STRUCTURE STORY FORM. 1.Conflict 2.Crisis 3.Resolution “two dogs fighting over a bone”--Kazan...
-
Upload
barnard-turner -
Category
Documents
-
view
212 -
download
0
Transcript of STRUCTURE STORY FORM. 1.Conflict 2.Crisis 3.Resolution “two dogs fighting over a bone”--Kazan...
STRUCTU
RE
ST
OR
Y F
OR
M
1. Conflict2. Crisis3. Resolution
“two dogs fighting over a bone”--Kazan
“the human heart in conflict with itself”--Faulkner
“fiction is the art form of human yearning”—Robert Olen Butler
THE BASICS OF ANY STORY
TROUBLE
IS YO
UR
BUSINESS *Trouble is
interesting; happy is boring .
*Passive characters are difficult to do well:
PASSIV
E CHARACTE
RS . . . In such fiction,
people and events are often accused of turning the protagonist into the type of person the protagonist is, usually an unhappy person. That’s the whole story. When blame has been assigned, the story is over”—Charles Baxter
*Avoid “blame” or “finger-pointing” stories.
The
fictio
n of fi
nger-p
ointin
g
. . . But it doesn’t
Have to be something
Stupendous.
“Fewer people have cause to panic at the approach of a man with a gun than at the approach of Mama with a curling iron. More passion is destroyed at the breakfast table than in a time warp.”---Burroway
YOUR CHARACTER MUST WANT SOMETHING . . .
EVERY STORY HAS AN ARC
1.Get your characters fighting.
2.Have something-the stake-worth their fighting over.
3.Have the fight dive into a series of battles with the last battle in the series the biggest and most dangerous of all.
4.Have a walking away from the fight.
But . . . It doesn’t have to be a physical fight with fists. It can involve words, thoughts, sly actions, etc.
THE PARTS OF THE ARC
Exposition—
Setting, basic info
Rising Action—the protagonists faces increasingly difficult challenges.
Climax—the moment when the protagonist gets or fails to get what he/she wants. Often changes or fails to change.
Falling action—afterward
Resolution—final outcome
INVERTED CHECKMARK