Story Structure

Most popular posts

A man at the edge of a cliff looking out over ostensibly a big drop below

How to Write a Cliffhanger

A cliffhanger is not a trick, but a promise. As a storyteller, you want to grab your reader’s attention and...

An apple core being dismantled by a machine crank to suggest that theme ideas can be gotten to mechanistically with our blog

Theme Ideas: Finding the Core Your Story

Theme ideas aren’t something tacked on to the end of a story. They are central to the narrative, and woven...

An image inscribed "start now" to suggest that writing motivation tools are offered within the blog for immediate inspiration

Writing Motivation

Have you ever found yourself staring at the blank page and waiting for the spark, but it doesn’t come? So...

A child reaching into a hat to suggest play in the magician archetype

The Magician Archetype: Characters Who Transform All They Touch

The Magician archetype is a character who comes into the story and transforms everything. They don’t wield a specific authority...

Image of a door with the number 7 next to an opened door to suggest elements of fiction with a sense of mystery and invitation

7 Elements of Fiction: How to Build a Story

Have you ever wondered why some stories stay with you, while others fade from memory before you even close the...

A person staring at a big volume of books suggests that it is important to know what is an imprint

What is an Imprint and How Does it Work?

What is an imprint? This is one of those publishing terms that gets mentioned but is rarely explained. Most beginning...

Plot vs. story is put into perspective by a piece of land plotted onto a paper set against grass
Blog
Alan Watt

Plot vs. Story

When you read articles on writing, the words “story” and “plot” are often used interchangeably. You’re wondering if there are any real

Read More »
A man holds a duke by the hair with a knife to suggest a sometimes simple and violent heart of a central conflict. More quickly identified.
Blog
Alan Watt

Central Conflict

Though you may love and care about your protagonist, there needs to be a central conflict in your story. You must get

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A controller below a series of puzzle pieces suggests that the controlling idea leads a writer through their narrative an an audience to the heart of the story's controller
Blog
Alan Watt

Controlling Idea

Some stories explore universal themes like belonging or ambition, while others arrive with something very specific to say. The latter is sometimes

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Two men paint the sides of a room in one story of a building to suggest the parts of a story as a physical relationship to one's own literature
Blog
Alan Watt

Parts of a Story

“The most important part of a story is the piece of it you don’t know.”– Barbara Kingsolver In this article, I’ll look

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Clay faces crafted throughout time suggest universal themes in story that long precedes our civilized way of life
Blog
Alan Watt

Universal Themes in Story

While the stories we spin are often deeply personal, they invariably explore themes that are universally relatable. It can feel intimidating to

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The five-act structure visualized literally as five planes in formation — themes of tension, war, fighting, danger, organization
Blog
Alan Watt

Five-Act Structure

The Five-Act Structure is a key aspect of dramatic storytelling. The tradition stretches as far back as the ancient Greeks, and it’s

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Common themes in literature appear often in hieroglyphic storytelling
Blog
Alan Watt

Common Themes

While every story is unique, the history of literature is populated with reinterpretations of common themes.  Through the lens of different voices

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Conquering a giant rock is a parallel for the character who, rooted in dilemma, is guiding your audience through external conflict to make meaning of the madness in the world.
Blog
Alan Watt

External conflict

Without tension or conflict, a story will not only be boring, but absent of meaning.  At the heart of every story lies

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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.

Read More »
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

A car stuck in a snowstorm represents the struggle of a writer who has lost the plot

Lost the Plot: What To Do When You Get Stuck

For all our enthusiasm when we start a story, it’s easy to get stuck and realize we lost the plot...

Plot vs. story is put into perspective by a piece of land plotted onto a paper set against grass

Plot vs. Story

When you read articles on writing, the words “story” and “plot” are often used interchangeably. You’re wondering if there are...

A man holds a duke by the hair with a knife to suggest a sometimes simple and violent heart of a central conflict. More quickly identified.

Central Conflict

Though you may love and care about your protagonist, there needs to be a central conflict in your story. You...

A controller below a series of puzzle pieces suggests that the controlling idea leads a writer through their narrative an an audience to the heart of the story's controller

Controlling Idea

Some stories explore universal themes like belonging or ambition, while others arrive with something very specific to say. The latter...

A woman looks at floor plans with two people looking over her shoulder to suggest visual similarity to plot development

Plot Development: 3 Main Elements

Good plot development doesn’t rush or drag. It doesn’t stumble or take detours, nor does it feel contrived. A good...

Two men paint the sides of a room in one story of a building to suggest the parts of a story as a physical relationship to one's own literature

Parts of a Story

“The most important part of a story is the piece of it you don’t know.”– Barbara Kingsolver In this article,...

Clay faces crafted throughout time suggest universal themes in story that long precedes our civilized way of life

Universal Themes in Story

While the stories we spin are often deeply personal, they invariably explore themes that are universally relatable. It can feel...

The five-act structure visualized literally as five planes in formation — themes of tension, war, fighting, danger, organization

Five-Act Structure

The Five-Act Structure is a key aspect of dramatic storytelling. The tradition stretches as far back as the ancient Greeks,...

Getting through the messy middle pictured here, as a woman on the opposite end of a chessboard trying to figure out what to do next

Getting Through the Messy Middle

We’ve all been stuck in the messy middle of a story.  Inspiration strikes like raw lightning, bringing a new idea...

Common themes in literature appear often in hieroglyphic storytelling

Common Themes

While every story is unique, the history of literature is populated with reinterpretations of common themes.  Through the lens of...

Conquering a giant rock is a parallel for the character who, rooted in dilemma, is guiding your audience through external conflict to make meaning of the madness in the world.

External conflict

Without tension or conflict, a story will not only be boring, but absent of meaning.  At the heart of every...

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,...