NARRATIVE STRUCTURES

A WORKSHOP WITH MADELINE DYER

WHAT IS A NARRATIVE STRUCTURE?

• How the story is organized and told

• The framework that underpins the story
• About the plot and setting and what the driving force of the story is
• Analyses the role of the reader
• Can also extend to the specific emotions explored in a story
THE SEVEN BASIC PLOTS
Christopher Booker’s 2004 book The Seven Basic Plots suggests that all stories can be categorized in one of seven plots.
Based on psychological analysis of the stories’ meanings.

• Overcoming the Monster

• Rags to Riches
• The Quest
• Voyage and Return
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Rebirth

Can all stories be categorized in this way? What about ones that are mixtures/amalgamations of multiple types?
Each of these categories has its own specific expectations and formulae, but each of these stories can also be mapped
onto different frameworks and narrative structures.
THREE-ACT STRUCTURE
• Probably the most commonly taught narrative structure
• Predominantly a Western structure
• Aristotle first analysed storytelling in three parts – importance
of the connecting plot points, cause and effect beats (though
Aristotle said morality should be the driving force of a story,
while the three-act structure nowadays advocates for conflict
to drive the story)
• Commonly used by screenwriters (and taught to novelists as
screenwriting theory is often great for working out plot
structure)
• Syd Field and Blake Snyder
https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/three-act-structure/
 FREYTAG’S PYRAMID
• Gustave Freytag, German playwrite and novelist
• Mid 19th century
• Two halves: play and counterplay
• Climax in the middle
• 5 dramatic elements
• Very focused on tragedy

1) Introduction: exposition and exciting event (inciting incident). https://thewritepractice.com/freytags-pyramid/

2) Rising movement – tension increasing as story progresses. All characters should be introduced by the end of this
section.
3) Climax – happens in the middle of the story. Can be thought of as a reflection point. Things will change, either
getting better or worse from now on. Most important scene that ‘carries’ the story. (“As Freytag puts it, “This middle,
the climax of the play, is the most important place of the structure; the action rises to this; the action falls away from
this.” - https://thewritepractice.com/freytags-pyramid/)
4) Return or fall – things get worse (or better), and audience are preparing for the catastrophe. Foreshadowing of the
catastrophe, but there must be a moment of suspense here where it looks like things could go the other way.
5) Catastrophe – the main character’s actions and events lead to their ultimate downfall.
 FIVE-ACT STRUCTURE
1) Exposition
2) Rising Action
3) Climax
4) Falling Action
5) Denouement

• Original shape of this structure was also created by Freytag but it’s usually wrongly attributed to
Shakespeare (and there are sources to suggest that Freytag himself said it was created by
Shakespeare as he needed this structure to have more ‘validity’. Kind of problematic context. Based
on/influenced by Christianity, capitalism, and imperialism.
• But since Freytag, it’s been developed by a lot of other people.
• It lends itself well to linear stories that involve a sequence of events, but there is only one ‘line’. No
branches.
• Events and conflict are seen as the main drivers of the story and prioritised above all else. Yet
traditionally this structure focuses on events at the expense of character. (Stories that are morality-
based or emotion-based lend to a lot of characterisation work, this one not as much.)
• Some think it’s too commercial. (Kim Yoonmi examines this.)
• A lot of contemporary US movies follow this, including most of the Marvel Movies.

