The Only Plot Structure You Will Ever Need

plot structure is one of those things that is difficult for beginner writers to understand and yet it is one of the most important things that you need in a book everyone needs structure even people who discovery write and figure out the story as they go if they want to have a novel that has a good chance of actually selling they are going to have to go back into it and make sure retroactively that it is following the right structure now thankfully a lot of authors like Stephen King who are Discovery writers have an innate sense

of what structure is and so as they're going along they're sort of following structure as they go but if you don't have some kind of structure then you don't actually have a story you just have things that happen and there are actually quite a few story structures out there but honestly most of them are kind of saying the same thing some people will even say that there are no hard and fast rules around storytelling I disagree and that every possible structure out there is so different and it is really just a tool to be used

if you need that kind of story structure depending on your specific situation which to a degree is true but I think this attitude actually does a little bit of a disservice for newer authors established authors have a lot of things that they are familiar with a lot of different tools and tricks of the trade but they took a while to acquire all of that knowledge and they have a much better sense of whether they should use it or not when someone is just starting out they don't know a lot of the things that established authors

know and it is very difficult for those established authors to then sort of turn around and impart their knowledge to these people because there are so many different ways you could take it and this attitude that there are many ways to go many different templates that you can use and that they're all tools to use at your disposal while that is true I think it does a disservice because it implies that writers can just write whatever they want for their story and that's okay that's actually not true because despite what everybody says there are stories

that are better than other stories and there are authors that if you look at the course of their career they and everyone else would admit that what they have later in their career is better than what they had earlier in their career what that implies is that there are skills at work here something that they weren't so good at at the beginning and then later after less of experience became good at and if there are skills then those skills can be taught and they can be broken down and made easier for newer writers to understand

and that is exactly what this 40 chapter outline that I have developed is doing and I call it the 40 chapter plot module now this plot module has been in the works for a while and I'm finally excited and ready to reveal it to the world this is the story structure that I wish I had had 12 books ago when I was getting started it gives you a 40 chapter outline and tells you exactly what should be happening in each chapter now of course these are not hard and fast rules you can deviate from this

if you feel so inclined but for newer authors this is a great way to really understand and learn story structure and for for a lot of established authors too I'll bet you will find that this saves you a lot of time in figuring out where your story should go next now I could go on and on about how I developed this thing but you are probably interested in what's actually on it and what it looks like well it is divided into four parts and each part has 10 chapters each we start with act one which

like all of the other acts makes up 25% of the story it does a couple of things including introduces us to the protagonist and the Ordinary World that they live in as well as their goals their flaws and the inciting incident that forces them to leave the Ordinary World then we move into act two specifically act 2A which is the first half of Act 2 uh which also makes up 25% of the story it is the first half of the middle section which shows us positive rising action as the protagonist enters the new world learns

grows and has more successes than failures this is basically the kind of stuff that you would see in a movie trailer as the protagonist is learning growing training all of that sort of thing then we move into act 2B which also makes up 25% of the story and it's the second half of the middle section and act 2B even though it's still part of the second act is really kind of an act on its own because it is a reversal of act 2A resulting in negative rising action as the protagonist struggles against the antagonist and

things slowly start to fall apart and get even more desperate and finally the fourth part is act three which makes up 25% of the story like all of the others it is the climax of the story where the protagonist finally confronts their inner flaw and overcomes it and which allows them to defeat the antagonist despite very very tall odds so let's just do a brief overview of what all of these chapters look like first we actually have an optional chapter so while there are 40 chapters here there are actually 42 because there are two additional

and optional chapters one is a prologue which gives us an opening image that sort of visually represents the central conflict of the story particularly if it does not directly involve the protagonist then we move into the protagonist's life with a really bad day where they sort of just they're we get used to the world that they're in but we also get a sense of what they really want in life and that they're not getting it in some way we then move on to chapter 2 which is a mystery in a theme one of the things

I discovered in all my research is that almost all of the gripping stories out there even if they're not Mysteries have some sort of mysterious element at the beginning it's one of those things that can really get people reading and then the mystery and the theme is something you want to keep in mind because at some point the theme needs to be stated right so if you have a character whose flaw is that they're you know they don't take themselves too seriously maybe they're they're a little hard on themselves then the theme would be someone

coming in and saying you're too hard on yourself you need to learn to let go and that will be basically the statement that sets up everything that's going to happen throughout the rest of the novel in chapter 3 we have a link to the antagonist this is a moment where the protagonist finds that there's something connecting them to the antagonist or the forces of the antagonist that they can't ignore they're more than just a random citizen in the story that we're in they have some kind of unique connection to the antagonist that makes them important

