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How many types plot structures are there and how are they used?

Hiya! Thanks for your question! Plot structures are important for creating a good story.

There’s an infinite amount of plot structures depending on the story you’re telling. Some types are better than others within certain genres. Here are the most common plot structures, and how they’re used:

The Four Main Plot Structures:

Freytag’s Pyramid:

Also known as dramatic structure, this is the most simplistic of plot structures, and probably the one you were taught in elementary school. In this type of story structure, the climax falls in the middle, and the latter half of the story consists of falling action and the resolution. This was developed to analyze Greek and Shakespearian plays that use a five-act structure.

Why it’s good: It allows authors to explore the consequences of one’s actions. It’s also good for story analysis.

Why it’s bad: Long resolutions get boring fast. Modern novels don’t use this because no one wants to read a story where the villain is defeated in the middle.

When to use it: Children’s books and short stories

It’s good to use in children’s books because the goal of most children’s books is to teach kids a lesson. Using Freytag’s Pyramid gives writers the chance to teach kids the consequences of doing something wrong (lying, bullying, etc.). It works in short stories because the limited length prevents the denouement from being too long and boring the reader.

Examples: Any of Shakespeare’s plays

The Fichtean Curve:

This is what most modern novels use, no matter the genre. The Fichtean Curve features a varying number of crises (or mini-climaxes) within the rising action to build up to climax about two-thirds of the way through the story. The falling action is short and used to wrap up loose ends or establish a new way of life for the characters.

Why it’s good: Putting crises throughout the story will keep readers hooked until the end. It also helps to keep good pacing. Despite being frequently used, this structure is loose enough that anyone can use it and make it unique for their own story.

Why it’s bad: Too much action can be overwhelming. This structure also doesn’t work well with certain story types such as Voyage and Return, Rebirth, or Comedy.

When to use it: Action-packed stories, Overcoming the Monster plots, or Quest plots

Examples: Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, World War Z by Max Brooks, or Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

The Hero’s Journey:

Another common plot structure that is seen in modern novels (especially western literature), and can be combined with the Fichtean Curve. Often, modern novels are a combination of the two. What makes the Hero’s Journey unique is that the protagonist must go through a literal or figurative death that completely transforms them. The death is usually, but not always, the climax of the story. Another key difference in The Hero’s Journey is that the protagonist must atone for their past rather than overcome it or move on without going back.

Why it’s good: Allows for great character development in character-strong stories.

Why it’s bad: Nearly every western novel, film, or TV show (successful and unsuccessful) uses this plot structure. It’s a little overdone, but if you can put a good personal twist on it, it can work out just fine.

When to use it: First-person stories, stories with small casts, Voyage and Return plots, or Rebirth plots

Examples: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, or Divergent by Veronica Roth

In Media Res

Latin for “in the middle of things”, In Media Res is a unique plot structure. Rather than start with an exposition that builds up to the action, In Media Res starts right in the middle of the story. If you were to start your story at the second or third crisis point of the Fichtean Curve, you would get In Media Res.

Why It’s Good: Dropping people in the middle of the action will hook the right from the beginning.

Why It’s Bad: Starting with the action can be disorienting for readers. Make sure you fill in the backstory as the plot moves on.

When to Use It: Stories with small casts, Crime plots, or Mystery plots

Examples: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, or The Iliad by Homer

There are plenty more plot structures, but these are the main four, and all others are based off these in some way. Keep in mind that most stories use a combination of these plot structures, so you don’t have to stick to just one.

Thanks again for your question! If you need help with anything else writing related, feel free to send in another ask. Happy writing!

- Mod Kellie

If you need advice on general writing or fanfiction, you should maybe ask us!

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I have finished my drawing of Avion the colossus from Shadow of the Colossus. This drawing took me a few weeks. You may be able to see in the picture that I used 9 different pieces of paper, to attempt to capture how large this beast is. Although, it may not be life sized, this is the most COLOSSAL project I've completed.

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Another hour of time spent on this COLOSSAL drawing project, I will hopefully finish this piece within the next couple days.

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Sideways picture of my COLOSSAL PROJECT! Day 8 by the way.

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The Cure (Draft)

Disclaimer: Please do not take this idea as your own, I do intend for this to be a legit story. I've always been hesitant about sharing stories, because someone could easily snatch that idea. Anyway, this is a small part of the draft that I have started. Please enjoy, and feel free to leave helpful feedback! Remember it is a draft, and needs improvements, so again, feel free!

Intro

A cure for cancer. It would save millions of lives each year. It would be the beginning of a new world for people. It would keep families together, longer. We could find The Cure for more diseases. They said we would be safe from cancer, forever. They were wrong.

Part 1

Chapter 1

I walked… east of course, i couldn't go any farther west unless i wanted to end up in the ocean. I dislike the ocean, it makes distance seem like an infinity. You look out at the ocean and you never see the land beyond… That’s why, i dislike the ocean.

The unknown a threat, even more now than before. All because someone thought it would be a good idea, to really fuck with mother nature. Cancer, was the number 2 killer of americans in the us, right next to heart disease at number 1.

regardless, what has happened has happened. why was i cured? maybe it was some strange luck. why was i one of the handful of people to survive? i don't have all the answers.

