1. STORY STRUCTURE

2. MANY TYPES  Dramatic or 5-Act Structure  8-Point Structure  3-Act Structure  Hybrid Plot-Character Structure

3. 5-ACT STRUCTURE Aristotle first put forward the idea that "A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end“ (Poetics). This idea prevailed until Roman drama critic Horace advocated a 5-act structure in Ars Poetica. 5-act structure fell into disfavour until the Renaissance era, when German author and playwright Freytag wrote Die Technik des Drama and created what is now known as ‘Freytag’s pyramid’.

4. EXPOSITION  The exposition provides the background information needed to properly understand the story, such as the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict, and the setting. It ends with the inciting moment, which is the incident without which there would be no story. The inciting moment sets the remainder of the story in motion beginning with the second act, the rising action. While the exposition may employ the rhetorical mode also known as exposition, the two are not perfectly synonymous.rhetorical modeexposition

5. RISING ACTION  During rising action, the basic internal conflict is complicated by the introduction of related secondary conflicts, including various obstacles that frustrate the protagonist's attempt to reach his goal. Secondary conflicts can include adversaries of lesser importance than the story’s antagonist, who may work with the antagonist or separately, by and for themselves or actions unknown.

6. CLIMAX  The third act is that of the climax, or turning point, which marks a change, for the better or the worse, in the protagonist’s affairs. If the story is a comedy, things will have gone badly for the protagonist up to this point; now, the tide, so to speak, will turn, and things will begin to go well for him or her. If the story is a tragedy, the opposite state of affairs will ensue, with things going from good to bad for the protagonist.

7. FALLING ACTION  During the falling action, or resolution, which is the moment of reversal after the climax, the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist. The falling action might contain a moment of final suspense, during which the final outcome of the conflict is in doubt. Summary: The falling action is that part of the story in which the main part (the climax) has finished and you're heading to the conclusion.

8. DENOUEMENT  The dénouement comprises events between the falling action and the actual ending scene of the drama or narrative and thus serves as the conclusion of the story. Conflicts are resolved, creating normality for the characters and a sense of catharsis, or release of tension and anxiety, for the reader. Etymologically, the French word dénouement is derived from the Old French word denoer, "to untie", and from nodus, Latin for "knot." Simply put, dénouement is the unraveling or untying of the complexities of a plot.ConflictscatharsisEtymologicallyplot  The comedy ends with a dénouement (a conclusion) in which the protagonist is better off than at the story's outset. The tragedy ends with a catastrophe in which the protagonist is worse off than at the beginning of the narrative. Exemplary of a comic dénouement is the final scene of Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It, in which couples marry, an evildoer repents, two disguised characters are revealed for all to see, and a ruler is restored to power. In Shakespeare's tragedies, the dénouement is usually the death of one or more characters.ShakespeareAs You Like It  More modern works may have no dénouement, because of a quick or surprise ending such as the arrival of adults in Lord of the Flies. On the other hand an example of a modern work with a particularly elaborate dénouement is Tolkien's Lord of The Rings.Lord of the FliesTolkienLord of The Rings

9. 8 POINT STRUCTURE From Watt’s Writing A Novel 1.Stasis 2.Trigger 3.The quest 4.Surprise 5.Critical choice 6.Climax 7.Reversal 8.Resolution

10. 1. STASIS  This is the “every day life” in which the story is set. Think of Cinderella sweeping the ashes, Jack (of Beanstalk fame) living in poverty with his mum and a cow, or Harry Potter living with the Dursley’s.

11. 2. TRIGGER  Something beyond the control of the protagonist (hero/heroine) is the trigger which sparks off the story. A fairy godmother appears, someone pays in magic beans not gold, a mysterious letter arrives … you get the picture.

12. 3. QUEST  The trigger results in a quest – an unpleasant trigger (e.g. a protagonist losing his job) might involve a quest to return to the status quo; a pleasant trigger (e.g. finding a treasure map) means a quest to maintain or increase the new pleasant state.

13. 4. SURPRISE  This stage involves not one but several elements, and takes up most of the middle part of the story. “Surprise” includes pleasant events, but more often means obstacles, complications, conflict and trouble for the protagonist.  Watts emphasises that surprises shouldn’t be too random or too predictable – they need to be unexpected, but plausible. The reader has to think “I should have seen that coming!”

14. 5. CRITICAL CHOICE  At some stage, your protagonist needs to make a crucial decision; a critical choice. This is often when we find out exactly who a character is, as real personalities are revealed at moments of high stress. Watts stresses that this has to be a decision by the character to take a particular path – not just something that happens by chance.  In many classic stories, the “critical choice” involves choosing between a good, but hard, path and a bad, but easy, one.  In tragedies, the unhappy ending often stems from a character making the wrong choice at this point – Romeo poisoning himself on seeing Juliet supposedly dead, for example.

