Story Structure

Most popular posts

Two alpine ibexes fight to represent the character vs. character fight in funny and light manner

Character vs. Character Conflict

Detective vs. criminal mastermind, knight vs. dragon, cowboy vs. rogue bandit — all these classic stories fit neatly into a...

An image of footballers all watching in amazement as a soccer ball flies into the goal, to invoke the theme: "equipped with these tools, any author can achieve their writing goals and stun those around them."

Writing Goals

What are your writing goals? Do you have dreams of winning the Pulitzer prize? Writing a bestseller or an Academy...

Prehistoric cave archeological cave carving of six men in a boat used to symbolize the deep meaning of a 6-word memoir

6-Word Memoir

Writing a 6-word memoir might feel impossible at first, too restricting, maybe even unfair. You might think, How do you...

Painting escaping criticism by Caso utilized here to suggest a feeling that learning constructive criticism and how to employ it appropriately will allow the author to escape criticism effectively

Constructive Criticism

One of the most important skills you’ll learn as a writer is how to take constructive criticism.  Feedback is an...

Pictured: a café that has a sign out front that employs alliteration and immediately evokes a strong feeling that answers any reader who asks the question: "What is alliteration?"

What Is Alliteration? (And How to Use It in Your Writing)

One of the best pieces of writing advice I ever got was: read your work aloud. When you do, you...

A child feeling sand for the first time is one of the images we understand to be evocative of sensory details.

How to Use Sensory Details in Your Story

Your goal as a writer is to immerse your readers fully in your story, to help them experience what it...

A character in a broken mirror to visualize the stark nature of depicting internal conflict for a character in narrative
Blog
Alan Watt

Internal Conflict

Explore how internal conflict drives character transformation and fuels your plot with our guide on dramatizing the psyche’s dissonance.

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A page of a book with a hole in it, a visual metaphor for plot holes to suggest an audience looks through one's work to the author when a plot hole is left in
Blog
Alan Watt

Plot Holes

Master story structure and learn how to fix logical gaps with our guide to plot holes—the “Swiss cheese” of writing that can break your story’s magic.

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Feature image for types of conflict in literature––a couple having a snowball fight to illustrate how simple conflict can be.
Blog
Alan Watt

Types of Conflict in Literature

The types of conflict in literature serve to force protagonists to confront their deepest fear and reveal a story’s soul through the resolution of dilemma.

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Recent posts

Two alpine ibexes fight to represent the character vs. character fight in funny and light manner

Character vs. Character Conflict

Detective vs. criminal mastermind, knight vs. dragon, cowboy vs. rogue bandit — all these classic stories fit neatly into a...

A character in a broken mirror to visualize the stark nature of depicting internal conflict for a character in narrative

Internal Conflict

Explore how internal conflict drives character transformation and fuels your plot with our guide on dramatizing the psyche's dissonance....
A page of a book with a hole in it, a visual metaphor for plot holes to suggest an audience looks through one's work to the author when a plot hole is left in

Plot Holes

Master story structure and learn how to fix logical gaps with our guide to plot holes—the "Swiss cheese" of writing...
Feature image for types of conflict in literature––a couple having a snowball fight to illustrate how simple conflict can be.

Types of Conflict in Literature

The types of conflict in literature serve to force protagonists to confront their deepest fear and reveal a story's soul...
Freytag's Pyramid Feature Image

The 5 Core Stages of Freytag’s Pyramid

In this article, I explore story structure with Freytag’s Pyramid, who structures a story into five main components that allow...
story arc

Mastering Story Arcs for Stronger Storytelling

Ever since humans have been able to communicate, we share stories, weaving the tapestry of our shared existence. These stories...

Three-act structure

Mastering the Three-Act Structure for Stronger Stories

In his book, Poetics, Aristotle laid the foundation for story structure by stating that all stories must have a beginning,...

backstory

Backstory: What to Reveal and When

Backstory includes all the events from your characters’ pasts, details about their origins, plus any essential background information necessary to...

story circle

What is the “Story Circle”? A Practical Breakdown

In simple terms, storytelling consists of three things: the beginning, middle, and end. However, this basic structure can often hide...

parallelism

Parallelism: Crafting Meaning in Repetition

There’s no rhythm without some repeated notes. Certain literary and rhetorical devices are so ingrained in how we speak and...

misdirection

The Art of Narrative Misdirection

Misdirection — the art of strategically concealing and revealing information — is one of the most potent literary tools that...

hook

What is a Hook in Storytelling?

Try to recall your favorite story. How did it begin? What were the first words? If the first lines of...

plot

The Art of Plot: Structure That Serves Your Characters

What is a story without a plot? Not much! A plot is the sequence of events that helps give a...

Hero's Journey

The Hero’s Journey: A Structure Template

It’s a tale as old as time. The protagonist is torn from their ordinary life and sets off to face...

Resolution - Freytag's Pyramid

How to Write an Effective Resolution

All stories must eventually come to a conclusion, or “resolution.” As an author, your job is to ensure that the...

Exposition

Exposition: “Where should my story begin?”

For some writers, just getting the story started is the toughest part. There’s so much you want to say, but...

Theme

Unlock Your Story’s Theme: Crafting Stories That Matter

Theme is a way of making a series of events which are personal to the protagonist universally relatable to a...

rising action

What is Rising Action? How to Elevate Your Plot

Rising action refers to the series of events that lead from a story’s inciting incident to the climax. In this...