Understanding Story Structure
by Laurel Cohn
If you google 'story structure' you will find a confusing range of images that supposedly represent the definitive story structure – triangles, circles, jagged graphs, mountains. I don’t subscribe to the idea of a 'right' story structure, or rules that must be followed. I agree with Robert McKee who suggests story is about principles, not rules. There are story structure principles that are important to get your head around – such as the three-act structure and its variations – as these form the basis to most stories through time and across cultures. However, getting your head around the intricacies of a multi-act model isn’t necessarily the key to nailing the structure of your story.
Think of your story as a creature. It may resemble a human with two arms, two legs and one head. Or it may have a multitude of limbs, nine eyes and wings. It may purr or it may growl. Whatever your creature looks and sounds like, it needs to be able to stand on its own and deliver its creator's intent. So understanding your intent is crucial. What are you really wanting to say? What is your story about (as opposed to what happens)? This relates to theme, or what I refer to as story essence. If you aren't sure yet what it's all about, that's okay. But you will have to get clear on this before you are able to find the best structure to support your story.
Story essence is one of what I call the vital organs that help determine your structural choices. Another vital organ is the major dramatic question, a question set up early in the narrative that keeps the reader turning the pages through to the end in search of an answer. This question usually concerns the central protagonist and is the key driver of narrative momentum, of that urge to keep reading.
Clarity around the story essence and major dramatic question helps you to identify the backbone that will support your story creature. The backbone of the story will, in turn, guide the structural choices you have and the structural decisions you make. A flashback can take the reader back in time to see how a scenario developed. A narrative may flash forward, dropping hints about the consequences of events. You might devote a lot of the plot (the sequence of events on the page) to important occurrences in the story (the chronological sequence of events), and little of the plot to the long stretches of story time in which nothing of significance happens. A plot may refuse to reveal key events in the story, or withhold them – the generic marker of narratives of suspense. Or an early event may be omitted, such as a crucial meeting between characters, before being revealed at the end.
Each version of the structure will result in a different type of book, different pacing and different ways of using dramatic tension. The more you understand about the story you are wanting to tell, the more possibilities you have to play with, and the more likely you are to find the best structure to fit your creature.
LAUREL COHN is a developmental book editor passionate about communication and the power of stories in our lives. She has been helping writers prepare their work for publication since the mid 1980s, and is a popular workshop presenter. She has a PhD in literary and cultural studies. www.laurelcohn.com.au