Essays on Structure

Two Truths and One Lie: How to Use Real Experience to Write a Story

By Max Booth III

In: Outlining, Structure, the greasy strangler

Formulating a three-act structure by recycling traumatic memories.

Dirty Little Secrets, Part Three: Why the Agent Requested—and Then Rejected—the Full

By Susan DeFreitas

In: Agents, Industry, Plot, Publishing, rejection, Structure

Good news: The agent requested the full! Bad news: The agent said, “Thanks but no thanks.”

Narrative Detour: Rediscover Your Novel

By BH Shepherd

In: Character, Rewriting, Short Stories, Structure, Theme

A fun exercise to help you push forward when writing your novel becomes a slog.

Clarity vs. Experimentation: A Letter To Myself

By Peter Derk

In: Abstracts, Experimental fiction, Literary Devices, Narrator, Structure

Does your work have a worthwhile story underneath the experiment? In other words, are you going to pay off the work a reader does to understand what’s going on?

Analyzing the Three-Act Structure in Tolkien's 'Fellowship of the Ring'

By Emmanuel Nataf

In: J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Structure

To celebrate the publication of The Fellowship of the Ring on July 29, 1954, we’re looking at how Tolkien used an enduring story structure to create an enduring trilogy.

Hurdles and a Pyramid: Plotting Your Short Story

By Joshua Isard

In: Freytag's Pyramid, Freytag's Triangle, Short Stories, Structure

Make Freytag's Pyramid work for you, not the other way around.

5 Reasons Why You Should Write a Screenplay

By Justin Hunter

In: Community, Con Air, Dialogue, List, screenwriting, Structure

Writers of prose would do well to follow the methods of screenwriters to help immerse readers in their story.

Storyville: Horror Story vs. Horror Novel

By Richard Thomas

In: Character, Novel, Plot, POV, Setting, Short Story, Storyville, Structure

How do you know if your horror project is a story, novella, or novel? Some quick tips.

Brace Yourselves: A Breakdown of the Game of Thrones Pilot, "Winter is Coming"

By Fred Venturini

In: game of thrones, pilot breakdown, Plot, screenwriting, Setting, Structure, Television

The Game of Thrones pilot, "Winter is Coming," packs a sprawling, fantasy epic into a tight sixty-one minutes featuring distinct and interesting settings and characters.

Storyville: Are You Unique or Just Difficult with Your Fiction?

By Richard Thomas

In: Character, experimental, Storyville, Structure

Make sure you're not being difficult and vague when trying to write unique stories. Here are some tips.

Seeing the Page Like A Quarterback Sees the Field

By Christoph Paul

In: List, Plot, Sports, Structure

Using football metaphors, I compare how being a successful QB is similar to being a good writer.

What Works & What Doesn't: 'Badlands'

By Christopher Shultz

In: Badlands, Film, screenwriting, Structure, Terrence Malick, What Works & What Doesn't

How effective is the first act of Terrence Malick's debut feature on the page?

Finding Poetry In Computer Code

By Leah Dearborn

In: Computers, G. Willow Wilson, Poetry, Structure, William Shakespeare

Is there a linguistic elegance to code? Is it only ever for issuing commands, or can it be for the enjoyment of the programmer?

Making A Murderer: How Good Storytelling Made It So Damn Compelling

By Peter Derk

In: Character, documentary, Legal, Making A Murderer, Netflix, Plot, Steve Avery, Structure, Television, True Crime

'Making A Murderer' was a fascinating story, but good storytelling made it truly excellent.

Five Literary Sex Scenes You Wish You'd Written

By JS Breukelaar

In: Brokeback Mountain, Chuck Palahniuk, Cormac McCarthy, Elena Ferrante, Jy Yang, List, Sex, Sex Scenes, Structure

Unearned sex scenes are hard to swallow. Here are five writers that get to the guts of what's at stake when we get naked.

Five Ray Bradbury Stories That Tell Us Everything We Need to Know About Writing.

By JS Breukelaar

In: conflict, Ray Bradbury, Short Stories, Structure

No writer stalked the inherent tensions in fiction with more guts and style than Ray Bradbury. Here are five lessons in conflict from the master of wonder.

What Every Successful Novel Opening Must Do: Myth vs. Reality

By Susan DeFreitas

In: Editors, Openings, Publishing, Slush Pile, Structure

It's no secret that agents, editors, and their assistants are looking for any reason to reject a manuscript in the first few pages. But what does it really take to get readers hooked?

Storyville: 10 Ways to Fool Your Readers

By Richard Thomas

In: Abstracts, Character, List, Plot, POV, Storyville, Structure

Ten tips for the best ways to fool your readers.

Five Ways Scrivener Can Help Your Work In Progress

By Karina Wilson

In: List, Rewriting, Scrivener, Software, Structure, technology

Why Scrivener? What can it do for your writing? Go beyond the "click here" tutorials and consider how this software can improve your work habits and the quality of your content.

Trash or Treasure? A List of Five Obscure Literary Movements

By Leah Dearborn

In: Hermeticism, List, literary movements, Martian poetry, Poetry, Romanticism, Spiralism, Structure

From to Spiralism to Martian poetry, not every idea finds a solid foothold in history or a wide audience.

Abandoning Linearity and Enabling Shuffle Mode: How to Write Out of Sequence

By Max Booth III

In: Non-linear, Outlining, Plot, Process, Structure

By writing out of sequence, you no longer have to force yourself to write the boring bits. You are always writing the fun chapters. The scenes that remind you why you’re a writer in the first place.

Screenwriting: The Emotional Spine

By Karina Wilson

In: INT/EXT, Narrative Structure, Screenplays, screenwriting, Script, Structure

Got your three acts, your hero's journey and your turning points sorted? Good. But, what's holding them all together? Take your screenplay to the next level by addressing the emotional spine.