Notes tagged “Story structure”

2025

• Jun 3
  Four observations in response to Nathan Baugh on story twists To write good twists, bury details in a ‘sandwich,’ deliver the payoff just in time, surprise your audience with the method or degree of your payoff, and don’t ‘explain the joke.’

  6 min
• May 6
  Use one scene-sequel cycle each act In a Western Character-event story, the scene-sequel cycle repeats three times on the act level. Using ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ as an example, we examine how that works and how you can use it for your stories.

  10 min
• Apr 3
  The map and the mountain: Fifteen core beats of story structure Story structure frameworks are like maps. They need interpretation. In this note, I briefly cover the framework I use and introduce a series on how it works.

  7 min

2024

• Jul 2
  Beginning, middle, and end part 7: Event stories The key change in an event story about the protagonist’s situation and circumstances. The beginning introduces an outward goal, the middle shows the struggle to obtain it, and the ending shows success or failure.

  12 min
• Jun 4
  Beginning, middle, and end part 6: Character stories part 2 The key change in a character story is about worldview and beliefs. The dilemma and decision show how the protagonist grapples with change, and the ending demonstrates that her change was genuine.

  11 min
• May 7
  Beginning, middle, and end part 5: Character stories part 1 The key change in a character story is about worldview and beliefs. The beginning establishes the protagonist’s ‘lie,’ and the progress and disaster phases show how that lie is challenged.

  9 min
• Apr 2
  Beginning, middle, and end part 4: Idea stories The key change in an idea story is about understanding. The beginning introduces a question, the middle shows the pursuit of an answer, and the ending reveals it.

  10 min
• Mar 5
  Beginning, middle, and end part 3: Story types The three key types of change in stories are revelation, character decision, and external action. These map to idea, character, and event stories in Orson Scott Card’s MICE quotient.

  4 min
• Feb 6
  Beginning, middle, and end part 2: In search of a useful framework Beginning, middle, and end can be framed as the cause of change, the process of change, and the consequence of change. Scene-sequel format helps illustrate the process of change.

  8 min
• Jan 2
  Beginning, middle, and end part 1: Aristotle misinterpreted Aristotle’s claim that a story should have a ‘beginning, middle, and end’ seems to be more about wholeness than structure.

  2 min

2023

• Dec 5
  Storytelling + UX design: tips from 7 years at Microsoft UX designers can use storytelling to share knowledge and influence decisions using spoken stories, storyboards and prototypes, and in-product illustrations.

  15 min
• Sep 21
  Thesis, antithesis, and synthesis Storytellers can use a thesis-antithesis-synthesis story structure to illustrate change and convey a story’s thematic argument.

  11 min
• Aug 27
  Red herring plotlines and satisfying plot twists Storytellers can build satisfying payoffs by using beats from a visible plotline to lay the foundation for a second, hidden plotline

  4 min
• Jul 23
  Storytelling, neuroscience, and the rule of three: prediction and reward The most satisfying execution of the rule of three hooks into your audience’s brains’ reward systems by perfectly fulfilling the promise of the setup, but doing it in a way that subverts their expectations.

  9 min
• Jul 4
  Storytelling and the rule of three: trajectory and payoff The rule of three is a powerful storytelling mechanic that leverages human psychology to set up and pay off audience expectation in a satisfying way.

  11 min
• Jan 20
  Storytelling with large-scale, complex bracketing structures Story structures like the Hero’s Journey and seven-point plot structure can use bracketing to enhance their emotional and thematic resonance.

  7 min
• Jan 12
  Creating story arcs with three-unit brackets Bracketing is a three-unit story structure following an A - B - A form. It’s often used to illustrate transformation by returning to a familiar image, motif, setting, or situation where something has changed because of the intervening story.

  5 min

2022

• Dec 19
  Creating meaning with two consecutive story units Human brains can’t help but look for patterns, even when nothing’s there. Storytellers can leverage this tendency, juxtaposing images in order to create rich and layered meaning.

  10 min
• Dec 7
  Story structure and theme in Ira Glass’ anecdote and reflection One of the most basic story structures is two parts: anecdote and reflection. A series of meaningfully related events, and a thematic argument explaining what it was all about.

  8 min
• Nov 13
  How Orson Scott Card’s MICE quotient maps to internal and external genres of narrative drive Story theorists commonly apply the MICE quotient to story structure, but elements from the framework apply to the core conflicts behind action-, revelation-, and character-based plots.

  5 min
• Oct 24
  Applying scene sequel format to story structure Author Dwight V. Swain’s scene-sequel format applies on a broader level to entire act structures.

  6 min

2021

• Jul 23
  The three underlying functions of inciting incidents When story theorists talk about inciting incidents, they’re often referring to one or more of three distinct story functions: the tipping of the apple cart, the call to adventure, or the decision to cross the threshold.

  10 min