Story Structure Revisited

There are so many different types of story structure. and they have anywhere from three parts to six, twenty-four, or more.

I happen to be fascinated by story structure. It’s a fundamental piece of writing fiction — and can be used for nonfiction as well.

Story structure helps writers determine what order we should write our stories and reminds us of certain elements which our readers expect to see. We’ve all been trained by television and movies from a young age as to what to expect in a story and when.

We all know that stories generally start with either an ‘initiating event( something that forces the protagonist to do something), there will, in that same period in the story, be some sort of set up where we are introduced into the world of the story.

This beginning is always followed by exciting things happening (rising action), some sort of major something that marks the half-way point (climax, point of no return, mirror moment, or a full turn about), and then there is more action as a result of the midpoint which changed the direction of the story, the protagonist, or both. (the falling action). This then leads to an” all is lost moment” where the story will end if it is a tragedy. Otherwise, the story will begin to wind up, answering all the questions raised and tying off all lose ends. In a mystery the mystery is solved, in a romance the characters have their happily ever after.

One thing I find fascinating are all the different names for each of these plot…