the cliche the ultimate cliche version of this is they are the chosen one right where the the antagonist has to take note of them but think of it on as the chosen one Trope kind of on a lesser scale something that's really tying them to the antagonist we then get a grasping at straws chapter where the character is kind of like resisting this push the the things that it's learning that and this uh push towards a new world that they don't really like but they discover as they're resisting that that stasis equals Death this is

a phrase I got from save the cat where they discovered that if they remain in their Ordinary World they're going to end up uh dying whether that is physical death or it could be uh emotional mental social or financial death and this usually leads right into the inciting incident this is the big thing that sort of pushes them right out of their comfort zone and disrupts everything that's going on in the Ordinary World that they live in this is often accompanied at the same time or shortly thereafter by a call to Adventure a moment where

the protagonist decides oh they need to do something and yet there's still a lot of resistance there uh this Call to Adventure is often accompanied by a Mentor someone who comes along and sort of helps the protagonist in the state that they are in but there's usually a refusal of the call a refusal what the mentor brings the protagonist uh where the protagonist really kind of digging their heels in not wanting to to take this leap we then get a pull out the rug chapter where whether the protagonist wants it or not they something happens

that causes them to really just have to take steps and they move out of their Ordinary World into this much broader much stranger newer World which leads us into act two and the first chapter of Act 2 is called the first plot point where the protagonist actively chooses to enter into the new world and there's going to be a little bit of floundering as they sort of enter this really unfamiliar realm then we get our enemies and allies chapter where we are introduced to pretty much the remainder of the cast that we haven't met at

this point particularly any important Sidekicks or love interests that might uh have a role to play in the story there's often some conflict there between them and the protagonist themselves and that also leads into chapter 13 which is the B Story the B story is basically uh where a character such as the love interest but can be the mentor or any other character kind of comes in and helps the protagonist work on their flaw this is a moment where the theme might be stated again and we're really like learning sort of the message the what

is the story about from chapters like this one we then get a set of three different chapters that in save the cat are called fun and games I split them into three specific chapters to give us three attempts at basically it's like a montage a training montage where in the first one the character is trying something new and they might fail they might not but even if they do fail it is a fall forward where they're gaining new skills they're learning new things uh even if they do ultimately fail the test that they go under

in chapter 15 it's very much the same thing but they make a second attempt or they try something else and they might fail that trial as well in chapter 16 they might actually have some success something that actually helps them earn a little respect among all of the other allies characters and maybe get a little bit of attention from the antagonist and other enemy characters and because of that attention we are LED into chapter 17 which is called the first pinch point this can be a literal or non-literal battle between the protagonist and other antagonistic

forces this is an ideal place for a plot twist or something big that happens that kind of upsets the status quo that has been building this whole time we then get chapter 18 which is problem revealed where the protagonist is it's it's kind of a reactionary chapter where the protagonist sees everything that happens and realize they're a little over their head and in chapter 19 that chapter sort of continues where they learn critical information that kind of messes things up a little bit it changes their whole worldview and that leads to the midpoint where the

main character might actually have a success it's going to at least seem like a success and they are also forced to sort of look at themselves in a figurative mirror and realize that there is something within them that needs to change although they're not quite ready to make that change yet this is a major turning point of the story and a opportunity for the external conflict the a story and the internal conflict the B story to kind of intersect and that major turning point leads us into act 2B and the first chapter external demons close

in this is where the literal villains of the story whoever that might be are St starting to get more and more threatening and in chapter 22 it gets even worse in chapter 23 this is another sort of reactionary chapter to everything that's been going on the internal demons or the internal doubts or fears or whatever the protagonist has going on inside them will start to really manifest and get uh to become a major problem and so at this point the main character and all of his allies are not doing so hot and so they formulate

a plan of attack where they sort of regroup figure out what they're going to do and make a plan now the protagonist can't just be a random member of this group they have to have a crucial role which is what we established in chapter 25 once that crucial role has been established and the plan is put into motion we get to the second pitch point which is another battle against the antagonist but once again the protagonist realized that they severely overestimated the antagonist and they are way over their head and things kind of fall apart

which leads us to chapter 27 where All Is Lost this is a major low point of the story where things just don't seem like they can get any worse is often accompanied by a shocking Revelation something that came with the All Is Lost chapter where um it just seems like there just isn't any hope anymore the protagonist may feel guilt they may feel anger they may alienate some of the Allies that they have with them and this leads to a moment of depression where the main character had it basically gives up and says that they

can't do it that they are not the one for this job that they just can't keep going on but one or more of the Allies might come in and give them a pep talk this is just a motivational speech where they sort of help the main character dig deep within themselves and realize that yes they can do it and that they can't give up now and that leads us into act three the final Climax and the last 25% of the novel where in Chapter 31 we have the seizing the sword chapter this is basically where

