A Simpler Story Structure

I am not a natural, linear storyteller – though veteran writers insist all humans are, by nature. Yes, I can feel the structure of a story, bec it’s in our DNA, as they say. But my stories, even around the dinner table, get interrupted by other thoughts, and “pass the broccoli, please” and even plain-old-interrupted by someone else jumping in, thinking, hoping, I was finished with my story-with-no-end-in-site.

And so when my brain creates characters and ideas – sooooo many ideas – I rely on someone else’s story structure. (It’s one thing to bore your kids, but you cannot frustrate readers.) There are brilliant and linear people in the world who have codified that structure, who can help me deliver my characters into a story, in a way that the human brain anticipates and enjoys.

I recently found the four act structure (from Larry Brooks’ Story Engineering, and featured in Fast-Draft Your Memoir by Rachel Herron.) It is the simplest structure that I’ve come across so far, so I’m eager to share it here.

INTRO		REACTION		ACTION		RESOLUTION
Intro hero		Hero is a wanderer or runner		Hero is a warrior		Hero wins (or loses)
Hook		Hero reacts to the change re: 1st plot point		Hero proactively reacts as the antagonist ramps up		Hero steps up – steps in – and confronts antagonist
Setup and foreshadow stakes + quest		Hero reassures themselves they’ll be okay – avoids		Changes into someone willing to fight		Resolution and reward
1st plot point		2nd plot point – aka context shifting midpoint		3rd plot point Enter the dark night of the soul
@20-25% of story length		@50% of plot		@75% of story		End

Here’s the upgrades – each Act is similar in length, though you can cheat the 1st and 4th acts to give more to the center 2 Acts of the story. It is a clear delineation of what happens and why characters react and change. I like it!

Some people think to use a story structure is to guarantee that your story will be cookie cutter, but I don’t subscribe to that theory. Your story can meander and be interrupted and take on tangents and do whatever you want it to, as long as it delivers on the 4-act structure.

You need the structure but all kinds of shenanigans and acts and tricks and drama can go on underneath! We’ll be talking story structure this week in the WWTF FB Group. Join us there.