Though you are by no means obligated to structure your story in a traditional way, it is useful to consider where traditional plot structures place events, high points, and low points in many stories. Below are some plotting traditions.
Three-Act Structure
Originating in Ancient Greece, the three-act structure is used most commonly in films. It divides the story into three parts–the Setup, the Confrontation, and the Resolution–which are connected to each other by plot points.
- Setup: The first act’s main purpose is exposition: introducing the characters, their relationships, and the world they live in. It ends with an inciting incident, where the protagonist’s attempts to deal with a dramatic incident ensures that life will never be the same for them again.
- Confrontation: In the second act, the protagonist attempts to solve the problem created in the first act. However, they are doomed to fail: they usually lack both the skills and the development to overcome the antagonist of the story. In order to progress, the protagonist must come to better understand themselves and to change; this is known as a character arc.
- Resolution: In the third act, the plot and all subplots are finally resolved. This is the act with the climax, where tensions present throughout the story become most intense. By the end of the story, the protagonists have changed from who they were in the beginning of the story, usually for the better.
Five-Act Structure
Also known as the Freytag Pyramid, the five-act structure is most famously employed in Shakespeare’s plays. It divides the plot into five parts: the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement.
- Exposition: This serves to introduce the characters, their relationships, and the world they live in. It also has to set up the main conflict in the story.
- Rising Action: This leads to the climax. Escalating events build up to the climax of the story, as the protagonist encounters more and more obstacles. Events that happen here are usually the most important to the plot, as they lead to the climax and resolution.
- Climax: This is the turning point of the story. It is also where the protagonist’s fate is usually sealed: in a comedy, things start going well for a heretofore unlucky protagonist, and in a tragedy, the opposite happens as the protagonist’s flaws are revealed. It’s important to note here that the protagonist will make a decision that reveals their moral quality.
- Falling Action: The protagonist and the antagonist finish their conflict. Towards the beginning, the antagonist usually has the upper hand, and whether the protagonist succeeds or not depends on their previous actions. Here, all subplots, plot threads, and twists are revealed or resolved.
- Denouement: The conflict between the protagonist and antagonist is finished, and the story is resolved. By the resolution of the main conflict, the reader is released from the tension and heightened emotion of the story. The author’s tone and occasionally their lesson regarding the story are revealed.
Three-act structure and five-act structure are by far the most traditional and most widely-used plot structures. Thus, while they do provide a safer, more secure story for readers to follow, more and more modern works depart from three- and five- act structure in favor of more innovative forms. Here are some other popular structures:
The Fichtean Curve: the story begins with the inciting incident, so the reader is immediately thrown into the action. Exposition comes after this dynamic beginning, and is interspersed with rising action. Three major crises make up the rising action, each more intense than the last. These crises build up to the climax, which occurs two thirds of the way through the story. After the climax, loose ends are tidied up and the story is resolved.
In Media Res: The story starts in the middle of the rising action, usually during or after the second or third crises have already happened. Exposition is provided through conversations or flashbacks, but the main story still builds up to the climax and resolution. This structure is common in detective novels, where the story starts after the crime has already been committed.
Structuring your plot traditionally can be helpful: readers expect certain events at certain moments, and as a result of these expectations can feel a story’s flow. Unexpected incidents at places they are not meant to occur can interrupt this flow and leave your reader feeling lost. Overall, the biggest advantage of traditional plot structure is that it easily gives your story a sense of direction, and also tells the reader what to expect, so that plot twists and sudden revelations do not leave them reeling.
However, no element can be said to be absolutely crucial for a good story. Plot structure exists to help you tell your story, and no more. You should choose a structure for your story based only on how well it suits your plot, your characters, and your theme. In the end, your focus as a writer should still be to tell your story in the best way possible.
Happy writing, from your Tarweed Team!
