Everyone has a natural “story sense”, honed by the thousands of stories we’re exposed to growing up, from fairy tales, TV shows, movies, novels, comic strips, family anecdotes and playground jokes, to the founding myths of our many cultures.

And just as musicians combine their natural, in-born sense of timing, pitch, melody and harmony with a learned knowledge of music theory to further their art, writers can combine this natural “story sense” with a little learned knowledge to further theirs.

In this way, what was just an intuitive guide becomes a reliable tool in the hand, to pick up and use when you need it, or lay aside when you don’t.

This short book presents the basic ideas of how stories are structured, and how that structure helps the stories we tell work better and be more meaningful: truths that have emerged from the many stories we humans have told one another throughout the ages. It presents a good, solid story-building framework to stick to when you need it, or ignore when things are going great.

Learning about story structure can only deepen your appreciation of the stories you read and watch, and make the stories you create work all the better!

Story Sense
Story Ingredients
Character
Character problem
Dilemmas
Some classic dilemmas
Make them, break them, then break the mould
Dimension
Script
Groups
World
Rules
Plot
The Turn
Acts
One act, three acts, five acts
The heroic number
The classic three act structure
Stories are fractal
Story Shape
The Hook
The Inciting Incident
The Halfway Point
Crisis
Climax
The Obligatory Scene
Endings
Story Meaning
Story Value
The Vice
Story Types
Some Story Theories & Further Reading
Appendix
The Once Upon a Time Exercise
Bibliography
About the Author