Comments on: Story Structure Series: Epilogue… the Fine Print

By: harbin

harbin — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 21:51:40 +0000

@janice I don’t think you’re too old to benefit, no one’s ever too old to be a writer

By: Larry

Larry — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:31:13 +0000

@Mike — in response to your question about short stories… read this post on that very topic: http://storyfix.com/structuring-your-short-story

If a novel is a seven course meal (four parts and three major milestones), then a short story is like a snack. And a snack can consist of any of those courses, or small portions of any or all of them. Which means, with a SS you can cut deep into the structure and get very precise with it. In that case, the other parts are there by “implication,” allowing the ready to fill in those blanks.

Hope this helps. SS’s are hard to write well, and one of the reasons is that there are fewer parameters, metrics and criteria to apply. L.

By: Mike Lawrence

Mike Lawrence — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 23:18:14 +0000

Larry,

You mentioned that a short story may deviate from the structure presented. At the same time, is it acceptable (or even beneficial) for a short story to adhere as closely as possible to the blueprint you present?

Or is there a set of conventional caveats for short stories?

Thanks.

By: J

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:38:25 +0000

Holy crap that was long

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:56:17 +0000

Excellent series! I only wish someone had laid it out this plainly before, instead of making it all seem like some sort of secret, mystic art that you had to be born knowing.

By: Pegg Thomas

Pegg Thomas — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:10:55 +0000

Thank you for sharing this series. I’ve learned a lot and I appreciate the time you took to lay this all out for us ‘newbies’ to the craft. I’m writing my first book and I’d like it be worthy of publishing some day. I think this series will help make it possible.

By: Trina

Trina — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:57:08 +0000

I’m with Trish….an MFA program cannot give me this much. In fact, I was in an MFA program (that I didn’t finish) that didn’t give me any of this…We simply went over other literature and descriptions…which are important, but I’ve always been after this story architecture. I’ve read numerous books, but none gave me the architecture as simplistically as you with stellar examples.
Great Series Larry….Keep them coming!!!
Trina

By: Trish

Trish — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:40:41 +0000

Awesome stuff, Larry. I went to your sessions at Willametter Writers Conference, came home and read Screenwriting, and have now read your blog…Whoa! I have to say, I can’t imagine an MFA program giving me more valuable information than what I’ve gotten from you in the past couple of weeks. I think I’m now ready to revise my novel (again – only this time with some actual tools to guide the process) and I know I won’t start writing another one until I’ve got the 4 corners and the story architecture figured out first. Thanks a ton.

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:07:59 +0000

Colleen — great question. With short stories, the rules do soften. The shorter the story, the more they soften. The longer the story, the closer it should adhere to these structural principles.

Short stories get away with a “slice of life” approach, a vignette, a “moment in time.” They should always have a hero, always have a conceptual element, and always have a thematic landscape… so that much (three of the six core competencies) is consistent. And, they should always ask a question that will compel the reader to keep reading in hopes of an answer, there should be conflict and an antagonistic dimension, and there should always be a conclusion that packs an emotional aspect.

So the answer really is… the shorter it is, the less structural milestones come into play… the longer, the more they are needed. Anything over 10,000 words should have a resemblance to the paradigm I’ve presented here. Hope this helps.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:24:10 +0000

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the series on story architecture, and it’s really helped me put into perspective the things I’ve only seen out of the corner of my eye when reading books that I’ve enjoyed.

A question: how does story architecture work for shorter fiction? Are all the signposts and milestones still there, at roughly the same intervals (25% here being not 25,000 words, but rather 1250 words)?