https://www.kimyoonmiauthor.com/post/641948278831874048/worldwide-story-structures?fbclid=IwAR13VWec7TL4CUCRjNaJ5pOoJpYuJKO6mvUrabJ1qHfgloy-XGB8qy-BlPc
FRAME
• A story within a story. Used in conjunction with another narrative structure. Also called the: Never-ending Story, Sandwich
Narrative, and Intercallation.
• The introductory story is there to lead readers into a second story (usually the main story) but it can lead you into multiple
stories.
• Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; Charlotte Bronte’s Wuthering Heights; The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (some of the oldest
examples of this form are from Ancient Egypt)
• “the form echoes in structure the thematic search in the story for something deep, dark, and secret at the heart of the
narrative. The form thus also resembles the psychoanalytic process of uncovering the unconscious behind various levels of
repressive, obfuscating narratives put in place by the conscious mind. As is often the case (and Shelley's work is no exception),
a different individual often narrates the events of a story in each frame. This structure of course also leads us to question the
reasons behind each of the narrations since, unlike an omnicient narrative perspective, the teller of the story becomes an
actual character with concomitant shortcomings, limitations, prejudices, and motives. The process of transmission is also
highlighted since we often have a sequence of embedded readers or audiences, A famous example in film of such a structure is
Orson Welles' Citizen Kane”
https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/theory/narratology/terms/framenarrative.html#:~:text=Definition%3A%20Frame%20
Narrative,the%20heart%20of%20the%20narrative.
 EMOTIONAL STORY
STRUCTURE
• A different way of examining structure or deciding what
makes a structure.
• Whereas the three-act structure and five-act structure uses
its axis on the left to represent tension and along the
bottom to represent time (showing how tension rises and
falls across the story), the emotional story structure uses
different axis. “Happy” is on the left axis and “sad” on the
bottom axis.
• Any story can be looked at in this way as it prioritised
emotion over events/tension.
• “Kurt Vonnegut argued that this was the way stories should
be thought of and came up with a thesis for it, but was
rejected. (Because you know, worship conflict more.) But
since, there have been arguments by some scholars that
one should look at emotionality in plot structure and this is
a different sort of structure than the typical analyses about
events. But how does it make the reader and the character
feel during the course of the story.)”
https://www.kimyoonmiauthor.com/post/6419482788318
https://thewritepractice.com/story-arcs/
74048/worldwide-story-
structures?fbclid=IwAR13VWec7TL4CUCRjNaJ5pOoJpYuJKO
6mvUrabJ1qHfgloy-XGB8qy-BlPc
 HAKAWATI
A form from West Asia, but also contributed to some Northern Egyptian Mythology.
An ancient Arab storytelling mode that combines an epic with a live performance—it’s about
breathing life into stories and is built on the oral tradition of storytelling. There’s a lot of
heritage in this form.
Also seen as its own genre.
https://gulfnews.com/uae/hakawati-performances-leave-audiences-spell-
Strong narrative story line, usually focusing on legends and fables, kings’ adventures, bound-1.611051

warriors’ bravery. Contains multiple stories and the listener is led through these stories. Weaving your way through rich imagery, lots of symbolism and
motifs. Patterns are crucial. Allegory and folklore.
Framed narrative. Multiple characters – and these characters often narrate.
Fantastic elements. Many feature journeys (across time and lands). Focus on the dramatic – not just within the story, but the performance needs to be
visual too, a great spectacle. Singing and music. Sense of awe and wonder.
Usually an underlying message that teaches viewers/readers how to lead a principled life.
“bringing a piece of the past to life for his avid listeners.” - https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/arts-culture/hakawati-the-ancient-arab-art-of-storytelling-
1.712001
Leisure activity.
Various groups perform hakawatis. The Hakawati Group. Pictured is their performance based on 1001 Nights.
 BENGALI WIDOW NARRATIVE
• The Bengali Widow Narrative is both a structure and a genre.
• 4 acts:
1) Childhood
2) Marriage
3) Children (or difficulties)
4) Close/Abandonment

• The Circle of Life is seen as the driver of the plot, rather than being neatly classified as either a ‘character’,
‘conflict’ or ‘morality’ story.
• Happy or sad ending.
• 4-act East Asian and Dream Record (Buddhism version) have similar themes, but this one is more heavily Hindu.
• Kim Yoonmi also notes how some Bollywood films fit this narrative as some rom-coms start in childhood.
VIGNETTE

• “Vignettes—poetic slices-of-life—are a literary device that bring us deeper into a story. Vignettes step
away from the action momentarily to zoom in for a closer examination of a particular character,
concept, or place. Writers use vignettes to shed light on something that wouldn’t be visible in the
story’s main plot.” -- https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-a-vignette-in-literature-defining-
the-literary-device-plus-5-tips-on-writing-vignettes
• These can be single pieces or you can use several to tell a story.
 SPIRALS AND WAVES
SPIRAL
• A story that has a spiraling pattern, repetition that adds something new each time; the narrative gets
larger and wider.
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

WAVES

“The wave is one. There’s a reason we’re drawn to it, whether viewing or watching entranced as one
wave after another breaks on shore: a wave is a clear instance of energy charging static matter until that
energy is spent and equiliberum returns, elegant and satisfying. Arcs or waves exist all around as waves
of light and sound. They can create powerful narratives, but it might be more freeing, as writers, if we
think not of a story always following an arc, but of a reader’s experience absorbing the story as doing so”
– Jane Alison, Meander, Spiral, Explode

• Also looks at radials, explosions, branching, and cellular stories.

