Think of a house: it needs a foundation, support beams, floor boards, walls, ceilings, and a roof, of course. How many rooms you want to design for your house depends on how many events you want to develop in your story.
What is crucial is that your story has a beginning, middle, and end! You'd find yourself quite chilly in a house without a roof, and without floorboards, you wouldn't be able to plant your feet.
Exposition => The beginning: This is where the stage is set, and the readers learn the who, where, and when of the story. Also, the problem the main character faces becomes evident.
- The characters are introduced (not all, perhaps, but definitely the main character, who could also be the narrator -- the person/character telling the story.
- The setting is established: place and time where the story takes place. Of course, there can be more than one place, and the time can change, but the reader knows whether or not the heart of the story takes place in a city, the country, near the ocean, on an island, even in outer space. Does the story begin during the day or night? What season?
- The problem is the conflict the character is faced with, and ultimately answers the question: What makes this a story, and why is this so important? Think of the problem as being the foundation of the house. Without the foundation, the house cannot stand. How the main character solves this problem provides the structure for the story.
Initiating Action => This is the event the first action in the story that separates the exposition from the rising action. It is where the excitement begins, as it shows the character moving towards the conflict.
Rising Action => These are the sequence of events in the story that lead to the climax, which is where the main character has to face the conflict/problem head on.
Climax => This is the event where the main character confronts his problem. Think of this as the ceiling of the house. It is what all the events in the rising action have been leading to, and it is also where the reader feels really tense.
Falling Action => Once the main character has confronted the conflict head on, he/she moves towards the resolution of the story. The events leading toward the resolution (how the conflict is solved) are what make up the falling action. (Think of them as being the second half of the drama.)
Crisis Point => This event can be as nail biting as the conflict, happens soon after the climax, and can often be confused with the conflict. It is the dramatic moment where the main character, having faced the problem/conflict, makes a decision that paves the way for the rest of his/her actions that lead to the resolution. After the crisis point, there is no turning back for the main character.
Resolution => This is the moment when the problem/conflict has been "solved"; in other words, the conflict has been settled. Here is where the reader breathes a sigh of relief, breaks into gales of laughter (possibly), or cries. The nail biting is over.
Denouement => This lovely French word refers to the final scene, so to speak. Once the resolution has taken place, there are few events that answer questions: what happened to everyone else? Think of it as the last coat of paint on the house. Or, consider Cinderella: did she live happily ever after? Of course! She married the prince and lived in a castle where her stepmother and stepsisters had to scrub floors, wash windows, and clean up after the royal dog.
Typically, the story structure is drawn as a pyramid. While that image shows the rise, high point, and fall of the action (the frame of the house), it also makes it appear as if the climax happens in the dead center of the story. That is not always the case; therefore, the structure of the story is not as symmetrical as the pyramid suggests.
Symmetry means the same on both sides.
Falling Action => Once the main character has confronted the conflict head on, he/she moves towards the resolution of the story. The events leading toward the resolution (how the conflict is solved) are what make up the falling action. (Think of them as being the second half of the drama.)
Crisis Point => This event can be as nail biting as the conflict, happens soon after the climax, and can often be confused with the conflict. It is the dramatic moment where the main character, having faced the problem/conflict, makes a decision that paves the way for the rest of his/her actions that lead to the resolution. After the crisis point, there is no turning back for the main character.
Resolution => This is the moment when the problem/conflict has been "solved"; in other words, the conflict has been settled. Here is where the reader breathes a sigh of relief, breaks into gales of laughter (possibly), or cries. The nail biting is over.
Denouement => This lovely French word refers to the final scene, so to speak. Once the resolution has taken place, there are few events that answer questions: what happened to everyone else? Think of it as the last coat of paint on the house. Or, consider Cinderella: did she live happily ever after? Of course! She married the prince and lived in a castle where her stepmother and stepsisters had to scrub floors, wash windows, and clean up after the royal dog.
Typically, the story structure is drawn as a pyramid. While that image shows the rise, high point, and fall of the action (the frame of the house), it also makes it appear as if the climax happens in the dead center of the story. That is not always the case; therefore, the structure of the story is not as symmetrical as the pyramid suggests.
Symmetry means the same on both sides.