the protagonist figuratively or literally picks up a sword they pick up the tools that they need or even just the mantle of responsibility that they need to go at the antagonist in their forces and from there they gather the team in chapter 32 which is basically it's very similar to the plan of attack that we saw earlier but this time he's going around and maybe making amends with some of the Allies that they might have offended before starting to really gather that team and uh get ready for another major confrontation which leads us to a

set of three different chapters here with the first second and third stage of the final battle the first stage is basically where the protagonist and his allies put the first part of the plan into place and it actually usually goes very smoothly the second stage of the battle also usually goes well and succeeds but at this point some of the Allies might be dropping off think of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone where Harry Potter by the time he gets to the final challenge at the end uh Ron and Hermione have left they you know

they ended up not being able to continue which leads us to the third stage where the protagonist is basically all alone up against the antagonist and thinks that he's got this or she's got this and then finds out that she does not have it and they have another All Is Lost moment where the antagonist gets a upper hand on the protagonist and things just don't look very good and that leads us to the ultimate defeat where it looks like the protagonist is just not going to be able to make it that All Is Lost that

things are not going to work out in the long run and the protagonist has a moment that I just call a use the force Luke moment where the protagonist has to dig deep inside themselves to really find that nugget of a thing that they need in order to win usually it is a confrontation of an internal struggle they've been having this whole time and they finally make a personal change uh or a change in attitude and beliefs that allows them to actually succeed from that comes the unexpected Victory where they actually are able to overcome

the antagonist and win and this is basically the final climax of the story where everything you know just explod exps or you know whatever happens the man and the woman kiss for the first time and or they get engaged or whatever it is uh this is the final moment of that climax where everything comes together then we have a few chapters that are sort of uh you know in the ACT threea structure it's called the danuma uh or the the the falling action and we start with a Bittersweet reflection where you know we have the

protagonist has won the battle and they have changed as a person but there's almost a certain sorrow with seeing the life that they love left behind in order to make the changes that they had to make and we see very vividly the death of self that this person has had how they are a very changed person and there's a closing image at the end of this chapter where we get to see just how much this person is different from the person that they were in the very first chapter that we see them and then we

have one last optional chapter that I call the after credit scene as a nod to Marvel and their after credit scenes where it's basically just a teaser of the conflicts to come the conflicts that might still remain uh it's useful if you're doing a series uh in particularly in certain genres now some of this and the wording and everything that I've been using might seem a lot like it is only for action thrillers or fantasy sci-fi but really you can adapt these things however you need to do it for romance for mystery whatever it is

that you need just figure out like what is the antagonist or the protagonist of say of romance right an antagonist could be the parents of the love and interest who don't really want the two to get together it might be societal Norms right an antagonist can be a whole lot of different things so we're not necessarily talking about life and death situations here this could be as simple as a relationship that may or may not work out and that the sort of death the All Is Lost moment that we're encountering is just those moments where

we just don't think this relationship is going to work out that's an example for a romance story and I could go far in more depth of how this applies to every genre but it will work for every single genre all right so note that this is a plot template that I have put together specifically for a simple standard novel with a single major protagonist now if you happen to have more than one Viewpoint character that is a little different you would have to add additional scenes for that specific Viewpoint character and if they have a

character Arc which they ideally should you're going to have to put a separate progression of scenes to show that character Arc for that character and this is why I named this the plot module because something I'm going to be developing in the future is more ways to create other scenes for other characters and a way of layering them in in a way that makes sense for the story you'll see for instance in Epic Fantasy it's one of the only genres that allows for multiple Viewpoint characters that go really indepth and so you can get like

three 400,000 word novels and the reason they're able to do that is because they have a lot of viewpoint characters each one of which probably has a similar story structure to what you see here as as it stands if you have 1,500 to 2,000 words per chapter here you're looking at a 60,000 to 880,000 word novel which is about standard for most simple novels but if you're going to add another Viewpoint that might expand it to 100 or 120,000 words so I'm going to be developing a lot of different modules that you can then work

with this 40 chapter outline as a way putting them together and you know in such a way that they sort of fit perfectly into the overall structure but that said you can absolutely take this 40 chapter outline for a simple single protagonist story and use it all over the place and I've already outlined about like six books using this outline template that I'm going to be uh handing off to other writers and doing myself and doing with AI and basically doing a variety of different things I'll have more to say about that in the future

now if you want to get your hands on this document that you see right here this document is available completely for free to those who subscribe to my email list those of you who are interested can find it below and I am actually working on a completely original book on this subject where I will basically go far more in depth than I'm able to do here in one video and that book should hopefully be available here in the next couple of months now if you want to learn more a little bit about story structure and

other essential storytelling skills I have a video called storytelling 101 that you definitely want to check out I'll put a link to it here but I hope this video was useful for you and I'll see see you in the next one