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Story telling is often very hard and I think, at times, authors do things that make it even harder. Things like starting to write when you don’t have a plot in mind and you don’t know your characters.

The more a person writes, the more they realize that without a plan of some sort to guide them on their way, they will be wandering around in the dark forest of doubt.

Are you struggling with where your story is going? Or are you having a problem figuring out where to start? Using a “story structure” will help immensely.

All stories should have twists. The plot should rise and fall. The hero(ine) should start with a problem, or be given a problem soon after the story starts, which gets worse throughout the story, and then ends with the hero(ine) saving the day.

So what is a story structure?

A story structure is a formula to use as a guide while writing your novel. I think of a story structure as the bones of my story. It’s up to me to cover those bones the best way I can.

I would advise you to find a story structure that resonates with you and then work with it.

In all of the years I’ve been writing (more than 20) I have never thought about “story structures.” To be really honest, I never knew they existed. At a writer’s conference in the 1990s, I learned about the Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell and the 12 steps of a hero’s journey. I read a lot about it and it has guided me through the books I’ve written.

I just never knew that there were other formal story structures that I could study and use.

Here are a few story structures to get you started — there are others:

The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell with its 12 stages is so widely used to write books and screenplays that it is not hard to find examples in our modern literature.

The Three Act Novel — Many writers rely on the Three Act Novel as the foundation to structure their novels. Here is a link to the Writer’s Edit website where I found an excellent explanation of the Three Act Novel.

— Many writers rely on the Three Act Novel as the foundation to structure their novels. Here is a link to the Writer’s Edit website where I found an excellent explanation of the Three Act Novel. The 7-point story structure is a classical story structure and goes along with the Hero’s Journey quite well. Here is a link to a series of five videos on Youtube teaching the 7-point structure by Dan Wells.

The W story structure looks deceptively easy but it takes you through the writing of your book. Here is a simplefied look at the W story structure.

The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson — This is a very helpful 10 step process to create a plot. By the time you’re done, you will have a topic sentence, an elevator speech and a good draft of a proposal in addition to the plot.

by Randy Ingermanson — This is a very helpful 10 step process to create a plot. By the time you’re done, you will have a topic sentence, an elevator speech and a good draft of a proposal in addition to the plot. The Story Equation by Susan May Warren is complex but delves deeply into character development. She has some great questions to ask your characters and several vital decisions the author must make.

Of these, The Snowflake Method takes you deep into your plot. The Story Equation is great for getting more in depth with your characters. The Hero’s Journey has 12 points that take your hero(ine) straight through the novel. Writers talk about how easy it is to trace the Hero’s Journey in the first Star Wars movie.

I have tried some of these and found many good ideas. I think it works best if you choose the one that resonates with you and then study that structure until it is second nature. When you feel comfortable with the story structure you’ve chosen, then it’s time to start plotting your novel.

Even writers who normally just plot their stories without a story structure in mind will benefit from learning one and using it. It should be one that makes sense to you and your method of writing. What you will find is that it is a lot easier to come up with more scenes and organize them if you know what you need to accomplish at that point.