Writing Tutorial - Story Structure

Now that you have a general idea of what your story is about (I say general because, while you do have specific points worked out for the story, it’s not a good idea to plan every single occurrence within the story because, chances are, you’ll end up changing it around while actually writing it. Very rarely does a story turn out the way you had originally planned!), you can start writing! But you don’t want to just jump right in!

Before you can begin to write, you need a basic understanding of what makes a story a story. What does a story need in order for it to have a well-written plot? A lot of people—philosophers mostly—have analyzed story structure to find that very answer and, while it is mostly left to interpretation, the best answer comes from a nineteenth century German writer named Gustav Freytag. He calls it the seven points of Dramatic Structure. Now, keep in mind that he created these with plays in mind, but it’s oftentimes used for novels and stories nowadays and you most likely learned all of these things in middle school like I did.

Anyway, on we go!

There are seven steps to story structure, stepping stones that guide a reader to the end of the story. They are as follows:

Antecedent Action, Introduction, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Dénouement – Resolution or Disaster.

Let's go a little bit more in-depth.

Antecedent Action: This is a fancy term for the events that took place, leading up to the beginning of your story. It can be expressed in a number of ways: Flashbacks, a prologue or the characters explaining what has happened. Say, in your story, there's a war going on. The antecedent action would be the events that brought about the war. If your story is based in a post-apocalyptic world, the antecedent action would be what happened to bring about the end of the world.

Introduction: This explains itself. This is where the writer starts their story. The setting is made and the characters are introduced, giving the reader a picture of what is going on before the actual conflict and plot takes place.

Conflict: The main problem is introduced. Antagonists start their business. There are three basic conflicts: Internal, Relational and External.

Internal is where the character in the conflict is at war with themselves. This can do with morals, beliefs, whatever. For example, there’s a boy who wants to be friends with the cool kids, but, to get in good with them, he needs to steal something. Should he go against what he feels is right or give up the chance to be friends with the cool kids?

Relational is where the conflict is between two opposing people, their problems having to do with their traits or personalities and have nothing to do with any outside influences such as nature or society. For example, when a girl who is stuck in a love triangle between two men must decide if she will choose one boy or the other.

External is where the conflict is coming from an outside influence such as nature, society or the supernatural. For example, a man is running very late for work only to find that he has a flat tire.

Rising Action: The conflict is getting worse. This is leading toward the main showdown. A man searching for his wife who has been kidnapped found out he was following a false lead, but then receives a phone call from the kidnapper, telling him to meet him. It's a rising of the conflict without reaching the explosion.

Climax: As I called it earlier, the "Final Showdown". The man looking for his wife has reached the abandoned warehouse and is now facing off with the kidnapper, fighting a desperate struggle to keep his wife alive. A fight breaks out, the kidnapper pulls a gun and out protagonist doesn’t have a weapon! What does he do? What can he do?

Falling Action: Unlike the rising action where it starts off small and gets bigger and bigger, the falling action starts off big and gets smaller and smaller, leading toward the resolution of the story. It could contain a point of one last suspense where the reader is unsure of the fate of the characters. The husband is shot and he blacks out. Is his wife going to be okay? Will he be alright? Is the antagonist going to escape?

Dénouement – Resolution or Disaster: These are the events that take place between the Falling Action and the actual ending of the story. There are two paths one can take when writing the dénouement: a resolution to the story where there is a happy ending or it can go in the direction of disaster. As an example, the husband wakes up in a hospital, wounded, bandaged up and in pain, but very much alive with his wife sitting at his side. Alternatively, the husband could die to save his wife and, while he may be a hero, the wife is now left all alone in the world.

Off the record, there’s a third direction that one could take, but I don’t really promote it. If the story you’re writing is a part of a series, you could skip the dénouement altogether and leave the story on a cliff-hanger so that the readers will be in suspense until the new story is released. However, you probably won’t get a very nice response to this, especially if the cliff-hanger is really intense. Trust me, I know this through experience.

Another option that a writer can use is called "Anti-Climax". An anti-climax is where the writer brings the story up to where the actual climax should be, only to have it end in a very simple and, for lack of a better term, anti-climactic outcome. I, personally, wouldn't use it because I'm not one for anti-climactic endings, but it is, indeed, an option! An example of an anti-climax would be the entire conflict being averted by the push of a button or, as an example that's already being used, in the War of the Worlds where the entire alien race is destroyed by something as simple as a common cold.