Plot and structure

Plot and structure

How often have you been asked if you’re a plotter or pantser? A plotter is someone who researches a story meticulously, writing an outline before starting the actual writing, and a pantser is presumably someone who sits down in front of the computer each day, typing away furiously, without a clear direction or plan, waiting for the story to take them by surprise and see where they are going. 

I feel this is a false dichotomy. Regardless of the initial approach, I believe the story structure needs to be taken into account at some stage, either at the very beginning of the writing process, sometime half-way through, but should most definitely be looked at when the story is finished. 

By all accounts, I am a pantser. I cannot plan ahead because I don’t know where the story will go. I am someone who needs to understand the characters, their motivations and relationships before I can think about whether my structure is good.

 

What is the difference between premise, story, plot and structure? Just different names?

Not quite. Premise is the initial image or idea of the story, e.g. a boy wizard fighting the evil overlord, but it is not the story itself. The story is all the events that occurred. The plot is what happens in the story, the cause and effect events and relationships that make the main protagonist(s) wonder and take action (or not). The most famous illustration of this is the following: ‘The queen died and then the king died.’ This is the story. ‘The queen died and then kind died of grief.’ This the plot. Structure is how all the events are organised in the story.

 

There are several ways in which stories are organised, and none of them are right or wrong. There are numerous books that tell you on the first page how the book is going to end, and there are others that keep the big reveal until the very last page. And others that do it mid-point. It just depends on what is best suited to your story, how you want the events to unfold. Some of them hardly have a plot at all, but that is intentional, and there most certainly is a structure in which it is organised. To help organise the plot, the writer needs to know what the main aim is of the story (hence leaving the organisation for later, once the story has revealed itself, makes perfect sense to me).

 

The most common one is the 3-Act structure,

Beginning (problem) - Middle (process) - End  (solution

 

The Freitag Pyramid uses slightly different terms but basically focusses on the same classification:

Exposition (leading to inciting incident and rising action) - Climax (followed by falling action) - Resolution (followed by denouement)

This is also often broken down into 5 acts: 1. Exposition; 2. Rising action; 3. Climax; Falling action; 5. Denoument. 

 

If these classifications seem too rigid and don’t quite fit your theme, you can replace them with the words:

Problem—process—solution

or

Old self—struggle—new self

 

Here is an example that should illustrate the 3-Act structure:

Stage 

Example: Harry Potter -   

Beginning 

This section introduces the main characters, the setting, time, the tone (comic, thoughtful, etc) and the situation.   

 

Harry Potter living with the Dursleys. 

  • Plot point 1 thrusts the main character into a situation that causes conflict, anguish, etc and does not allow him/her to continue with everyday life as they’ve known it so far.   

  • Sometimes great stories begin with Plot point 1 and we find out about the background story in flashbacks or as the story progresses.   

A mysterious letter from Hogwarts. 

Middle  

This is the largest part of the story, involving a series of complications, obstacles and interesting situations either shedding light on the main character or progressing the story line.   

 

Sorting Hat, Potions classes, Quidditch, The Mirror of Erised, Invisibility Cloak, Forbidden Forest  

  • The story inevitably leads to the Climax – the ultimate crisis all of the action have been leading to. 

  • Plot point 2 is the resolution of the Climax.   

Trapdoor, Man with two faces  

End 

The climax and all the loose ends are resolved.  The main character is changed forever.   

