How to Structure A Story: The Eight-Point Arc

[VydorScope]

Interesting thoughts...

How to Structure A Story: The Eight-Point Arc
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-...ght-point-arc/

What do you all think of it? Do your stories fit this?

[crich70]

I think he doesn't go far enough. It not only applies to novels, short stories & flash fiction, but to film as well. After all someone has to write the screen play before the movie can be shot. A good example of that is the Star Wars saga.

[BeccaPrice]

Goodness! even my very short fairy tales fit into this system. I'm impressed.

[teh603]

Freaking great. More of the pseudo- science of writing to distract people from the artistry of writing.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by teh603

Freaking great. More of the pseudo- science of writing to distract people from the artistry of writing.

I don't see how you can call it pseudo-science to make a point of listing the basic elements you need to have a functional plot.

Stasis - The hero's world is perfect
Trigger - Something happens to disrupt things.
The quest - Search for way to return to harmony.
Surprise - Most of the events that fill out the story
Critical choice - Character decides to keep going/give up
Climax - Where the hero (though apparently out gunned) has to face the villain.
Reversal - Villain's apparent victory becomes hero's triumph
Resolution - What happens after the hero wins.

I think it makes a good check list to make sure that you haven't forgotten any key details.

[gmw]

I don't really like the idea of using these as a strict guide to structuring a story - there is enough formula fiction being created already without creating more. However any reference like this (and there are others, many things are recurrent in stories*), do offer some potential for help when you are struggling. That is: you already have the story you want to tell, but you can see that it is not working properly, that it is not compelling. Reminders like this list can help to offer insight as to why.

* While writing this I was reminded of Michael Moorcock's "Eternal Champion" - I often wondered just how firmly he had his tongue in his cheek at the time.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by crich70

I don't see how you can call it pseudo-science to make a point of listing the basic elements you need to have a functional plot.

I think it makes a good check list to make sure that you haven't forgotten any key details.

If your plot is one that necessarily has to have any of those details. There's no such thing as a one size fits all plot diagram, just like how the Five Paragraph Essay can't be used for book reports.

My concern with trying to codify the art of writing into a science is that sooner or later we're going to pay too much attention to the science of writing and not the artistry of it. Music is already going that way; I've got a NaNo writing buddy who's a music theory major and he's up to his eyeballs in algorithms and equations that he's supposed to be using to compose music.

[crich70]

But most of the points (if not all) are necessary in order to tell a complete tale. We see the hero's life and then something changes to interrupt it and he/she goes through the process of trying to get back what he/she had which leads to the final confrontation with the bad guy. Then we see how his/her life has improved (after triumphing). If we don't know what he had before, or learn how he came to lose it, or if we don't learn if he won or not (with perhaps a glimpse at what he/she won) then we don't have a full, functional story. At least it isn't one I'd want to read for entertainment. While a non-fiction account may not tie up neatly we generally expect that fictional tales will. Otherwise we end up feeling cheated.

[Nancy Fulda]

The link strikes me as a condensed and nicely modernized version of Campbell's Monomyth (a.k.a The Hero's Journey). Which is good, because the Hero's Journey was written primarily as an academic analysis and includes a lot of mythological features which aren't really relevant to genre writing.

I don't believe in any hard and firm rules for what "must" be included in a story, but this list strikes me as a handy creative resource. It's always nice to have a framework to build on, even if you end up adapting it to your own needs later on.

[Anna Drake]

I think the above list makes a very good skeleton to hang a tale on.

[Suzanna]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

The link strikes me as a condensed and nicely modernized version of Campbell's Monomyth (a.k.a The Hero's Journey). Which is good, because the Hero's Journey was written primarily as an academic analysis and includes a lot of mythological features which aren't really relevant to genre writing.

The same thought occurred to me. For those who are interested, Chris Vogler wrote a book that applies this arc to fiction called The Writer's Journey. You can see the points in the hero's journey in this wiki post here.