I never used to believe in story structure. I would simply write and write with no clear destination in mind. I suppose after years of writing on creative writing forums where there is no end to a story, thinking about how a story ends just never enters into the equation.

Well, all that changed when I started reading Storyfix, by Larry Brooks. Larry’s formula for story structure opened my eyes to a whole new world of writing – one in which it was alright to start with the end of your novel and work backwards. And you know what? It works. Please welcome Larry Brooks to Sirius Graphics, we are very happy to have him as our guest poster here today.

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Whether authors wearing natty coffee house suits are loathe to admit, all novels fit into a genre.

Novels that don’t are called Adult Contemporary or General Fiction – even Literary — which are themselves all simply categories of different genres. It’s literary semantics with a social pecking order.

That said, every genre under the writing sun has a rap against it. Something that folks who don’t write within that genre use to make it, well, less than their own genre of choice.

In romance, it’s a perception of story structure as formulaic. In essence, that all romances are the same skeleton stretched over a different skin.

In mystery, it’s the very same perception. Likewise with thrillers, science fiction and fantasy. Even historicals if you stretch the definition a bit.

If you’re catching a trend here, that’s the point. Do the math: if every novel is genre, and if every genre has the same rap where structure is concerned, then every novel is formulaic.

Which, in a word, is ridiculous. At least in the sense that this is a bad thing. Novels in any genre are no more formulaic that recipes, doing surgery or swinging a golf club. There are certain things that make it work, and more than one way to get there provided the fundamentals aren’t disrespected.

Predictability, to some extent, is what makes any genre work.

Structure Through a Generic Lens

It’s interesting to note that the root word in generic is genre. Hmmm.

To better understand story structure in novels traditionally labeled as genre, we need to rid the conversation of any sense of commodity-like formula. We need a new language to get past the character-driven rhetoric and clarify what happens first, what happens next and what happens after that, and – here’s the value-adding part – why.

Such a story model is indeed generic, but that doesn’t make it wrong. Because if it is, then every novel short of a literary experiment written by an author on acid is, in fact, just plain wrong.

The problem is that, in almost all cases, structure is discussed using soft-edged character-driven language. Romance novels are especially afflicted in this way…

… girl meets boy… boy doesn’t even notice girl… or girl finds boy repulsive… one does something that makes the other notice… he’s unhappy, she’s unhappy… he’s suddenly happy, she’s just as happy… third parties interfere… somebody pursues somebody else… somebody steps in to save the day…somebody learns a life lesson…

… and romance ensues.

This isn’t structure, its session notes from a relationship counselor. Rather than defining dramatic tension, it more closely defines character arc.

In mysteries you have a crime introduced in past tense… enter the detective… the detective is oh-so-human (usually a recovering alcoholic or, lately a savant)… they probe where no man has probed before… the wrong people get pissed off about it… the detective pulls metaphoric rabbit out of the evidence hat, possibly provoking exposure of the guilty…

… and justice ensues.

One is character-driven, other plot-driven. But the truth is that a successful novel, regardless of genre, requires both character arc and plot exposition.

But until the two structures untangle themselves, it can be tough to tell the difference.

A Better Way to Understand Structure.

What we need is a new language for story construction. One that cuts across all genres equally with universally-held principles and editorial expectations.

Because here’s a little secret about any genre of fiction. This may blow away your belief that your genre is somehow separate from other literary forms in terms of criteria for excellence, but it’s not, and here’s why: all commercial fiction is built on basically the same structure.

Once you understand the various parts and milestones of a story – any story – you are empowered to apply these elements within your genre, and specifically to your story.

This universal structural sequence is as generic as it is empowering. It’s all about pacing and exposition, which is precisely what makes a romance novel compelling.

In movies its classic three-act structure. In novels it’s often referred to as the hero’s journey, which is a warm and fuzzy context that expresses the very same storytelling principles.

Is Generic a Good Thing? It Absolutely Is.

All stories can be broken down into four sequential parts. They have nothing at all to do with girl-meets-boy or detective finds killer, but rather, they are described as generic segments of the story in terms of context.

If you insist on thinking about your story in character-driven terms, these same four parts look like this: orphan… wanderer… warrior… hero/martyr.

But if you’re looking for a way to distribute your characterizations across a landscape of powerful dramatic tension, and if you can wrap your head around understanding the milestones that separate the four parts, try this instead:

• Part 1 set-up… wherein we meet our hero and create the context and stakes for her or his forthcoming quest…
• First plot point… where something happens that changes everything and defines what the hero needs or wants in the story, as well as the obstacles preventing her from attaining it easily, with an antagonist suddenly on the scene…
• Part two response… where we see what the hero does as a natural response to the dramatic incident that changed everything…
• Mid-point… the parting of the curtain with new information that twists the story in a new direction…
• Part three proactive attack… where the hero uses this information to get positively intense about conquering all obstacles, but the obstacles only seem to get stronger…
• Second plot point… the final introduction of new information, or a twist, that ignites the race to the finish…
• Part four resolution… wherein the hero conquers inner demons to become the primary catalyst in the story’s ending.

Of course, all this is in context to the fundamental premise of fiction itself, which is as simple as it is obvious: stories are about a hero/heroine who is thrust into a situation in which she needs or wants something, facing obstacles in her quest to achieve that need, forcing her to confront both inner and exterior antagonistic forces in order to become the primary catalyst in the story’s resolution.

In romances, the quest is love. In mysteries the quest is justice. In character-driven adult contemporary or even literary novels the quest is illumination and fulfillment, as demonstrated over a story landscape that becomes the landscape for character growth.

It’s The Same Structure, Told Differently.

Structure is like a skeleton. Without a proper and healthy skeleton, what you have is something, well, very sad. But it’s not the skeleton that makes a body beautiful, mysterious and compelling. No, that’s the consequences of shape and texture and coloring, delivered with pace and nuance, and imbued with intelligence and humor and romantic mystique.

Without the skeleton, it’s all just a pile of wet mush.

For the most part, the oeuvre of instructional literature as it pertains to genre writing is as often all tissue and no bones as it is precisely the opposite. When in fact, at the core of the story, the skeleton is pretty much the same.

Feel free to test this. Compare stories from supposedly different genres and you’ll see this model in play.

Then you’ll know what successful authors know, even if they’d never admit to belonging to a genre, and even if they describe it all very differently.

Larry Brooks is a bestselling novelist and the creator of Storyfix.com, an instructional writing resource for authors of all genres.

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