story structure-Conflict and Character within Story Structure

The Basic Three Act Structure

The simplest building blocks of a good story are found in the Three Act Structure. Separated by Plot Points, its Act 1 (Beginning), Act 2 (Middle), and Act 3 (End) .

• In the Beginning you introduce the reader to the setting, the characters and the situation (conflict) they find themselves in and their goal. Plot Point 1 is a situation that drives the main character from their "normal" life toward some different conflicting situation that the story is about. 
• Great stories often begin at Plot Point 1, thrusting the main character right into the thick of things, but they never really leave out Act 1, instead filling it in with back story along the way.
• In the Middle the story develops through a series of complications and obstacles, each leading to a mini crisis. Though each of these crises are temporarily resolved, the story leads inevitably to an ultimate crisis—the Climax. As the story progresses, there is a rising and falling of tension with each crisis, but an overall rising tension as we approach the Climax. The resolution of the Climax is Plot Point 2.
• In the End, the Climax and the loose ends of the story are resolved during the Denouement. Tension rapidly dissipates because it's nearly impossible to sustain a reader's interest very long after the climax. Finish your story and get out.

Character Arc and Story Structure

• Act 1

o    In the Beginning of a story the main character, being human (even if he of she isn't), will resist change (inner conflict). The character is  perfectly content as he is; there's no reason to change.

• Plot Point 1 – Then something happens to throw everything off balance.

o    It should come as a surprise that shifts the story in a new direction and reveals that the protagonist’s life will never be the same again.

§  In Star Wars this point occurs when Luke's family is killed, freeing him to fight the Empire.

o    It puts an obstacle in the way of the character that forces him or her to deal with something they would avoid under normal circumstances.  

• Act 2

o    The second Act is about a character’s emotional journey and is the hardest part of a story to write. Give your characters all sorts of challenges to overcome during Act 2. Make them struggle towards their goal.

o    The key to Act Two is conflict. Without it you can’t move the story forward. And conflict doesn’t mean a literal fight. Come up with obstacles (maybe five, maybe a dozen—depends on the story) leading up to your plot point at the end of Act 2.

§  Throughout the second act remember to continually raise the stakesof your character’s emotional journey.

§  Simultaneously advance both inner and outer conflicts. Have them work together—the character should alternate up and down internally between hope and disappointment as external problems begin to seem solvable then become more insurmountable than ever.   

§  Include reversals of fortune and unexpected turns of events—surprise your reader with both the actions of the main character and the events surrounding him. 

• Plot Point 2

o    Act Two ends with the second plot point, which thrusts the story in another unexpected direction.

o    Plot Point 2 occurs at the moment the hero appears beaten or lost but something happens to turn the situation around. The hero's goal becomes reachable.

§  Right before this unexpected story turn, the hero reaches the Black Moment—the point at which all is lost and the goal cannot be achieved.  

·         In order to have a "Climax", where the tension is highest, you must have a "Black" moment, where the stakes are highest and danger at its worst.

·         During this moment, the hero draws upon the new strengths or lessons he's learned in order to take action and bring the story to a conclusion.

o    Dorothy’s gotta get a broom from the Wicked Witch before she can go home.

o    Luke’s gotta blow up the Death Star before fulfilling his destiny.

o    Professor Klump’s gotta save face with the investors of his formula and win back Jada.

§  Act 3

o    The third Act dramatically shows how the character is able to succeed or become a better person.

o    Resolution/denouement ties together the loose ends of the story (not necessarily all of them) and allows the reader to see the outcome of the main character’s decision at the climax. Here we see evidence of the change in a positive character arc. 

A Word on Plot

Don't let your focus be the Plot, which is the series of events and situations that occur along the route of your story. The Plot is a natural outcome of the seeds of your story—it emergesfrom your setup of the characters, their conflicts and the setting they occur in. You'll write a more powerful, believable story if you focus on seed planting long before you worry about the harvest. 

Classic Story Structure Begins with Plot

What do we mean by Plot? Simply, plot is WHAT HAPPENS in a short story, novel, play or film. No more, no less. It isn't description or dialogue, and it certainly isn't theme. In the best stories, plot grows organically out of character, rather than being imposed from above. Specifically, plot is the result of choices made by characters in a story, especially the story's protagonist, or main character.