15. 6. CLIMAX  The critical choice(s) made by your protagonist need to result in the climax, the highest peak of tension, in your story.  For some stories, this could be the firing squad levelling their guns to shoot, a battle commencing, a high-speed chase or something equally dramatic. In other stories, the climax could be a huge argument between a husband and wife, or a playground fight between children, or Cinderella and the Ugly Sisters trying on the glass slipper.

16. 7. REVERSAL  The reversal should be the consequence of the critical choice and the climax, and it should change the status of the characters – especially your protagonist. For example, a downtrodden wife might leave her husband after a row; a bullied child might stand up for a fellow victim and realise that the bully no longer has any power over him; Cinderella might be recognised by the prince.  Your story reversals should be inevitable and probable. Nothing should happen for no reason, changes in status should not fall out of the sky. The story should unfold as life unfolds: relentlessly, implacably, and plausibly.

17. 8. RESOLUTION  The resolution is a return to a fresh stasis – one where the characters should be changed, wiser and enlightened, but where the story being told is complete.  (You can always start off a new story, a sequel, with another trigger…)

18. 3-ACT STRUCTURE

19. BEGINNING  In the Beginning you introduce the reader to the setting, the characters and the situation (conflict) they find themselves in and their goal. Plot Point 1 is a situation that drives the main character from their "normal" life toward some different conflicting situation that the story is about. Great stories often begin at Plot Point 1, thrusting the main character right into the thick of things, but they never really leave out Act 1, instead filling it in with back story along the way.

20. MIDDLE  In the Middle the story develops through a series of complications and obstacles, each leading to a mini crisis. Though each of these crises are temporarily resolved, the story leads inevitably to an ultimate crisis—the Climax. As the story progresses, there is a rising and falling of tension with each crisis, but an overall rising tension as we approach the Climax. The resolution of the Climax is Plot Point 2.

21. END  In the End, the Climax and the loose ends of the story are resolved during the Denouement. Tension rapidly dissipates because it's nearly impossible to sustain a reader's interest very long after the climax. Finish your story and get out.

23. HYBRID STRUCTURE  Hook  Inciting Incident  Act 2 Antagonist  Midpoint Reversal  The Great Fail  Last Puzzle Piece  Butterfly Moment  Climax

24. HOOK  The hook is a device used at the very beginning of the story to ‘hook’ or engage the reader’s interest. The beginning may be considered to be the first few paragraphs, or even the first few pages.  Hooks may be interesting revelations about the character, an interesting situation or premise, opening in the middle of the action (in medias res), a witty comment, or even the voice of the story itself.

25. INCITING INCIDENT  Also called the catalyst, this is the moment where the main character is forced to make the decision that leads them inevitably towards the climax. It begins the action of the story and sets up the key thematic question.  The key is that it is the moment that forces the character to change. Their world all of a sudden becomes a larger, scarier place.

26. ACT 2 ANTAGONIST  Often a story begins with a minor problem to reel the character in that relates to but is not the major conflict.  The Act 2 Antagonist moment is when the core antagonist and thus core conflict is revealed; perhaps the protagonist tracks the act 1 villain down, only to discover that something darker is going on, or that the act 1 villain is being employed by someone else, or that what the protagonist thought was a relatively minor problem, easily solved, is actually part of a much larger plot.

27. MIDPOINT REVERSAL  Occurs near the middle of the story and is a reversal of fortune or a revelation that changes the direction of the story. The protagonist might have been pursuing one avenue that now turns out false; they may have thought they wanted one thing and now want another; their luck may change; and so on.  Often called the ‘point of no return’ in the sense that the protagonist learns what success will actually cost them and has to decide if it is worthwhile/if they can do it.

28. THE GREAT FAIL  The protagonist goes up against the antagonist with everything they have, and it’s not enough. They fail in some way and things look dismal.  The depth of despair created by this moment is what contributes directly to the degree of triumph experienced by the protagonist when they succeed in the climax.

29. LAST PUZZLE PIECE  This is the moment where everything comes together in the protagonist’s plan and they are given (or discover) that final key that will save the day – the villain’s one true weak spot, the loophole in the contract, the fact that Mr Perfect really did call and leave a message that day after all, etc etc.

30. BUTTERFLY MOMENT  This is not so much a plot point as a point in the character growth arc. It’s the moment where they complete their core change and realise the full extent of who they need to be and what they need to do, and steel themselves to take that final necessary action.  It doesn’t need to be a full scene, and can often just be a significant moment or expression that only makes sense in the context of the character’s journey.

31. CLIMAX  The critical conflict moment where the protagonist and the antagonist come together with everything they have; the moment that decides the outcome of the story.  The highest point of suspense and the moment that resolves the core conflict.

32. FOR PRACTICE  Movie trailers often demonstrate perfect story structure, and are good practice for learning structure because they are conveniently two minutes long  http://movies.yahoo.com/trailers http://movies.yahoo.com/trailers