Most of you know what the basic story structure is. You’ve learned this in creative writing class or in any English class ever. For those of you who don’t know what story structure is. It’s essentially the exposition, problem, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The English teacher might have shown this to you:
But, what if you could change the basic story structure? Well, you can! There are several other story structures you can follow. In fact, there are 7 on them. They are Freytag’s Pyramid, The Hero’s Journey, Three Act Structure, Dan Harmon’s Story Circle, Fichtean Curve, Save the Cat Beat Sheet, and Seven-Point Story Structure. Freytag’s pyramid structure is very similar to the basic story structure up above. However, instead of a resolution at the end, there is a catastrophe. This catastrophe is when the protagonist’s fears have all come true. So, most people use this structure to tell a tale of tragedy.
The three act structure splits part of the structure into three parts. These three parts are setup, confrontation, and resolution. This structure is actually very similar to the Hero’s Journey Structure but simplified. The structure looks like this:
So, you would start of the story with the setting which then would go the incident that sets the story in motion. And you do this all the way until you get to the resolution. However, the only thing different about this structure is the plot points. Plot point 1 is where the protagonist faces the issue, she is facing head on and succeeds. Essentially this plot point is what catapults the character into the journey. Plot point 2 is when the protagonist tries to fight the battle but looses which make her doubt herself. The pre climax is when the protagonist thinks about the upcoming battle, pulls herself together, and decides to either fight or run away.
So, hypothetically, with this the 3-Point Structure as an example, you don’t have to use the basic story structure to tell your story. There are many other ways to do so. If you are interested in learning about the other story structures check on reedsyblog.
