Dan Wells on Story Structure

[crich70]

I was looking round for a Scrivener Template based on the Hero's Journey when I came across the template whose link is below:
7 point Structure Template
When there I found a set of links to a 7 point structure for building a story/book which is at youtube.
part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

It is a good way to structure I think. Basically he has the writer building his/her story based on seven points.
The 7 points are:

1. Closing- where you want the character to be at the end.
2. Opening- where the character is at the start (opposite of ending)
3. Midpoint- Character goes from reacting to acting.
4. Plot Turn 1 (leads from opening to midpoint)
5. Plot Turn 2 (leads from midpoint towards ending)
6. Pinch 1-forces character to action (between opening and plot turn 1)
7. Pinch 2-The jaws of defeat. Character goes through lowest point in story (between plot turn 2 and ending)

When you have these all plotted out you then flesh out the story with your characters, environments, a prologue that shows how bad things are in the characters world, a series of try/fail cycles & any subplots in your story. He talks about weaving the subplots in as well.
I'm already using it to come up with a plot for my NaNo project for this year and have made some progress on nailing down the structure so far this afternoon. The videos take about 50 minutes total to watch but are well worth it (IMO).

[Penforhire]

I found those videos during a similar rabbit-hole. He is a very entertaining speaker. I like the effort he made to map quite a few stories onto the same structure and his discussion of the power of sub-plots with simultaneous crescendos.

I read his "I Am Not a Serial Killer" trilogy and didn't know he was more popular in Europe before hitting America. He does write well and I only have bones to pick with some plot details. Books 1 and 2 would have been much better, to me, with no supernatural content. But book 3 requires it. The way he gets us inside the head of a sociopath protagonist was wonderful. I'm sure his wife must think he's creepy for being able to come up with that, lol. I liked in the videos how he mentioned he wrote the first book as a stand-alone but the publisher convinced him to write the trilogy. "Here, take my money."

[Anna Drake]

I use the snowflake method. But I like this. Thank you for posting.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Anna Drake

I use the snowflake method. But I like this. Thank you for posting.

You're quite welcome.