ABSURDIST

• Humorous or irrational stories. Often considered a ‘purposeless’ story. There for entertainment.
• Generally believed to originate in Victorian England/the UK, but some scholars say it’s earlier than the nineteenth century.
• A series of interlinking stories that don’t have a set direction. Generally considered as having one act.
• Protagonist is often frantic, finds themselves in a world of chaos.
• Often the reader is left to judge the characters—reader almost has a crucial role in the story, without the story becoming
interactive.
• Characters rarely make judgements on each other.
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Monty Python's Flying Circus; Gulliver’s Travels.
 THE EPIC
• Multiple
variations
• Several small
stories that are
interlinked (or
the story goes
back to the
narrator who
then directs you
to the next one).
• An overall arc
that ties all the
stories together.
• Used for longer
stories.
• Oral tradition.
• Homer’s The
Odyssey.
• Often fantastical. https://www.kimyoonmiauthor.com/post/641948278831874048/worldwide-story-
structures?fbclid=IwAR13VWec7TL4CUCRjNaJ5pOoJpYuJKO6mvUrabJ1qHfgloy-XGB8qy-BlPc
 GRIOT
• West African. Oral and Poetry tradition handed down by the Griots. (Going on Kim Yoonmi’s article here that says this form isn’t formally named).

• Three acts. The formula varies by tribe and region, but these are stories about memory to help people remember tribal history and teach them how
to live good lives.
• Focus on clear imagery and repetition. There may be conflict in these stories but it is not prominent or something that drives the story.
• Anansi Folktales.

The Cameroon Formula:

1) Opening formula: jokes and riddles. Audience Participation. Story events are presented seriously. Contrast.
2) The body: setting up characters and the conflict. The narration of the story.
3) The conclusive formula: Closing the story. Delivery of or emphasis on the moral.
• Memory is at the centre of the story. Emphasised as something that helps you live a good life. Morality.

• “Griots had a very, very important influence later on in the African Diaspora such as the Caribbean (noted in Crick Crack), North American,
particularly slave and free black people narratives, Creole, and Voudon folktales.” --
https://www.kimyoonmiauthor.com/post/641948278831874048/worldwide-story-
structures?fbclid=IwAR13VWec7TL4CUCRjNaJ5pOoJpYuJKO6mvUrabJ1qHfgloy-XGB8qy-BlPc
• Anansi (Ananse) Folktales.
• Cinderella #129 Chinye: A West African Cinderella - http://www.365cinderellas.com/2011/05/cinderella-129-chinye-west-african.html
EXPERIMENTAL FICTION – BRITISH EXPERIMENTALISM

• The Unfortunates by B.S. Johnson – interactive “book in a box”, reader chooses the order of the 27
chapters. Only the first and last chapter are numbered.
• London Consequences – a novel written by 20 writers in 1972. Published for the Festivals of London.
Edited by Margaret Drabble and B.S. Johnson (‘founders’ of the novel too). Each of the 20 writers wrote
a chapter and passed the story onto the next writer. The Greater London Arts Association offered a prize
to readers who could match the chapters to the authors within the first three months.
• The Waterfall by Margaret Drabble (1969). Third person but quickly becomes a first-person narration
that guides the reader through the MC’s life. Focuses partly on a love affair.
• Konek Landing by Eva Figes – she also wrote for London Consequences. Konek Landing is a novel that
uses intextuality and confusion to show the trauma of memories.
POSTMODERN LITERATURE

• “Postmodern literature is a literary movement that eschews absolute meaning and instead emphasizes play,
fragmentation, metafiction, and intertextuality.”
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/postmodern-literature-
guide#:~:text=Postmodern%20literature%20is%20a%20literary,fragmentation%2C%20metafiction%2C%20and
%20intertextuality.&text=Common%20examples%20of%20postmodern%20literature,Catch%2D22%20by%20Jo
seph%20Heller
• Books about disorder and randomness. No absolute meaning. Humour. Fragmentation. Collage-style
amalgamations. Metafiction. Intertextuality.
• Unreliable narrators
• Oreo by Fran Ross (1974) – novel divided into sections like a textbook, includes menus and adverts. Even tests
for the reader.
QUESTIONS?

[email protected]
MadelineDyer.co.uk