Table of Contents

Introduction - No Structure, No Story 1

Chapter Breakdown 2

Exercise - Recognising Structure 4

Chapter 1 Structural Techniques and Crafting your Plot 7

The Three-Act Structure

Exercise - Skeleton Structure 10

The Eight Point Arc

Complex Structures 13

'Gone Girl' 14

The Seven Plots 15

Plot and Structure - Bricks and Mortar 18

Structuring plot layers 22

Exercise - Mind-Mapping your Plot 23

Chapter 2 Learning from the Movies 27

'Cloud Atlas' - From Novel to Film 28

Exercise - From Page to Screen 29

Vogler's Journey 30

Exercise - Going to the Movies 33

Chapter 3 Run, Story, Run - Pace and Narrative Flow 37

Pace

Continuity 40

Tension on Every Page 42

Exercise - Adding Tension 44

Structure, pace and time

Exercise - Playing with Time 46

Chapter 4 Staging the Drama 49

Exercise - Where's the Body? 52

Build-up and Impact 53

Establishing Setting 56

Exercise - Staging the Drama 60

Chapter 5 Plot Mirrors; External and Internal Journeys 63

Motivation and Turning Points 64

Exercise - Defining and Raising the Stakes 66

Exposition

Exercise - Using Exposition 68

Using Structure to Weave it all Together 69

Exercise - Putting it all Together 70

Afterword - After the Draft; Identifying Structural Issues 73

Appendix - Story Writing Software; Does it Help? 79

Resources and Recommended Reading 85