Every story must have a conflict, but it takes more than conflict to make a story. It’s the structure of the story that let’s you set the stage, introduce the conflict and resolve it.
According to Larry Brooks in his book “Story Structure – Demystified”:
But inherent to the notion of conflict is the architecture of how it is handled within the narrative. And that’s where structure comes into play. No structure, no story, either. Because structure is what turns conflict into dramatic tension, without which, again, you have no story. It’s the full circle truth.
Brooks is explaining story structure to writers of 300-page novels, but his ideas apply to any story, short or long.
He describes a four part structure: the setup, the response, the attack, and the resolution.
Part One: The setup
In the setup, the main character, or the hero, is living a life that is in balance. Brooks calls the hero an Orphan at this stage. The Orphan is someone we care about, but we don’t know what is going to happen to the Orphan. The first stage is about getting to know and learning to care about the hero.
At the end of Part One is the inciting incident. This is the incident which introduces the conflict or the obstacle. Once the hero has experienced the inciting incident, there is no going back. The hero cannot avoid addressing the situation. How the hero initially addresses the situation is the subject of Part Two.
It’s important not to set up the inciting incident or the conflict too early. You can foreshadow the inciting incident, but you want to wait until the reader cares about the hero before you put the hero into conflict.
Part Two: The response
Here the hero must face the consequences of the inciting incident. But at this stage the hero is not behaving very heroically. The hero is simply responding to the incident. The hero may try to run away, or use ways of responding that have worked for the hero in the past. In this stage the hero is a Wanderer. The hero is being acted upon by the antagonist or the circumstances, but the hero spends more time avoiding the obstacle than fighting it.
At the end of Part Two is another incident. In this milestone, the stakes get ratcheted up a notch. Circumstances force the hero to do more than simply respond using the old methods.
Part Three: The attack
Part Three is about the hero shifting from a Wanderer to a Warrior in response to the mid-milestone incident. The hero finds new strengths (internally or externally) with which to fight the obstacle. But even though the hero is now fighting back, the hero is not experiencing much success. This keeps the tension high, and the conflict unresolved.
Part Four: The resolution
In Part Four the hero becomes a Martyr. The hero begins to find a way to defeat the enemy, to overcome the obstacle. This is the stage where the hero becomes completely committed, where everything comes together.
At this stage, the writer cannot introduce any new information – characters or resources. This stage has to be all about using what the hero already has and knows to solve the problem, reach the goal, or save the day. It’s about tying up loose ends and bringing the conflict to a close.
Four parts – setup, response, attack, and resolution. Four stages of the hero’s development – orphan, wanderer, warrior, and martyr.
Once you internalize this structure, you’ll begin to see that every popular movie and book is structured around this sequence. They are popular because people everywhere understand this structure. Knowing this structure means that you can use it to tell the stories about your business – stories that people will read, remember, and act upon.
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