“Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia...
A story written for one person pleases a reader, dear reader, because it makes him or her a part of the action. It makes the reader feel (even though he or she doesn’t know it) as though he or she is eavesdropping on a fascinating conversation between two people at the next table, say, in a restaurant. That’s my educated guess.
Here is another: A reader likes a story written for just one person because the reader can sense, again without knowing it, that the story has boundaries like a playing field. The story can’t go simply anywhere. This, I feel, invites readers to come off the sidelines, to get into the game with the author. Where is the story going next? Where should it go? No fair! Hopeless situation! Touchdown!"
--Kurt Vonnegut, Rule #7 of Creative Writing
Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, Berkeley Books, 1999. p. 13.
Storytelling predates written language, as tribal wise men and women conveyed ancient truths and tales down from generations. Stories were invented about natural processes, such as why the sun set every night and what the stars were: these became MYTH, which are religious stories that transcend the designation of fiction or nonfiction. To aid memorization, sometimes the stories were made to rhyme and were set to music: these became the first examples of POETRY. To make the story more captivating, some of these stories were acted out and created DRAMA. All of these story structures were made for a large public audience and still serve large public audiences today.
Yet the invention of written writing created a different type of story: one that a singe individual could experience apart from a group. These are called NARRATIVES. While rare before the advent of the printing press, these narratives resembled private conversations, allowing a reader the ability to directly interpret a story. Stories were also able to dive into deep detail: while a public performance of a story could last only a couple hours before an audience would be bored, narratives allowed a story to be paused and restarted at an audience's leisure, allowing for a deeper exploration of conflicts and characters.
Yet the invention of written writing created a different type of story: one that a singe individual could experience apart from a group. These are called NARRATIVES. While rare before the advent of the printing press, these narratives resembled private conversations, allowing a reader the ability to directly interpret a story. Stories were also able to dive into deep detail: while a public performance of a story could last only a couple hours before an audience would be bored, narratives allowed a story to be paused and restarted at an audience's leisure, allowing for a deeper exploration of conflicts and characters.
Types of Narratives
Literary scholars from Joseph Campbell Christopher Booker have claimed that there are only a few types of stories that keep being reworked into different narratives across times and cultures. Kurt Vonnegut narrowed down these master narratives well in his book A Man Without a Country:
MAN IN A HOLE: The protagonist of the narrative starts with modest success but then encounters a problem that reverses his or her fortunes. When all seems lost, the protagonist gets an idea to solve the problem, solves it, and is better off than he or she was at the start. Most narratives follow this story arc, from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Hope Leslie by Catherine Maria Sedgwick to every episode of every sitcom ever written.
BOY MEETS GIRL: The protagonist is happy, but discovers something they cannot live without (typically a romantic interest), gets it, loses it, but then gets it back forever. Though this is the typical plot of comic romance, it also applies to stories about finding a true friend or a purpose in life or, in mythic stories, what society needs. This is also the most popular subplot of all stories. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin and Cannery Row by John Steinbeck are both excellent narrative examples of this story.
CREATING A LIFE: Things in general are bad, but then some great creator comes and creates a new life or way of living. There are some ups and downs, but life gets better overall continuously. Vonnegut says that this story mirrors creation myths, and in nonfiction, these are usually personal rediscovery stories like Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Other narratives that fit this story type include 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Robinson Crusoe by Robert Louis Stevenson.
RISE AND FALL: The protagonist is happy and everything is going better and better when they suddenly make an irreversible mistake and their fortunes fall forever, with no hope of redemption. Vonnegut called this the "Old Testament," as it mirrors Adam and Eve's fall from the Garden of Eden. Other narratives include Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo.
DEUS EX MACHINA: This story starts the same way as the Rise and Fall: The protagonist is happy but then makes an irreversible mistake and is forever sad. However, at the very end of the story, an outside force suddenly comes in without warning or expectation and redeems the irredeemable mistake in a way the defies logic. This is the deus ex machina, which is Greek for "God from the machine." Vonnegut compares this to the New Testament, where Jesus comes to save the world but is then crucified, then man has to live with regicide for eternity... until Jesus returns to save the day after Armageddon. Other narratives that share this structure include The War of the Worlds by H.G. Welles and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Some adaptations of Rise and Fall narratives, like the aforementioned Great Expectation and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, even change them to a Deus ex Machina so they have a more marketable "happy ending" (Disney is so notorious for this transition it is known as Disneyfication of story).
