How to Tell a Story 2 (ARTICLE)

The beginning (Act I) will consist of two parts:

The Introduction, and Rising Action.

The Introduction will introduce the characters, the setting, the goal of the story, and the main villain, or antagonist.

Rising Action is the second part of the story, and it will be a set of scenes that get the characters moving in the direction of the story goal.

Often a mentor will be introduced to help the character learn some truth that they will need to accomplish the goal or to give the characters some kind of aid.

Usually there will be some sort of conflict in the early stages of a story as the characters pursue the story. are sentinels that guard some kind of doorway into a deeper level of the story.

In the early stages of a story, the conflict will slowly rise, creating a greater sense of urgency. The stakes should become greater, further motivating the characters. Every storyteller should ask himself, "what's at stake here?" in every scene.

Act I could consist of a single scene, or it could be two or more scenes in length, depending on how much time the storyteller wants to spend on the story, & the desired pace (how quickly the story progresses).

The middle of the story (Act II) is the largest part of the story, taking up about 50% of its time. The function of this part is to develop the characters and the conflict.

Tests or challenges will often confront the characters in this section. Each of these small goals could provide an element that is needed to defeat the villain or an object to complete the quest.

Allies are new characters that are introduced to aid the characters in their quest.

New enemies are also introduced in this section of the story, as the plot becomes more complicated.

Act II consists of two parts:

Complications and the Crisis.

Complications in the story make things more interesting for the characters. Often a major plot twist is introduced here which will force the main character to change, becoming fully committed, strengthening or clarifying his motivation. This will often be a point of no return.

The Crisis is the lowest point in the story, where everything looks hopeless. This will force the characters to make a crucial decision, leading to the climax of the story.

The end of the story (Act III) is where the main villain is finally overcome and the quest is completed.

The final climax of the story is a scene that everything in the story has been pointing towards. It can be a surprise, but is should be a logical progression of the events in the past. Sometimes in a short story, the climax will be the first (and perhaps the only) scene.

The most important parts of a story are the first scene, where the villain and goal are introduced, and the climax.

Story Endings

There are many ways to end a story, but the end of a story will be of two main kinds:

An open ended story is where the quest has been completed, but not everything has been finished, leaving room for the audience to imagine their own ending.

A closed story is where everything has been completed, creating an obvious ending for the audience.

Characters should be presented with some kind of moral choice at the end of a story, which forces them to finally overcome their character flaw.

This will create a fundamental change in the nature of the character.

After the villain is defeated and the character has changed, the story will be over.

Act III consists of two parts:

The climax, and the resolution.

The climax is a final scene that will often take place in the villain's home, but it could be anywhere else. This scene is where the characters fight and defeat the villain, and obtain the goal of their quest.

The resolution, also called the denouement, is a final scene that shows the outcome of the events of the story. This is where the storyteller shows the consequences of the actions taken in the story.

In quest stories, there will often be some kind of elixir that is given to the society at large, brought back by the characters, which will change their world forever. The item brought back will put everything back into balance that was thrown out of whack by the inciting incident.

A simple example could be a quest for fire.

In the start of the story, the primitive town has lost their fire. The characters could go on a quest to "steal fire from the gods," returning with the object of their quest (fire), which will restore the balance of their world.

This part of the story is also where the character is shown to have overcome their main character flaw, often expressed by the accomplishment of a simple task that was impossible before. Their inner need will then be satisfied.