On Narrative Structures
Like them, hate them, or bend them to your will
Hi friends,
How do you feel about narrative structures? I’m talking about The Hero’s Journey, Save The Cat/Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet, Dan Harmon’s Story Circle, etc.
In my experience, people tend to fall into one of three camps, irrespective of their experience or success:
Narrative Structures are Gospel! You must use them, specifically my favourite Structure. These people are geniuses and we should follow their structures, rules, and templates to the tee!
Narrative Structures are nothing but constraints, limiting writers and their creativity! Besides, all it will do is make my story predictable and feel cookie-cutter and boring. Why should I follow what someone else has done?
Narrative Structures are interesting observations created by great writers, editors, story consultants, or critics on what makes a story engaging. They should be considered tools within a writer’s toolkit.
Which are you?
You can probably guess that I’m the third type (if for no reason aside from me being aware of it, challenging the dichotomy)! Just as how I feel that software development methodologies or schools of acting all add to a PM/Actor’s toolkit, I believe that writers should be aware of as many different Narrative Structures as possible, and think of them as ways to help them in whatever part of story development they’re in.
More than that, I think it’s critical to consider exactly what the goal of a Narrative Structure is.
The goal of a Narrative Structure is to keep the audience engaged and satisfied for the story's duration.
I don’t believe it’s possible to have one single universal Narrative Structure that applies to all stories of all lengths, delivery methods, and genres for all audiences.
One of the earliest analyses and structures is Aristotle’s Poetics, which is an analysis of the successful tragic plays of ancient Greek theatre. In it, Artistotle even says that he doesn’t believe that they’ve “worked out” comedy yet, so he’s not writing about it! He lays down some fundamentals that are still talked about today: he’s arguably the originator of the “Three Act Structure,” although his definition is simply talking about each story being “complete,” with a beginning, middle, and end.
Many of the structures I’ve come across are based on writing a feature-length film. If you’re planning to hold the audience’s attention for the length they expect to be in a cinema seat, then those are perfect guides.
However, talk to television writers and you’ll find they talk about Structure differently: they think about it based on the genre of the show, the length of each episode, whether they have ad breaks (and how many), whether the show is a serial or episodic, the subplots, and even whether certain characters have been over- or under-used. To force a television show (or a novel) into having a structure focused on a single protagonist on a journey of self-growth would dismiss some of the most interesting, engaging, and successful stories of our past and future.
To also constrain film to only ever feature a single protagonist on a journey of self-growth would be incredibly limiting; and in fact I’ve seen script assessors and consultants try to force a successful story about a group or multiple characters into this model and fight over who the protagonist is! Likewise, tragedies following the tradition of Aristotle’s poetics (deliberately or accidentally) lose their unique shape if they’re forced into a Structure focused on growth because the Tragic Hero only learns their lesson when it’s too late. Maybe it’s no wonder that we hardly see any true tragedies these days!
Just as tragedy has conventions that impose on the structure of a story, so do other genres such as romance, thriller, whodunnits and crime procedurals, to name a few. The Hero’s Journey was created based on observations of a certain type of story that appeared in several cultures, which was essentially a masculine coming-of-age story: a growth from boyhood to valuable adult member of a tribe, documented in The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. It is similar to the lesser-known Morphology of the Folktale by Vladimir Propp — I’m guessing you can infer what the topic of this study was! Both of these books follow Aristotle’s tradition of studying one story genre, and they are far from the only ones.
So, if I’m not against Narrative Structures, but I don’t believe in One Structure to Rule Them All, how do I use them? Returning to those three camps of thoughts on Narrative Structure that I outlined in the beginning, I believe they are great tools. They are tools to turn to when you don’t know how to move your story forward, or when it’s not hitting right with readers, or even when you are trying to write in an unfamiliar genre, medium, or form. They’re not something to be adhered to, but they also have the wisdom of observant craft experts who have studied or supported countless stories. Read or listen to how they work, consider them with your own story, use whatever works for you, and put the rest back in your toolbox for another story (if that story ever comes).
Finally, to quote the wonderful Linda Aronson, whose book, “21st Century Screenplay,” I wish every storyteller would read,
There is no one single structure in screenwriting. What am I trying to do? What sort of story do I want to tell? You choose the structure to suit your story.
(taken from Youtube webinar “Multiple Protagonist Family Reunions - OVERVIEW”)
If you’re interested in finding new Narrative Structures, aside from Linda’s book, there’s an excellent YouTube playlist from Film Courage that will open your eyes:
Yes, these are all feature film structures, so if you’re writing for television, short film, theatre, comics, a novel, or another medium, search to see if you can find a specific guide (outline template, beat sheet, etc).
As an aside, if you’d like to learn more about the strengths of storytelling in different media, check out this earlier post of mine:
Likewise, if you’re writing for genre, there are books and posts based specifically around the tropes and expectations of those. Don’t be surprised if you come across Structures that have been adapted across media or genre; remember, the Narrative Structure needs to suit you and your needs, to help you get your story down on paper and have it resonate with your audience. Open your toolbox and let all the Narrative Structures in!
What is your stance on Narrative Structures? Is there one you really love or hate? I’d love to hear.
Your friend, Ellen