Story Structure

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An image of a woman smiling while scrolling on her phone with a coffee in hand suggesting austerity, enjoyment, peace from looking at writing memes

Writing Memes: Why Writers Love Sharing Them (And What They Secretly Teach Us)

If you spend enough time with writers on social media, you’ll soon learn one thing — we enjoy writing memes....

A woman touches a broken reflection, sultry, to suggest the character vs. self conflict in visual form

Character vs. Self Conflict

Character vs. Self is the conflict that strips all else away. There’s no central villain, no evil plot, no natural...

A woman directs a cameraman with a screenplay in hand to suggest that a writer can shine in a different format — What is a screenplay?

What is a Screenplay?

A screenplay is a script specifically written for film, TV, video games, or any other visual medium. It is not...

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,...

A serene scene of a person standing on a wooden dock over calm water, evoking solitude in how to self-publish a book

How to Self-Publish a Book

On the topic of self‑publishing, conversations tend to involve the same handful of outcomes. You might have heard how Andy...

Turkish planes fly in formation to signify strength and might in the form of blitzkrieg writing

Blitzkrieg Writing: How to Outrun Your Inner Critic  

Blitzkrieg is not a word typically associated with the quiet, solitary act of writing. It conjures up images of brute...

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

Read More »
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

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,...

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...