CINDERELLA STORY: Here, the protagonist starts at the lowest level possible and slowly builds up to a great temporary happiness; after this happiness is taken away, the protagonist is brought low again but never as low as he or she was at the start. Then, they are given an unexpected chance to recapture their previous happiness forever, and despite long odds they succeed. Of course, the most famous example of this story is Cinderella: girl basically house slave, good heart leads Fairy Godmother to make her princess for a night, parties with prince, back to slave at midnight, Prince finds her again, happily ever after. Other narrative examples include The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson.
FROM BAD TO WORSE: Just as in the Cinderella story, the protagonist starts at with ill fortune and a bad life, but then the protagonist's life gets infinitely worse with no escape or hope. Vonnegut said the master of this story was Franz Kafka: in The Metamorphosis, Gregor goes from a poor and lonely worker with no hope to a literal giant insect, and in The Trial, Josef K. is arrest for no reason, and every times he tries to free himself, he gets sucked deeper into the legal system. Other narratives that go from Bad to Worse are "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, I am Legend by Richard Matheson, and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
WHICH WAY IS UP?: The final narrative type is the most modern: the protagonist still has hopes and goals, but it is unclear if each new development will be ultimately good or bad for the protagonist. This ambiguity, according to Vonnegut, is meant to resemble real life, as we are constantly unsure if most events that happen to us are good or bad. Vonnegut uses Shakespeare's Hamlet as an example, but he could have used any of his own novels: Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater all fit this plot. Other famous narratives that obscure which way is up are Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saaverda and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O'Toole.
MAN IN A HOLE: The protagonist of the narrative starts with modest success but then encounters a problem that reverses his or her fortunes. When all seems lost, the protagonist gets an idea to solve the problem, solves it, and is better off than he or she was at the start. Most narratives follow this story arc, from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Hope Leslie by Catherine Maria Sedgwick to every episode of every sitcom ever written.
BOY MEETS GIRL: The protagonist is happy, but discovers something they cannot live without (typically a romantic interest), gets it, loses it, but then gets it back forever. Though this is the typical plot of comic romance, it also applies to stories about finding a true friend or a purpose in life or, in mythic stories, what society needs. This is also the most popular subplot of all stories. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin and Cannery Row by John Steinbeck are both excellent narrative examples of this story.
CREATING A LIFE: Things in general are bad, but then some great creator comes and creates a new life or way of living. There are some ups and downs, but life gets better overall continuously. Vonnegut says that this story mirrors creation myths, and in nonfiction, these are usually personal rediscovery stories like Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Other narratives that fit this story type include 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Robinson Crusoe by Robert Louis Stevenson.
RISE AND FALL: The protagonist is happy and everything is going better and better when they suddenly make an irreversible mistake and their fortunes fall forever, with no hope of redemption. Vonnegut called this the "Old Testament," as it mirrors Adam and Eve's fall from the Garden of Eden. Other narratives include Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo.
DEUS EX MACHINA: This story starts the same way as the Rise and Fall: The protagonist is happy but then makes an irreversible mistake and is forever sad. However, at the very end of the story, an outside force suddenly comes in without warning or expectation and redeems the irredeemable mistake in a way the defies logic. This is the deus ex machina, which is Greek for "God from the machine." Vonnegut compares this to the New Testament, where Jesus comes to save the world but is then crucified, then man has to live with regicide for eternity... until Jesus returns to save the day after Armageddon. Other narratives that share this structure include The War of the Worlds by H.G. Welles and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Some adaptations of Rise and Fall narratives, like the aforementioned Great Expectation and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, even change them to a Deus ex Machina so they have a more marketable "happy ending" (Disney is so notorious for this transition it is known as Disneyfication of story).
CINDERELLA STORY: Here, the protagonist starts at the lowest level possible and slowly builds up to a great temporary happiness; after this happiness is taken away, the protagonist is brought low again but never as low as he or she was at the start. Then, they are given an unexpected chance to recapture their previous happiness forever, and despite long odds they succeed. Of course, the most famous example of this story is Cinderella: girl basically house slave, good heart leads Fairy Godmother to make her princess for a night, parties with prince, back to slave at midnight, Prince finds her again, happily ever after. Other narrative examples include The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson.
