STRUCTU

RE

ST

OR

Y F

OR

M

1. Conflict2. Crisis3. Resolution

“two dogs fighting over a bone”--Kazan

“the human heart in conflict with itself”--Faulkner

“fiction is the art form of human yearning”—Robert Olen Butler

THE BASICS OF ANY STORY

TROUBLE

IS YO

UR

BUSINESS *Trouble is

interesting; happy is boring .

*Passive characters are difficult to do well:

PASSIV

E CHARACTE

RS . . . In such fiction,

people and events are often accused of turning the protagonist into the type of person the protagonist is, usually an unhappy person. That’s the whole story. When blame has been assigned, the story is over”—Charles Baxter

*Avoid “blame” or “finger-pointing” stories.

The

fictio

n of fi

nger-p

ointin

g

. . . But it doesn’t

Have to be something

Stupendous.

“Fewer people have cause to panic at the approach of a man with a gun than at the approach of Mama with a curling iron. More passion is destroyed at the breakfast table than in a time warp.”---Burroway

YOUR CHARACTER MUST WANT SOMETHING . . .

EVERY STORY HAS AN ARC

1.Get your characters fighting.

2.Have something-the stake-worth their fighting over.

3.Have the fight dive into a series of battles with the last battle in the series the biggest and most dangerous of all.

4.Have a walking away from the fight.

But . . . It doesn’t have to be a physical fight with fists. It can involve words, thoughts, sly actions, etc.

THE PARTS OF THE ARC

Exposition—

Setting, basic info

Rising Action—the protagonists faces increasingly difficult challenges.

Climax—the moment when the protagonist gets or fails to get what he/she wants. Often changes or fails to change.

Falling action—afterward

Resolution—final outcome

INVERTED CHECKMARK