Narrative structures 1 of 2

By justdaw | Writing tips | 6 Jun 2021


The basic parts of the story are set up, conflict and resolution; of course a narrative structure can be broken down into more parts. 

 

First, the setup. Atmosphere, world, early characterization, and so on will all go in here. Here you also have the everyday and the normalcy. In the setup the cast of characters are in their comfort zone. In a similar fashion the world they live in is shown in an ordinary light. This to make the contrast between the normalcy and the changes more noticeable and in some cases poignant. 

 

Second, the inciting incident. This is the moment, action, idea, person or object that disrupts the routine. It can come in many different ways as you can notice by that list. The key thing is to remember that it depends on the focus of the narrative. A story can be plot or character driven. Either one is good, but they do work very differently. Whether you choose one or the other will inform how the next steps will go.

 

Third, the reaction to the change brought about by the inciting Incident. Again the focus of the story plays a big part here. If the story is character driven, it will be their actions within their portrayal that moves the story. But if it is plot driven you can play fast and loose with the characters and make them take the steps that you need to move the story forward. 

 

Fourth, the goal. Once the world of the character has been pushed out of balance they will find themselves in the look for something to solve it. The thing can be physical or metaphorical. The goal in many cases is misplaced or confused. There are many stories that feature macguffins that are thought as the goal for a majority of them. So yeah, there can be a fake goal; something that is most likely to happen in a character driven narrative. Because there the character will go through a development and that change will inform a change on their goal

 

End of part 1. I will follow tomorrow with part 2. 



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Writing tips
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