Four Act Stories and Beyond

There are various forms of structure, including frameworks, work processes and goal setting.

A lot has been written about story structure. In my mind, understanding its value is priceless.

There is a lot of confusion around structure, creativity and innovation. You can find a good study that resolves much of the misinformation at managing-creativity.com. Ironically, there is much to learn about creativity and innovation from the business world, as there is an infinite amount of data and research out there. Top institutions, such as Harvard, take it very seriously.

The core concepts, with regard to story structure, include:

a) Structure increases the quantity and quality of creative output.

b) Novelty (commonly referred to as "originality") emerges from replication.

c) Certain structures help to meet the subconscious expectations of the audience.

By mapping your idea around an existing structural template, you can quickly expand that idea into a story. Once extrapolated, the needs of your particular story will begin to dictate your structure, hence you will cut and paste scenes until your story, in effect, becomes original. Then by working on each sequence to make it perfect, you eventually produce quality work.

But what structure?

The Western World has traditionally supported the concept of three act structure. But this is useless. Everything has a beginning, a middle and an end and, for writers, this doesn't help much.

If you analyse many versions of three act structure you find that, in effect, you really have four acts. For example, Syd Field argues that three acts consist of an approximate 30:60:30 ratio. But the 60 has a mid point, so we're really talking 30:30:30:30.

But even four acts do not help much.

You can analyse four acts to reach five or seven acts. But even they are useless. The problem is that they are too broad. OK, I agree, templates only have value if they are broad, but we need more.

A huge leap is the monomyth or Hero's Journey. The monomyth can be traced back to Gilgamesh in about the 26th century BC, through to the Shahnama around 1000 A.D. and so on. The latest incarnation is that of Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1948).

Campbell's Hero's Journey consists of 17 stages. So here we have 17 acts, which is much more useful to the story writer.

But the Hero's Journey ends once the Hero has returned home and provided the Freedom to Live, whereas in modern film (call them contemporary stories) the hero returns once more to battle the antagonist. So in effect we can say that we have Campbell's 17 stages and then another encapsulated in the Final Conflict. So 18 stages.

But the 18th stage can be broken down into Preparation / Final Antagonism / Journey to the Final Conflict / Battle / Moral Dilemma / Completion / Freedom to Live. Hence we arrive at 24 stage structure.

The Hero's Journey can be extrapolated into many more stages.

The question you may ask yourself now is this: how representative is the monomyth or Hero's Journey of ALL stories? In other words, what value does it really have as a template? And as I am implying, a universal template?

The best way to answer that is to search out someone with more credibility than me, that is: read a book about it. A good start is Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey, ISBN: 0330375911. He compares a diverse variety of cinematic blockbusters to drive home the point.

Whether you go for the idea of the monomyth or not, the idea of working from a template is very valid, or at least helpful. And it applies not just to screenplays, but to sitcoms and novels too. What you need to do is decide which template works for you. There are quite a few out there.

From the above it follows that (most) stories are structurally derivative and yet can be very original. Watch a diverse range of films - from Midnight Cowboy to Al Pacino Scarface to Casablanca to whatever you choose, analyse them sequence by sequence and you will see stark structural similarities.

In fact, when stories are not structurally derivative then they usually turn out to be "weird" because the audience has certain subconscious expectations as to how a story should evolve. And when they are not met....well, people will just refer to it as not a proper story.

The 106 stage Hero's Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.managing-creativity.com/CreativeWriting.html

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author's name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/

---

Prolific Writers

Prolific authors write; they don't just dream about it. A... Read More

Boost Your Income With Trade Journals

Why would anyone want to write for trade journals? Aren't... Read More

Screenwriting ? The Value of Structure

Structure in the form of frameworks, work processes and goals... Read More

How NOT to Get a Freelance Writing Job

In the business of freelance writing, it's not enough to... Read More

Common Writing Mistakes - Are These Holding You Back From Writing Success?

During the years that I've been teaching writing and participating... Read More

Interviewing an Author: Dont Be Left Speechless

Joyce Carol Oates. Langston Hughes. Anne Sexton. F. Scott Fitzgerald.... Read More

The Value of Adding Images to Technical Documentation

It's cliché, but true-a picture does paint a thousand words.... Read More

Be Your Own Literary Agent and Get Published

So you're one of 20 million Americans who want to... Read More

How To Write to a Word Count

You've finished your story, and you're pretty happy with it.... Read More

10 Ways to Shatter Writers Block

1. Use Logic: Check for External PressuresAre you under physical... Read More

Letter Writing Journaling

When you read a letter from someone, we are immediately... Read More

Write On! - Key Components of Successful Business Communication

Written communication is often the first impression you make on... Read More

8 Quick Tips on Creating Vivid, Memorable Characters

These 8 tips on using characters in your stories will... Read More

Can Your Theme Be Proved In Your Story?

Creative Writing Tips ?Your theme has to be something you... Read More

How to Write a Short Story

Everybody knows writing a story is not easy. Like the... Read More

Ten Quick Tips for Inexperienced Writers

One of the biggest problems that inexperienced writers have is... Read More

Proof Positive: the importance of proofreading

Last week I was having a quick browse on eBay... Read More

Mexican Living: Pasatiempo

It occurred to me one day that I needed something... Read More

Print-On-Demand: A Definition and a Comparison

The purpose of this article is to consider Print-On-Demand publishing... Read More

Writing for Local Veterinary Hospitals

Freelance writer STANLEY BURKHARDT has a passion for animals. He... Read More

Home Business Writing Made Simple

Have you ever written a letter to a friend? Ever... Read More

Dig Deeper to Reveal Character

He ran up the steps and knocked on the door.... Read More

Personal Journaling - Strategies To Make It Easy

Recently I was watching the Oprah show and it was... Read More

Fight The Fluff!

The first and final rule of quality writing is this:... Read More

Childrens Stories - The Essentials

There is no specific formula for children's fiction. There are,... Read More

6 Ways to Toot Your Own Writing Horn

You know you've got writing talent. Others enjoy your work... Read More

How Three Publishing Myths Kill the Author

Agents and publishing houses have their best interests at heart,... Read More

Understanding The First Rule Of Writing ? Before You Start The Great American Book

Chaos and confusion come when established rules and procedures are... Read More

Writing Help

Whether you are working for a small business, large corporation,... Read More

How To Write Thank You Letters With Class

When I first started tracking the information preferences of people... Read More

The Cost of Being a Writer

You are the only one who knows what being a... Read More

Authors-Stop Expensive Mistakes Before you Spend on Professional Services

So many clients come to me as a book or... Read More

Which Comes First - Short Story Or Novel?

A writer writes. Bet you've heard that one... Read More