Literary reviews by Tim Love.
Warning: Rather than reviews, these are often notes in preparation for reviews that were never finished, or pleas for help with understanding pieces. See Litref Reviews - a rationale for details.

Saturday, 22 August 2020

"5 secrets of story structure" by K.M. Weiland (PenForASword Publishing, 2016)

The 5 items are Inciting Event, Key Event, Pinch Points, Moment of Truth, Climactic Moment. These are intersperced amongst other milestones in a 3 act structure. Here's a longer list

  • Inciting Event - after the hook of the first line, this first hint of the challenge ahead happens halfway through Act I. It breaks the possible monotony of the setting-up
  • Key Event - at the end of Act I, 25% through the book, the setting-up is over, and the main character engages with the challenge. The Key Event is when the protagonist leaves the old world, the "1st plot point" is when the adventure world is entered. These 2 moments may coincide.
  • In the first half of Act II (from 25% through the book to 50%) the hero battles. Things don't look good.
  • Pinch Point - at 37% there's minor challenge that may introduce new backstory information.
  • Moment of Truth - at 50%. "The 2nd plot point", when the protagonist now understands the true nature of the quest.
  • In the 2nd half of Act II the hero makes progress (from 50% to 75% through the book). Then there's a fundamental challenge ("the 3rd plot point").
  • Pinch Point - at 62% there's minor challenge that may introduce new backstory information.
  • Climactic Moment - at the 88% mark the final climactic turning point will launch the story's Climax

In the appendices there's a link to a "story structure database" and a breakdown of Star Wars.

It all sounds fair enough to me, as far as it goes. Though it's most applicable to longer novels/films with an adventure/quest basis ("Ice Age", "Peter Pan", "Toy Story") he also refers to "Turn of the screw", and the pacing is what one might expect from more literary/psychological pieces. Deviations from this structure are likely to be noticed by readers.

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