FROM BAD TO WORSE: Just as in the Cinderella story, the protagonist starts at with ill fortune and a bad life, but then the protagonist's life gets infinitely worse with no escape or hope. Vonnegut said the master of this story was Franz Kafka: in The Metamorphosis, Gregor goes from a poor and lonely worker with no hope to a literal giant insect, and in The Trial, Josef K. is arrest for no reason, and every times he tries to free himself, he gets sucked deeper into the legal system. Other narratives that go from Bad to Worse are "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, I am Legend by Richard Matheson, and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
WHICH WAY IS UP?: The final narrative type is the most modern: the protagonist still has hopes and goals, but it is unclear if each new development will be ultimately good or bad for the protagonist. This ambiguity, according to Vonnegut, is meant to resemble real life, as we are constantly unsure if most events that happen to us are good or bad. Vonnegut uses Shakespeare's Hamlet as an example, but he could have used any of his own novels: Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater all fit this plot. Other famous narratives that obscure which way is up are Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saaverda and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O'Toole.
Plotting a narrative
As a narrative focuses on examining the details of conflict, it follows a very specific plot structure, as expressed in the Freytag plot diagram above. The diagram follows plot action of a single protagonist and their struggle against a conflict. The protagonist is the character in the story that the perspective follows throughout-- they are the main character, good or bad. Stories sometimes contain multiple conflicts (and even multiple protagonists, with perspective switching between each one). There are several types of conflict that can be in a story, yet the conflicts always unfold through the same chain of events:
EXPOSITION: Every story has to start somewhere. Since narrative focus on building a realistic world, characters and societies need a past and normal life. These conditions, found at the beginning of the story, are the exposition. There is no conflict yet, though there is a status quo. Any return to this time later in the story through flashback or memory is also part of the exposition. In The Hunger Games, for example, this is Katniss and Primrose and all the other District 12 citizen being poor and starving. While this part of the story is vital, it is also very boring, and most authors pepper it through the story and spend as little time in beginning on exposition as possible.
INCITING INCIDENT: A story about a protagonist going through everyday life without struggle is boring, so stories introduce conflict. Conflict is first brought with an inciting incident where the potential for conflict arises. Remember that this is a potential for conflict, and that the protagonist will later choose to engage with it later in the story. Jack hasn't bought the beans yet, but an offer has been made. In The Hunger Games, this is the reaping. If Katniss isn't picked, no story would happen...
POINT OF NO RETURN: ...unless Katniss chooses to be a tribute. The inciting incident of The Hunger Games is when Primrose, Katniss' sister, is selected. Katniss does not have to do anything, but chooses to be a tribute and take her sister's place. This is choice is the point of no return, where the protagonist is drawn into the conflict and cannot back out until the conflict is solved. While the conflict may have been vague before, the point of no return makes the conflict clear: for Katniss, her conflict will be surviving the Games vs. the forces (sponsors, tributes, game masters, and the arena) trying to kill her. Since they are at a premium for words, most short stories start at the point of no return and imply exposition and inciting incident.
TENSION: The conflict then must build and progress. Tension (sometimes called rising action) deepens the conflict by giving the protagonist resources to solve the conflict, taking away those resources, or changing the terms of the conflict. In The Hunger Games, Katniss gets resources through her training with Haymitch, Cinna's clothing and encouragement, befriends Rue, and sponsors loving her fake relationship with Peeta. Resources are then lost: Cinna and Haymitch can't help her in the arena, Rue is killed, and Peeta seemingly betrays her. Yet the most interesting tension happens when the terms of the conflict change. At first, Katniss is against everyone to survive. When the rules are changed so two tributes of the same district can win, she changes the conflict to her and Peeta surviving versus everyone else. Other minor conflict also come into play to make it more tense; when Katniss allies herself with Rue, she is torn between her affection for the girl versus the fact that the main conflict will require her to eventually kill Rue. This minor conflict that plays into the larger action is called a subplot.
CLIMAX: The climax is the moment the conflict is finally solved. The protagonist will either win or lose everything. A good way to build tension is to have false climax where it seems the conflict is over, but isn't. The Hunger Games does this when Peeta and Katniss kill the last of the other tributes and win. Yet the rules are changed again so that only one may win, which sustains the main conflict: Katniss want to survive vs. obstacles, which in this case is her desire not to kill Peeta. She and Peeta both make the decision to eat poisoned berries and commit suicide, which will solve the conflict, but are spared at the last minute by a declaration that, no really this time, they are co-winners. This moment is the peak of the action and end of the conflict--for the rest of the book, we know that Katniss is safe.
DENOUEMENT: Denouement (pronounced DAY-no-MAH or just called falling action) is where characters address the fallout of the conflict being solved. If the climax involves a death (as many do), this is the funeral that follows. Most narratives use a main conflict involving actions and minor conflicts involving feelings: the denouement is when the feelings conflicts are addressed, as well as any guilt about how the conflict was resolved. For Katniss, this is interview with Caesar Flickerman where she discusses her future plans, where she tells Peeta that she doesn't actually love him, and where she starts to process the fact that President Snow is now her enemy. The denouement can be a bummer, but it can also be happy: in a romance novel, the climax is when the couple reunites at last, and the denouement is the wedding scene.
