In order to ground your faith in the story engine, this article compares a few story outline methodologies. For that we need to introduce another dramatic device: the separation of stories into acts.
The midpoint is the moment when the protagonist enters introspection and acquires the key ability. Since this scene is pivotal to every story, most writers put it in the middle of the story.
For that reason, Eight Crafts recommends using a four-act structure:
The Hero’s Journey:
James Scott Bell offers the following basic story structure in his book Write Your Novel From the Middle:
Eric Edson offers the following basic story structure for screenplays:
Where do the two stunning surprises come from? Because we’re talking screenplay and turning points need to be visual. Apparently, a stunning revelation is the best way to make stake flips visible.
Resources:
- The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
- The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler
- Write Your Novel From the Middle by James Scott Bell
- A New Paradigm In Screenplay Structure by Eric Edson
- How To Structure A Screenplay by Eric Edson