Even if action is not the most compelling feature of the story to you, the reader must always want to know -- actually NEED to know -- what happens next. Yes, plots are contrived, but that's what makes for art, not life. A theme -- your message or meaning -- is revealed through plot. For example, 'Money can't buy happiness' is just an empty threat, unless we observe a rich man who's miserable, as in George Eliot's 'Silas Marner.'

Renowned writer Anne Lamott ('Bird by Bird,' 'Operating Instructions') created a mnemonic device to help writers remember how to write plots that work:

Action, Background, Conflict, Development, End

A. ACTION

 means a scene. Storytellers begin with Action because it is quite literally dramatic, meaning that, theoretically, it could be performed onstage. Also, scenes are exciting as we watch and wonder what's going on here. Beginning with Action also means beginning with an inciting incident or point of attack: an event that sets off the events of the story.

Snake entered into Eden Garden

B. BACKGROUND

: Many 19th century novels begin with Background. For example, 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens starts 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...' This certainly seems like a natural way to open a story since Background happened before Action, at least chronologically. However, Background is boring. It is very literally un-dramatic.

Therefore, provide only enough Background at first so that the Action doesn't confuse your readers. They don't need to know everything, just enough to follow along.

C. CONFLICT

constitutes what your protagonist wants, but doesn't have. It doesn't matter what your protagonist needs, as long as he or she needs it badly.

The best Conflicts are dramatic and specific. Don't write about a teenage girl who's looking for love; write about a teenage girl seeking her first kiss. For one thing, focusing on the kiss will focus your storytelling and your readers' attention. Even more important, those readers will know without question at the end of the story whether the heroine has attained what she wants or not.

Hamlet seeks to overcome his late-adolescent malaise, but what makes Shakespeare's play dramatic is his need to kill his uncle to avenge the murder of his father. In Charlotte Bronte's novel of the same name, Jane Eyre seeks a life that is secure and yet stimulating; she desires Mr. Rochester, who can provide just such a life, and we will read her story until she gets him -- or doesn't.

Conflict is story, and, conversely, without Conflict, you have no story.

D. DEVELOPMENT  is the series of attempts made by the protagonist to resolve his or her Conflict. These attempts should increase with regard to drama and/or suspense, and ideally, each step in the Development should tell us a little bit more about the protagonist.

Development is the 'journey' made by the protagonist toward (or perhaps away from) what he or she wants. Sometimes that journey is literal, actual, physical: Think of 'The Odyssey,' John Cheever's 'The Swimmer' or 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac. Development can also be a trip through time, like childhood or adolescence, for instance. 'Portnoy's Complaint' by Philip Roth and Susan Minot's 'Lust' are essentially journeys made by characters via other characters. Finally, Development can be an emotional, spiritual or intellectual journey. Often, it is a combination of all of the above. Development usually accounts for 70 to 80 percent of the mass of the story.

E. END: Here's where the mnemonic device needs further development of its own, since 'End' isn't an especially helpful term. Let's expand it to include 3 more C's: Crisis, Climax, Consequences

1. CRISIS is often the final stage in a story's Development. In the best stories, it involves a choice -- and not simply a choice between good and evil, since given that choice, we'd all pick good. Crisis is a choice between two options of equal, or nearly equal, value.

In Ernest Hemingway's 'A Farewell to Arms,' the hero must decide between war and desertion. Crisis is, by definition, the most dramatic point in your entire story.

2. CLIMAX is not necessarily the most dramatic point, despite the word's colloquial meaning. Instead, Climax is the resolution of Conflict. Does the protagonist get what he wants, or not? Or maybe he gets what he wants, but realizes that his struggle to get it wasn't worth it. That's called irony.

Climax is the point of no return. At the Climax of a story there is simply no turning back; the protagonist is powerless to change his fate. Think of Romeo's suicide, the Climax of Shakespeare's play not because it's dramatic, but because it prevents him and Juliet from living together in love.

3. CONSEQUENCES:

 When the Conflict of a story has been resolved, what's left? The Consequences of that story. How have your protagonist and his world changed -- or stubbornly refused to change -- as a result of the story?