Recently we presented a series of articles on three-act structure here on Mythic Scribes. This inspired me to try and write an article about a kind of four act structure known as Kishōtenketsu. It’s used in classical Chinese, Korean, and Japanese narratives, and is often mentioned as an example of a story structure without conflict. … Read more
The players gather around a dimly lit table that illuminates the soft haze that carries the musk of stogies and scotch. One by one they sit, only the green felt of the table reflecting from their eyes. The chips are distributed. The stage has been set. The game begins. A total beginner can sit down … Read more
This is the third part of a three-part series on story structure.
The first part began a discussion on the Three-Act Structure. The second part continued that discussion. This third part explores Seven-Point Story Structure and plot weaving.
So where were we?
Oh yes, we had just finished breaking down Star Wars into the key components of the Three-Act Structure. And I’m here to say we’re here to do it again, but with Dan Well’s Seven-Point Story Structure.
This is the second part of a three-part series on story structure.
The first part began a discussion on the Three-Act Structure. This part continues that discussion. Part three will discuss Seven-Point Story Structure and plot weaving.
When I last left you, I had just addressed breaking into Act-2.
Now, it’s on to Act-2 and the story world.
Before I start, I want to let you know in order to do this subject justice, I need a lot more space than one article is normally allotted. So, it’s divided into three parts.
The first part begins a discussion on the Three-Act Structure, the second part will finish it off before we move on to the third part, which will discuss Seven-Point Story Structure and plot weaving.
So fair warning, timbers be shivered. Cliffhangers be ahead.
Steven Brust is the author of twenty-six novels so far, with his most popular following the assassin Vlad Taltos (starting with the novel Jhereg). His most recent novel, The Incrementalists, is a collaboration with author Skyler White.
Steven is also a member of the Pre-Joycean Fellowship, a group of writers who value 19th-century values of storytelling. He joins us to discuss something he loves to do, playing with structure.
Speaking generally, where do your ideas start – a plot or structure idea, a character, a question you want answered – or does it change with each novel?
It changes with each novel. With Hawk, it was plot structure. With Athyra, it was a single image I couldn’t get out of my head. Sometimes it’s a particular scene that grabs me, so I need to write to it, then follow up the consequences. My favorite is when I get a sentence that makes me go, “That’d be a great first sentence for a book. I wonder what the book is about?”
This article is by K.M. Weiland.
“Plot vs. character”—we hear it all the time, as if the two were mutually exclusive. Either your book is plot-driven or character-driven. Can’t possibly be both, right?
And anytime we run afoul of an either/or conundrum, you gotta know people are going to start believing one or the other is not only the best way, but even the only way to write a book.
Let’s consider this a little more microscopically. What would it take to make one or the other of these combatants “more important” than the other?
This article is written by Ken Hughes.
What do sports brackets have to do with writing a story?
Almost everything.
A plot depends on conflict and contrast between its characters, and on building interest in them over time.
A tournament’s system is about matching opponents together and tracking how that changes. It’s one of the simplest, purest methods there is for managing the intricacies of a plot, while staying focused on what makes it powerful.
As we’ll see, the bracketing concept needs only a few expansions to fit any kind of plotting into it.