Are you settling down to write a novel? Or are you challenging yourself during NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month? If you are then you will be far too busy getting those words on paper to even think about things like plot structure, your storyline, and so on. There is so much to think about and yet so little time to really get stuck into it.

The thing is, the plot structure is so important to your writing. It’s the difference between 50,000 words of a story worth reading or a waffling rambling mess. It doesn’t matter whether you have outlined the structure or not; when you are writing you must keep it at the forefront of your mind. Every novel written that is worth the time to read has a decent plot structure.

Most novels will follow a similar pattern but short stores, full-length novels, movies, TV shows, everything is structured and they all follow a storytelling structure as old as the hills. In fact, we can trace plot structure right back to ancient Greece and Aristotle and way back before that too, back to a time when early humans sat around fires telling stories.

The conversations you have with your friends? They have a plot structure too:

You – You should have been there last night! It was cool!

Friend – What happened?

You -  I went to (a place) with (so and so) and it was an awesome place with fab people. And we got involved in (something) but everything was great. But then it happened!

Friend – What did you do?

You – All I could do was (whatever you did) or I risked getting caught! And it all went wrong! I was so scared we were going to be seen!

Friend: Really? And what happened then?

You – You wouldn’t believe it. I was so freaked out and then I (did something else) and it just made things worse. I tried one thing after another and nothing worked. I was stuck with no other options.

Friend -  Wow! What happened next? That’s unbelievable!

You -  I know! Eventually (so and so) worked out how to get us out, just in the nick of time. I don’t think anyone saw us; if they did no one has said anything.

Friend – That was lucky!

You -  I know. We got everything fixed up and got out, headed to another party and just chilled down for a while.

So you have several different things in this story, each one adding something to the plot structure. I’ll discuss them in deeper detail in part 2 but, basically, what you have and what every plot structure should have, is:

Exposition

Inciting event

Stakes

Rising action, which includes your journey and/or your goal

The climax of the story

Falling action

The resolution or the denouement of the story.

All of these are vital to a structure; miss one out and the whole lot could come tumbling around your ears. At the very best, your plot just wouldn’t stick together properly.