“Story structure in particular is like letting someone in on a secret, and once learned, it immediately and forever changes what you see in the work (novels and movies) of others, very clearly and powerfully. It’s like suddenly hearing a language being spoken that’s been there all along yet you’ve only felt the results without hearing the words themselves.”

All the time! As I keep wailing to Larry, I can predict the most complex plots in films before they happen and pinpoint why some films work and some don’t, why some characters make us die of empathy and others have us reaching for the remote, but I don’t have plots in me. Half a century of life experience and some personal history that would make an arty, foreign, angst-ridden film, but no riveting, imaginative plots!

Hi, Larry,
This post gave me unexpected clarity. I maybe have it in me to write the book equivalent of of Love Actually or She’s Just not That Into You, a series of smaller stories interwoven around overlapping characters and a binding theme. It’s the common thread in the dramas I love, which are all as dependent on the evolution of beautifully created and well drawn characters as they are plot based.

What did it for me was asking myself which meals I cook most confidently and intuitively. I lived and worked in Greece for many years and I can whip up an informal but homely, robust feast with homebaked bread, dozens of different salads, dips, and mezedhes that folk can dip into and enjoy at their leisure and their own pace. The ingredients are very basic and homely (in Scots/UK English, homely=good!) and have changed little over the years, but the beauty is that the eater creates their own meal from what’s on offer. Greek meals demand presence, engagement and connection. Add the wine and the music and you get the passion.

Thanks, Larry! By the way, this is a plea. Please get the plugin called Subscribe to Comments so we can read the replies you leave for commenters. As writers visit you, it might also be an idea to get Ajax Comments Editor which gives folk 5 minutes to edit their comment after the post it.

As an aside to Mary . . . Mary, unless you are writing for Harl/Sil whose short 50K word format demands the hero/heroine meet in CH 1, please don’t take that as a romance “rule.”

Browse your bookstore shelves and you’ll find many exceptions to this oft-repeated rule (which I’ve never heard/seen quoted by an actual editor, btw. Have you?).

My current romance novel is meshing wonderfully with the four part structure. My CH 1 is all set up. We meet both the h/h in their current lives, but they do not meet each other.

I think if you’re careful to ensure your setup grabs the reader, and keeps things clipping along to the meet romance readers anticipate you’ve got some wiggle room. I think the rule grew out of the caution not to do a big backstory dump in the beginning.

So, what’s up next, Larry?

Could really use some help on generating plot turns. I have confidence in my writing abilities, but none whatsoever in my plotting/storytelling abilities.

Does anyone else ever worry they’re not imaginative enough to be a really good storyteller (as distinct from a good writer)?

Is this information on the story structure/character arc 4-part architecture also applicable to short stories? Does this work regardless of word count or is this mostly for novel-length (or screenplay, or theatrical presentation) material?

Thanks! You’ve got a fan in me.

I love this series. I’m already brainstorming a new story and I’m going to start from scratch with allot more knowledge of where I’m going. I know this one will be better than the last, even though I still love my first…(Some times I hate it but hey…it’s ok.)

Being a semi-decent baker, I completely get the cooking metaphore. To make a great apple crumb pie you need to follow the recipe..but if you’re good you can add just a pinch of extra love into it that makes everyone rave. Its all in the mix, not just the recipe or the ingrediants or even just the person who bakes it. Its all of them, put together.

My son wanted to make a chocolate cake but if I didn’t make him follow the recipe it would have been a pile of brown goop.

We teach ourselves the steps to succeed in everything else we do in our lives, why should writing be any different? Even though we take the same steps we’re all unique, just like each story and writer finds thier own path along the same road.

Romances aren’t immune to the 4-part structural flow, which means there is a Part One set up that lead us to a First Plot Point, at which the story shifts into another context and the heroine finds herself on an unexpected path. The metaphor of an “orphan” for her in the first part is, admittedly, a little vague (for me it’s always been the least clear of these four descriptors), but you can rationalize that it works because while she does indeed meet and become emotionally vested in her target during Part 1, she is still “orphaned” from her destiny as it pertains to him.

At the end of the day it’s all just a pile of guidelines and principles and helpful models, and when something doesn’t stick to your wall there are lots of other approaches that help us understand how to build our stories.

Again, hope this helps clarifiy. Just pour all this into your intuitive storytelling machine (think of this as the oil that make it run smoothly), then turn yourself loose to create your story on the page.

Any ideas welcome. I just am struggling to figure out your part 1.
Thanks. Mary

My outlines are going to be a LOT different from now on. There’s so much info here that it takes a long time to absorb it, you know, really let it sink it and become part of my writing process. In the future, I’m going to think of all these elements prior to writing Chapter One. Thank you for this. Please keep sharing! I really value it.