RESOLUTION: Life returns to a state of normalcy, though the characters are in a different place than before because of the conflict--a "new normal." For Katniss and Peeta, they now have to live in the Victor's Village. Katniss will reunite with Gale but knows it will be different because of her fling with Peeta, and she now must conduct herself carefully, believing President Snow will try to kill her. Often, resolution is very brief or just implied because, like exposition, everyday life is super boring.
EXPOSITION: Every story has to start somewhere. Since narrative focus on building a realistic world, characters and societies need a past and normal life. These conditions, found at the beginning of the story, are the exposition. There is no conflict yet, though there is a status quo. Any return to this time later in the story through flashback or memory is also part of the exposition. In The Hunger Games, for example, this is Katniss and Primrose and all the other District 12 citizen being poor and starving. While this part of the story is vital, it is also very boring, and most authors pepper it through the story and spend as little time in beginning on exposition as possible.
INCITING INCIDENT: A story about a protagonist going through everyday life without struggle is boring, so stories introduce conflict. Conflict is first brought with an inciting incident where the potential for conflict arises. Remember that this is a potential for conflict, and that the protagonist will later choose to engage with it later in the story. Jack hasn't bought the beans yet, but an offer has been made. In The Hunger Games, this is the reaping. If Katniss isn't picked, no story would happen...
POINT OF NO RETURN: ...unless Katniss chooses to be a tribute. The inciting incident of The Hunger Games is when Primrose, Katniss' sister, is selected. Katniss does not have to do anything, but chooses to be a tribute and take her sister's place. This is choice is the point of no return, where the protagonist is drawn into the conflict and cannot back out until the conflict is solved. While the conflict may have been vague before, the point of no return makes the conflict clear: for Katniss, her conflict will be surviving the Games vs. the forces (sponsors, tributes, game masters, and the arena) trying to kill her. Since they are at a premium for words, most short stories start at the point of no return and imply exposition and inciting incident.
TENSION: The conflict then must build and progress. Tension (sometimes called rising action) deepens the conflict by giving the protagonist resources to solve the conflict, taking away those resources, or changing the terms of the conflict. In The Hunger Games, Katniss gets resources through her training with Haymitch, Cinna's clothing and encouragement, befriends Rue, and sponsors loving her fake relationship with Peeta. Resources are then lost: Cinna and Haymitch can't help her in the arena, Rue is killed, and Peeta seemingly betrays her. Yet the most interesting tension happens when the terms of the conflict change. At first, Katniss is against everyone to survive. When the rules are changed so two tributes of the same district can win, she changes the conflict to her and Peeta surviving versus everyone else. Other minor conflict also come into play to make it more tense; when Katniss allies herself with Rue, she is torn between her affection for the girl versus the fact that the main conflict will require her to eventually kill Rue. This minor conflict that plays into the larger action is called a subplot.
CLIMAX: The climax is the moment the conflict is finally solved. The protagonist will either win or lose everything. A good way to build tension is to have false climax where it seems the conflict is over, but isn't. The Hunger Games does this when Peeta and Katniss kill the last of the other tributes and win. Yet the rules are changed again so that only one may win, which sustains the main conflict: Katniss want to survive vs. obstacles, which in this case is her desire not to kill Peeta. She and Peeta both make the decision to eat poisoned berries and commit suicide, which will solve the conflict, but are spared at the last minute by a declaration that, no really this time, they are co-winners. This moment is the peak of the action and end of the conflict--for the rest of the book, we know that Katniss is safe.
DENOUEMENT: Denouement (pronounced DAY-no-MAH or just called falling action) is where characters address the fallout of the conflict being solved. If the climax involves a death (as many do), this is the funeral that follows. Most narratives use a main conflict involving actions and minor conflicts involving feelings: the denouement is when the feelings conflicts are addressed, as well as any guilt about how the conflict was resolved. For Katniss, this is interview with Caesar Flickerman where she discusses her future plans, where she tells Peeta that she doesn't actually love him, and where she starts to process the fact that President Snow is now her enemy. The denouement can be a bummer, but it can also be happy: in a romance novel, the climax is when the couple reunites at last, and the denouement is the wedding scene.