I tried to focus back on reality, i looked around me and noticed the dead trees all around me. not a single one was alive. or if it was… i pulled my mind back from the thought and continued walking. i was coming from montana, and there weren't many trees before, all of it being grassland or mountain, but now a lot of the trees were dead, along with the grass. there were a few patches that were green or looked lively, as though they might be recovering from The Cure. the grass was high as well. i figured i would walk cross country, because it wouldn't be trespassing if the owners were dead, or…. again i pulled my mind away. there wasn't many people in montana anyway. i couldn't even see any roads from where i was, all i could see was the sun rising in front of me. shining bright against the prairie grass, making it appear as though it was on fire. i could see large green spotted mountains in front of me. i pulled my map from my pants pocket and figured that it was the black hills, near south dakota. i needed to cross them and then keep heading east. i couldn't stop for a second, or risk going in the wrong direction either. i looked at the pictures in the tourist guide i picked up as well. and it showed big green beautiful pictures of the mountains. being able to see its green hills for miles. Well they looked black, but they were obviously green. not nearly as green as they looked in the pamphlet. gray covered them now, dead trees that would remain there for a long, long time. i would be long dead before they decomposed. The Cure murdered everything that breathed air, mushrooms, bacteria, unless they were immune.

I continued to walk, trying to stop thinking and focus on the task at hand, which was simply to walk. For how long? Until night. Night was a bad time to be out and about. You couldn't see what was hunting you. Daytime was also dangerous, but if you could see what was trying to kill you, you might be able to get away, might.

I could feel the ground starting to rise towards the sky. i was walking over a hill and when i finally got to the top, the view took my breath away, the sun shining over the smaller hills, making the grass look as though it was glowing, radiating with warmth. even though it was all pretty much dead. i looked and noticed a small town to the right of my view, it was closer to the black hills. in front of me there was a gravel road with a puny gas station.

i dropped my backpack on the ground and sat down. absorbing the view. i dug around in my backpack and took a quick inventory. if i didn't need something, it wasn't worth going to look for it. i had 5 cans of… something…. lord knows, i'd find out when i’d open it.  then i had a bag of jerky, 3 water bottles, with a small pot. some matches and a lighter. and even a pair of binoculars. the one thing i looked for, was a gun. any kind of gun, pistol, rifle, shotgun, machine gun. i d take just about anything. all i had was a kitchen knife. not even a hunting knife, just a puny, weak, dull, kitchen knife. 5 cans would get me through today and tomorrow. the water on the other hand…

i needed to take a look at what that gas station had. small or not, they had to have something to eat and drink. and maybe some other treats. yes it may be the apocalypse but u always have to treat yourself. The thing was that people starting dying and mutating, just a couple days ago, so any chocolate, should still be good. But i would wait for a while and watch. maybe have breakfast.

i dug out the jerky, because i wasn't craving whatever was in those cans. jerky lasted forever, but you risked using a lot of your water. im sure the gas station beyond the hill had some bottle water, maybe even some good milk yet. i dug into the jerky and had small bites. it was hard not to inhale the whole bag. i was hungry, not starving, i had found out the difference, seeing a stray starving dog, it's ribs protruded, and it looked like a walking skeleton with a thin sheet of hide to cover its bones. i could still see my muscle and fat covering my bones, and i knew that i was not starving. In fact i think i remember from one of my science classes. when your muscle tissue started to break up, that's when you were starving. i was still good though, still alive and breathing, maybe not for long.

i reached in the bag for another consecutive piece of jerky, but when my fingers grasped the sodium packet, my stomach let out a roar of disapproval. i chucked the bag down the hill as it slowly rolled to the bottom. what? we already polluted the environment so much, that plants, animals and people are dead, dying, or mutated. so what was the point?

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Day 7 of my COLOSSAL project!

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Day 6 of my COLOSSAL project.

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A COLOSSAL drawing project I'm working on. Will keep posting until it's done.

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Please enjoy these pictures of my 2 goats, Cocoa (has horns) and Nellie (the other one).

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My family's Christmas tree, made out of deer antlers. From Whitetail Deer, Fallow Deer, and Elk antlers. Piled into a tree shape. It doesn't shed needles either!

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A wonderful, wintery, photo of the sunrise.

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What more is there to say?

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I was working on this project for my Biology class where, we had to create a poster that showed evolution in a species. So I chose the extinct deer that was called the Irish Elk, because it’s skeleton is found in Irish bogs. Anyway I evolved the species into a normal elk-like deer(this is not true for the Irish Elk, as it went extinct before it could evolve) and the reason it evolved was beacuase humans pushed it to survive in colder regions, so it grew smaller, less extravagant antlers. I used a normal pencil and some colored pencils with erasers on them. I’m not very amazing with colors, but I feel I did pretty good on this. Hope you enjoy my school project and this reaaaallly long caption, that I should end soon…. enjoy.

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Another beautiful sunset photo this fine December.

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Some beautiful pictures of the sunset tonight.

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Some beautiful photos I took while in the gun stand.

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After putting in many hours I've finally succeeded in shooting a doe White-tailed deer. Now I can't wait for the venison bacon!