End of year feast, back with the Dursley’s  

 

 

More recently, the most popular structure in a novel has been the ‘Save the Cat! Writes a Novel’ approach. It is not unlike the 3-Act structure but has more details, breaking the plot into beats, ie key plot points. There are fifteen of those, and each beat could be a single-scene or a multiple scene beat. The beats are as follows:

 Act 1

Opening image (05 – 1%)

Setup (1%-10%)

Catalyst (10%)

Debate (10%-20%)

 

Act 2

Break into Act 2 (20%)

B Story (22%)

Fun and Games (20%-50%)

Midpoint (50%)

Bad Guys Close in (50%-75%)

All is Lost (75%)

Dark Night of the Soul (75%-80%)

 

Act 3

Break into Act 3 (80%)

Finale (80%-99%)

Final Image (99%-100%)

 

Here is an example, using Harry Potter once more (adapted from Jessica Brody’s book):

OPENING IMAGE: 

 

 

 

THEME STATED: 

Voldemort has been defeated (for now), and the baby who somehow managed to survive the attack (“the boy who lived”) is dropped off at the Dursleys’ house by Dumbledore.

“Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won’t remember! Can’t you see how much better off he’ll be, growing up away from all that until he’s ready to take it?” The lesson Harry will have to learn in this novel (and the rest of the series) is how to deal with his status as “the chosen one.”

SETUP: 

Harry has a horrible life with the Dursleys, who bully him and make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. He is shy, overlooked, and lonely.

CATALYST: 

Mysterious letters arrive that Harry is not allowed to open; finally a giant named Hagrid knocks on the door, informing Harry that he’s a wizard and has been accepted to Hogwarts.

DEBATE: 

Harry goes to Diagon Alley with Hagrid in preparation for attending Hogwarts and learns that he is famous.

BREAK INTO 2: 

Harry boards the train for Hogwarts, officially leaving the Muggle world (Act 1) behind and entering the wizarding world (Act 2).

B STORY: 

On the train, Harry meets his new best friends, Ron and Hermione (twin B stories).

FUN AND GAMES: 

Harry enjoys life at Hogwarts, where he takes magical classes, learns to fly, and is recruited to play quidditch.

MIDPOINT: 

Harry wins his first quidditch match (false victory), but soon after learns that Professor Snape was (seemingly) trying to kill him during the game (stakes are raised).

BAD GUYS CLOSE IN: 

Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn about the Sorcerer’s Stone (which gives eternal life) and discover that Voldemort is after it.

 

ALL IS LOST: 

Harry, Ron, and Hermione find out that Voldemort (via Snape) is about to get his hands on the Sorcerer’s Stone, which is being kept in the Hogwarts Castle.

DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL: 

The kids try to go to Dumbledore for help, but he’s gone, and Professor McGonagall doesn’t seem to take their concerns seriously.

BREAK INTO 3: 

Harry and his friends decide to go after the stone themselves (to protect it from Voldemort).

FINALE: 

 

 

 

 

 

FINAL IMAGE: 

After passing multiple wizarding challenges, Harry discovers that Professor Quirrell (not Snape) is the one working with Voldemort. Harry defeats Voldemort (for now) by finding power within himself and touching Voldemort’s face and saves the stone.

At the end of the school year, Harry arrives back home a changed person. He is now more confident and less lonely and has found where he belongs.

 

This more detailed approach makes it easier to edit your work.

 

If you really want to run away from the 3-Act structure, there is also the 8-box outline that helps make a tighter structure:

1.      Disruption

2.      Goal

3.      Misguided approach

4.      Midpoint twist

5.      Struggle to change

6.      All is lost

7.      Heroic act

8.      New beginning

This approach may be more suitable for editing work after the first draft has been written, but I have used it when starting out a story where I know the beginning and how it ends but have no idea what comes between the beginning and the end.

 

There are numerous others: Frame (story within a story), Hakawati, Bengali Widow Narrative, etc. There is no right or wrong structure or approach. They are partly guided by the writer’s sensitivities and, mostly, by the story itself. But, regardless of what structure you use or when you use it, the key point is to commit to one and edit your work carefully following the key beats/scenes.

 

Some suggestions for further reading on story structure:

J. S. Bell: Plot and Structure  

Jessica Brody: Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

James Hynes: Writing Great Fiction

Nancy Kress: Elements of Fiction Writing

Molly McCowan: Effective Editing

Philip Pullman: Daemon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling

Victoria Lynn Schmidt: Structure Architect 

 

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