RESOLUTION: Life returns to a state of normalcy, though the characters are in a different place than before because of the conflict--a "new normal." For Katniss and Peeta, they now have to live in the Victor's Village. Katniss will reunite with Gale but knows it will be different because of her fling with Peeta, and she now must conduct herself carefully, believing President Snow will try to kill her. Often, resolution is very brief or just implied because, like exposition, everyday life is super boring.
SOME PLOT MISCONCEPTIONS
THE EXPOSITION IS WHERE THE CHARACTERS AND SETTING ARE INTRODUCED: FALSE
The plot diagram traces events from the character's point of view, not the reader of the story. Several famous stories, like Homer's Odyssey, Milton's Paradise Lost, and Shakespeare's Hamlet, start in medias res, or in the middle of the conflict after the point of no return but before the climax. Some stories, like Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Shelley's Frankenstein, use a framing device to tell most of the story as a flashback up until the story catches up to the present, where the climax occurs. There are even some narratives, like Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and Joyce's Ulysses, use nonlinear storytelling that shuffle the order of events. While characters and setting are always established in the first scene, the first scene isn't always the exposition.
THE POINT OF NO RETURN IS WHERE THE CONFLICT STARTS: SOMETIMES
Sometimes, the conflict actually begins at the inciting incident, when the potential antagonist is revealed; other times, the conflict begins at the point of no return, when the protagonist is inexorably drawn into the conflict. In Hamlet, the conflict starts at the inciting incident--the king's murder--and not when Hamlet's agrees to avenge his father (the point of no return). In The Bell Jar, the inciting incident is when Esther is offered the internship, but the conflict really starts when, after committing to take the internship and working it for a couple weeks, she has an unfulfilling evening watching her roommate Doreen party to excess and her depression begins (the point of no return).
THE RESOLUTION IS WHERE THE CONFLICT IS SOLVED: FALSE
The conflict ends at the climax: the protagonist either finds success over their antagonist or loses. The denouement addresses the fallout of this results of the climax. The resolution only occurs after the last effects of the conflict are gone and the characters resume normal life again.
The plot diagram traces events from the character's point of view, not the reader of the story. Several famous stories, like Homer's Odyssey, Milton's Paradise Lost, and Shakespeare's Hamlet, start in medias res, or in the middle of the conflict after the point of no return but before the climax. Some stories, like Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Shelley's Frankenstein, use a framing device to tell most of the story as a flashback up until the story catches up to the present, where the climax occurs. There are even some narratives, like Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and Joyce's Ulysses, use nonlinear storytelling that shuffle the order of events. While characters and setting are always established in the first scene, the first scene isn't always the exposition.
THE POINT OF NO RETURN IS WHERE THE CONFLICT STARTS: SOMETIMES
Sometimes, the conflict actually begins at the inciting incident, when the potential antagonist is revealed; other times, the conflict begins at the point of no return, when the protagonist is inexorably drawn into the conflict. In Hamlet, the conflict starts at the inciting incident--the king's murder--and not when Hamlet's agrees to avenge his father (the point of no return). In The Bell Jar, the inciting incident is when Esther is offered the internship, but the conflict really starts when, after committing to take the internship and working it for a couple weeks, she has an unfulfilling evening watching her roommate Doreen party to excess and her depression begins (the point of no return).
THE RESOLUTION IS WHERE THE CONFLICT IS SOLVED: FALSE
The conflict ends at the climax: the protagonist either finds success over their antagonist or loses. The denouement addresses the fallout of this results of the climax. The resolution only occurs after the last effects of the conflict are gone and the characters resume normal life again.
Building a story
As addressed in the last section, creating a strong narrative centers around constructing a detailed and engaging conflict, yet there is more to the development of a strong narrative. After the conflict is created, a writer must create realistic and engaging characters, driven by clear motivations. Writers then must pick the type of narrative they want to use: narratives are mostly arranged by length as the longer the story, the more details can be provided. Providing details is what makes or kills a narrative: where the other story structures of myth, drama, and poetry intentionally lack detail, narratives are written because they can provide deep, nuanced detail. However, too much detail or the wrong kind of detail makes a narrative boring. Therefore, narrative authors rely on building PULSE in the story through pacing, logic, and other factors. Dialogue also functions to break up the monotony of narrative writing. They also select a perspective (or point of view) that suits the storytelling and controls the level of detail a reader has. Finally, seeing as narratives are usually a larger commitment of time and brainpower, it is important for narrative authors to hook readers right away with a strong opening and to resolve the story in a way that the reader doesn't feel that his or her time has been wasted. Below are links to the other parts f this section, which go into specific detail on all these topics.