The 30-Point Narrative Structure: An Introduction

As someone who is always trying to find a more productive way to plan the story, to make sense of the mess that is in my head, narrative structures are a happy place for me.

The What, How, Why, and When of Turning the Page

Getting a reader to turn a page is probably one of the hardest things a writer has to do. It might not seem like it, but it is. We put a lot of thought into how we construct chapters and scenes. We put even more effort into how the story unfolds. We do these things constantly as we write, and we make small decisions about small details in the hopes that it speaks to the reader, that it makes them want to go to the next page.

The Set-Up

Do you know what makes a great reveal in a story? What makes a great twist? It’s when the audience is left so surprised that their jaws drops, but at the same time they think to themselves: “this makes so much sense”. A great reveal is one that is a surprise but doesn’t come out of nowhere. Now, there are many things we can talk about with regards to reveals, such as what makes a decent plot twist, or how to use red-herrings. But the reason I bring up ‘reveals where it all makes sense’ is because I want to talk about why they make sense: the set-up.

The MICE Quotient: A Writer’s Four Friends.

The MICE Quotient is a great tool to use. It is a concept that came from the books Character and Viewpoint and How to Write Science Fiction, both by Orson Scott Card. Each letter in MICE stands for a type of story that exists, mainly milieu, idea, character, and event.

What’s Your Point of View?

POV is the mode of narration a writer uses in order to let the reader see and hear what is happening in the story. There are four main types of point of view: first-person, second-person, third-person limited, and third-person omniscient.