful if you a new fiction writer…or, even if you been around for a bit.
It’s a pretty good book, actually, Jane. Very readable and clear with lots of good examples to aid understanding. There are also exercises, but I’m not much on exercises. Examples I like though. I’d recommend it.
Hi, Eric, always good to see you drop by. I hope the post was informational, but, I know as well as you write, you know most if not all of this.
I’d for sure recommend this book, Patricia, see my comments to Jane about it’s good points. Plus, I think it’s like…17 bucks, so, not a budget buster and one you can refer to as time passes.
If a building has a shaky foundation it falls down. Thanks for the cement, Galen!
Elspeth
I think this is very useful, Galen. I love seeing the bare bones of a plot (like Star Wars)–the rise and fall of the action, etc. I know it will help with plotting…sometimes I lose track of where I am in my story (can’t see the forest for the trees.)
And that DOES sound like something Myrtle would say! I may have to steal that. Heh-heh!
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Elspeth, for you, anything. And, please note, it’s free of cost! Let’s see Jack do that!
Oh, please do take it, Elizabeth, I can see Myrtle telling Red that without batting an eyelid. That’s her through and through. Am very much enjoying the book, by the way. I’ve no clue who the killer is…well, you’ve given me a clue, I’m just not clever enough to pick up on it yet. Grrr.
No eye-rolling here. My book begins with an ordinary world, transitions to a special world, and ends back in an ordinary world. But the middle special word is a real humdinger. Even though the special world is in reality the normal world, only a select few realize it while the rest of the masses just aren’t ready for what’s really out there.
Stephen Tremp
http://stephentremp.blogspot.com
Hey, Steve, sorry but your original post somehow got caught by the spam filter. It rarely makes mistakes, but did in your case. I taught it to let you in–though it’s done that before. Bottom line: Sorry you got trapped and thanks for hanging in there the second time.
Glad you’re enjoying Bell’s book. It’s one of my favorites. And the part about the hero being content to stay in his own world was huge for me when I read it. It turned on a light bulb. As in, “Yeah! People don’t decide to be heroes out of the blue, for no reason.” Probably obvious to the rest of you, but it was practically life-changing for me.
Yeah, it is a good book, Jack, and come to think of it, I may have originally seen the recommendation on your site.
Had some fun at Alan’s site today, mentioned you, so, you can imagine.(Grin)
Thank you for posting this, Galen! It is both interesting for readers and helpful for writers – and great PR for the author of this book [he should pay you
].
What I wonder, though, is if anything is mentioned as to the lenght of the acts. I imagine that the first and the last ought to be a lot shorter than the middle one – since it’s usually in the middle one most of the action takes place. Kind of like that fish my teacher used to draw on the blackboard EVERY time we wrote essay papers (the introduction is the head, the tail is the conclusion, and in between is the body).
I like the way that’s broken down. I’m an analytical, organized person, and the three acts makes sense to me.
I missed this post. Glad I bopped over today and scrolled down. I admire your analytical mind … you really THINK about and research writing, finding stuff like this – it DOES help.
The Old Silly