All good stories follow a typical pattern or structure and there are many well-known and well-regarded styles of structure promoted by story experts and experienced editors. If you research the subject you will find a reference to the way stories are divided into “Acts” – some say this is five acts and others say three.

Another way of structuring stories is by plotting them so that they fit a series of seven milestones or points. These seven points are known as the Seven C’s.

A brief explanation of how this works is as follows:

C # 1: The Catalyst or event that starts the whole thing off. This something that happens without which there would be no subsequent story.

C # 2: Call or Commit moment. This is the moment the protagonist or main character commits themselves to do something related to the catalyst. They feel called to act on a goal.

C # 3: The Centre point.  As you’d expect this is the middle point of the plot where the protagonist or main character has achieved something, though this may not be in the way they had anticipated. A degree of failure or lack of success related to the character’s goal has also happened.

C # 4: The Crash. This describes the degree of failure or lack of success. The main character might feel ready to give up or accept this alternative outcome at this point.

C # 5:  The Re-commit or Second Call moment: At this point, the main character finds new information or gains additional insight or knowledge leading to them making a second commitment to a renewed goal.

C # 6:  The Climax: This is where the main character faces a final or climactic show-down with the protagonist leading to an initial failure or All is Lost moment followed by success.

C # 7: The Conclusions or Contentment: The final part of the story where the protagonist celebrates winning their initial and other goals and the consequences for the protagonist are evident. In other words, the happy ending.

Another shape you might notice in good stories is a downward trajectory in terms of what happens to the main character and how unsuccessful they are in the first part or half of the story and then, after the Centre point and Crash, an upward trajectory to eventual success.

Exercise to try: Have fun rewatching some favorite movies to spot the Seven C points in the story plots.  Applying them to Walt Disney’s Zootropolis might look like this:

Catalyst: Judy, a new police recruit, persuades an ice-cream seller to serve Nick.

Call: Judy puts herself forward to find Mr. Otterton.

Centre: Bogo fires Judy after they fail to catch Manchas and Nick argues that they have 10 more hours.

Crash: They find all the animals but Judy’s speech sets off more discrimination and stereotyping. She resigns.

Call 2:  Judy goes home. She has a Eureka moment and realizes flowers have been poisoning animals, making them savage.

Climax:  They find the hidden lab and Judy and Nick fool Bellweather who is revealed to be the crook behind the poisoning.

Conclusions:  All ends tied up. Happy ending for the protagonist.