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zero to one
 Zero to One: Macro Structure
by Chuck Heintzelman
As a beginning writer, I tended to write incidents not stories. Sometimes the incidents were interesting. At least I thought so at the time. But they lacked the "secret sauce" that turned them into a story. They lacked structure. In this column I'll examine several ways to structure stories, going into detail on my favorite--the number one story structuring technique I have found: Scene and Sequels.
Beginning, Middle, End
In Aristotle's Poetics he describes a story as a whole thing having a beginning, middle, and end. Actually, he describes the tragedy plot this way, but the modern meaning of comedy and tragedy differ from Aristotle's time. Most stories today, even happily-ever-after stories, follow Aristotle's tragedy definition. I digress. The point is thinking of stories in terms of Beginning, Middle, End has been around for over two millennia. It's a structure that works.
Act I, Act II, and Act III are different names for Beginning, Middle, End. The basic formula for this structure is quite simple:
- Beginning - Introduce problem
- Middle - Attempt to solve problem
- End - Problem resolution
Beginning, Middle, End is a high level structure. It's the birds-eye, 10,000 feet view of your story.
The Monomyth
Another structure for storytelling is the Monomyth, also known as The Hero's Journey . Joseph Campbell, a mythologist, discovered a common pattern from myths around the world. In his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces , Campbell presents this pattern as "The Hero's Journey." According to Campbell there are 17 steps, or stages, in the mythic journey. Some myths contain most of these stages, while others use only a few.
While working at Disney Studios, Christopher Vogler created a memo "A Practical Guide to a Hero With a Thousand Faces." Later, he expanded this memo into the book, The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers . Vogler combined and renamed Campbell's steps into the following 12 steps:
- The Ordinary World
- The Call to Adventure
- Refusal of the Call
- Meeting with the Mentor
- Crossing the Threshold
- Tests, Allies, and Enemies
- Approach to the In-most Cave
- The Ordeal
- The Reward
- The Road Back
- Resurrection
- Return with the Elixir
Whether you use Campbell's 17 stages, or Vogler's 12 stages, the monomyth is a powerful way to structure your story. It's a closer look at your story than Beginning, Middle, End is. I'd say it's at the 3,000 feet level instead of the 10,000 feet level.
Three Other Structures
There are many other story structures on the same level (around 3,000 feet up) as the monomyth. Here's a list of three of them.
- John Truby's 22 Building Blocks - He defines 22 steps for a story to go through. He starts with Self-realization, Need, and Desire and ends with New Equilibrium.
- Robert McKee's Story - He describes five stages from Inciting Incident to Resolution. McKee also provides a structure dealing with the rising and falling of conflict through a story.
- Michael Hauge's Six Stage Plot - He goes from Setup to Aftermath, with a simultaneous six stages for the character's inner journey.
All these structures are great. They work for lots of people, but I was searching for something different.
Scenes and Sequels
Then I discovered Scenes and Sequels by Dwight Swain. It is the absolute best way to structure a story I know. Can I be blunt? It's damn good. Try it and you'll like it. It's much closer to the story than the monomyth and other structures I've described. Your view is up at 700 feet, instead of 3,000 or 10,000.
In his book, Techniques of the Selling Writer , Swain asks the question "How do you build a story?" He answers it: "With Scene, followed by Sequel." You write a Scene on page one. Follow it by a Sequel. Follow with another Scene, and another Sequel. Repeat until the end. It is the technique he used to author dozens (maybe hundreds) of stories.
Here are the definitions of Scene and Sequel from Swain's book:
- Scene - A unit of conflict, lived through by character and reader.
- Sequel - A unit of transition that links two Scenes. It sets forth your focal character's reaction to the scene just completed, and provides him with motivation for the Scene next to come.
Naming the first unit a "Scene" is confusing. The word "scene", in the non-Swain sense, means a continuous action occurring at a specific setting. I don't care what he calls it though, as long as it works.
Scene and Sequel each have their own three-part structure:
SCENES
- Goal - The character must want something. Preferably, they should want it desperately.
- Conflict - The opposing force that requires the character to struggle or fight for his goal.
- Disaster - The logical, but unanticipated event that throws your character a loss.
SEQUELS
- Reaction - The character reacting to the disaster.
- Dilemma - The character must decide between unsatisfying alternatives.
- Decision - The decision emerges, which becomes the the next Scene's goal.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?
Jim Butcher, on his blog, says this is the structure he uses throughout the Dresden Files. These books are great reads, sucking you into the story, pulling you deeper chapter by chapter, keeping you up way too late to function at work the next day.
Discovering Scenes and Sequels helped me tremendously. Although, I hate to admit, lately I've slacked off using them consciously. (I will, cross-my-heart, start using them more.)
I'll leave you with a few random thoughts on Scenes and Sequels.
- Not every disaster has to be the end of the world. It is important to hook the reader, which can be the promise of future doom.
- Sequels control the story's pace. Short Sequels move the story faster, long Sequels slow it down.
- Scenes are where all the action is. They are where plot points occur.
- Longer Sequels give your story more plausibility.
- It's a balancing act between speed (shorter Sequels) and believability (longer Sequels).
- New information coming into a Scene can heighten conflict as well as provide the disaster.
- Scenes contain details and actions which make your story come alive.
- Summary should only occur in Sequels. That's where Sequels shine. Indeed, Sequels with too much Scene-like detail will bog down a story.
Until next time. Keep writing.
Copyright 2010 Chuck Heintzelman
About the Author: Chuck Heintzelman calls himself an "Amateur of Words," a phrase he freely admits he warped from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Each day he juggles his passion of writing with his love of computer programming, a full-time job as a software engineer, his school-age children, and the inevitable curve ball life likes to throw. He lives north of Spokane, WA. You can find out more information about Chuck at http://StoryChuck.com
comments? criticisms? would you like to respond? email scriptorium@thescriptorium.net
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