11. Five Plot Points and Story Grid

Four Story Structure Maps (Part 1): Five-Point Plot Structure and Story Grid’s Five Commandments

In this episode, Beth Barany introduces four story structure maps that have influenced her writing, noting that many more exist and that structure can feel overwhelming for first-time novelists but helps writers think of a story like a building.

In this episode, she covers two frameworks: the five-point plot structure from The Writer’s Brainstorming Kit by Pam McCutcheon and Michael Waite—ordinary world, trigger event, change of plans, black moment, and resolution—

And Shawn Coyne’s Story Grid “Five Commandments of Storytelling,” which begins with an inciting incident (causal or coincidence), followed by progressive complications and turning points, a crisis presenting incompatible choices, a climax as the key decision, and a resolution reflecting what the character realizes (or fails to realize in tragedies).

The next episode will discuss the hero’s journey and The Virgin’s Promise.

00:00 Story Maps Overview
 01:42 Five Point Plot
 02:19 Story Grid Commandments

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Transcript

0:00

Today I'm gonna talk to you about four different story structure maps. Of course, there's a lot of ways to look at story structure, but we're gonna do four, because these are four that have informed me. We're going to do two in this episode and two in the next episode I have seen charts that compare like 10 different story structures. They're out there. I found it on the internet. so there's a lot more than four. So, I also want to say that sometimes looking at story structure can be really overwhelming if you're just working on your first novel. But actually, it is a very good exercise to think about your story because it helps you actually think of your story structurally, like a building. So there's... I'm gonna talk about the five point plot structure that I got from the book, The Writer's Brainstorming Kit. I'll also talk about the five commandments of storytelling that I got from The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne, or I should say The Writer's Brainstorming Kit is by Pam McCutcheon and Michael Waite. I'll also talk about the hero's journey, that is pulled from, that most people pull it from The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler, and he adapted it from The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. And then lastly, I'll also mention The Virgin's Promise: Writing Stories of Feminine Creative Spiritual and Sexual Awakening by Kim Hudson, and she calls this the, feminine, journey, the female journey, or the heroine's journey. And there's other people who have different heroine's journeys, but I'm not talking about that today. So briefly, in the five point plot structure. In the five-point plot structure, you have five points. You have ordinary world, which shows the main character before the change. You have the trigger event. Something happens to upset the life of your main character. You have change of plans. That could be their change, people imposing a change on them. You have the black moment, which is where it all feels lost. They do not know how they will surmount their problems. And then you have the resolution. Five. I'm gonna jump now to The Five Commandments of Storytelling by Shawn Coyne and the Story Grid. You have the inciting incident. He just jumps right over ordinary world. Story starts with the inciting incident, and he says there's two kinds of inciting incident: causal, one thing causes another; or coincidence, someone runs across the path of your main character, and that jolts them into the story. The inciting incident does not have to be directly related to the story, but it has to upset their day-to-day. And so this s- structure doesn't talk about ordinary world, but you still need one. Number two is progressive complication. You need either an active turning point, where your protagonist takes action; or a turning point, things get worse and they realize, "Oh no, I have to do something about this." Then number three is the crisis, and in the crisis, you have to have either they have to face two really bad, horrible things, or two really great things that can't coexist, and they are faced with the question, "What do I do now?" And then number four is the climax. The climax is the decision. They are now choosing between either two really bad things that are horrible with horrible consequences, or two really great things that can't coexist. And then finally, you have the resolution, where the main character has come to realize something, or in tragedies, failed to realize.

BETH BARANY-2 3:49

In the next episode, I will go over the hero's journey and the virgin's promise.

3:56

All right, that's it for this episode, everyone. Happy writing.