The Only Plot Structure You Will Ever Need

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plot structure is one of those things

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that is difficult for beginner writers

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to understand and yet it is one of the

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most important things that you need in a

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book everyone needs structure even

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people who discovery write and figure

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out the story as they go if they want to

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have a novel that has a good chance of

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actually selling they are going to have

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to go back into it and make sure

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retroactively that it is following the

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right structure now thankfully a lot of

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authors like Stephen King who are

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Discovery writers have an innate sense

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of what structure is and so as they're

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going along they're sort of following

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structure as they go but if you don't

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have some kind of structure then you

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don't actually have a story you just

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have things that happen and there are

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actually quite a few story structures

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out there but honestly most of them are

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kind of saying the same thing some

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people will even say that there are no

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hard and fast rules around storytelling

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I disagree and that every possible

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structure out there is so different and

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it is really just a tool to be used if

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you need that kind of story structure

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depending on your specific situation

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which to a degree is true but I think

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this attitude actually does a little bit

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of a disservice for newer authors

01:09

established authors have a lot of things

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that they are familiar with a lot of

01:12

different tools and tricks of the trade

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but they took a while to acquire all of

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that knowledge and they have a much

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better sense of whether they should use

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it or not when someone is just starting

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out they don't know a lot of the things

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that established authors know and it is

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very difficult for those established

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authors to then sort of turn around and

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impart their knowledge to these people

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because there are so many different ways

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you could take it and this attitude that

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there are many ways to go many different

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templates that you can use and that

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they're all tools to use at your

01:41

disposal while that is true I think it

01:44

does a disservice because it implies

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that writers can just write whatever

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they want for their story and that's

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okay that's actually not true because

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despite what everybody says there are

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stories that are better than other

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stories and there are authors that if

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you look at the course of their career

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they and everyone else would admit that

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what they have later in their career is

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better than what they had earlier in

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their career what that implies is that

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there are skills at work here something

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that they weren't so good at at the

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beginning and then later after less of

02:16

experience became good at and if there

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are skills then those skills can be

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taught and they can be broken down and

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made easier for newer writers to

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understand and that is exactly what this

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40 chapter outline that I have developed

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is doing and I call it the 40 chapter

02:32

plot module now this plot module has

02:34

been in the works for a while and I'm

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finally excited and ready to reveal it

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to the world this is the story structure

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that I wish I had had 12 books ago when

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I was getting started it gives you a 40

02:45

chapter outline and tells you exactly

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what should be happening in each chapter

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now of course these are not hard and

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fast rules you can deviate from this if

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you feel so inclined but for newer

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authors this is a great way to really

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understand and learn story structure and

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for for a lot of established authors too

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I'll bet you will find that this saves

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you a lot of time in figuring out where

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your story should go next now I could go

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on and on about how I developed this

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thing but you are probably interested in

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what's actually on it and what it looks

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like well it is divided into four parts

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and each part has 10 chapters each we

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start with act one which like all of the

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other acts makes up 25% of the story it

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does a couple of things including

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introduces us to the protagonist and the

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Ordinary World that they live in as well

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as their goals their flaws and the

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inciting incident that forces them to

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leave the Ordinary World then we move

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into act two specifically act 2A which

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is the first half of Act 2 uh which also

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makes up 25% of the story it is the

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first half of the middle section which

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shows us positive rising action as the

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protagonist enters the new world learns

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grows and has more successes than

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failures this is basically the kind of

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stuff that you would see in a movie

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trailer as the protagonist is learning

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growing training all of that sort of

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thing then we move into act 2B which

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also makes up 25% of the story and it's

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the second half of the middle section

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and act 2B even though it's still part

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of the second act is really kind of an

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act on its own because it is a reversal

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of act 2A resulting in negative rising

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action as the protagonist struggles

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against the antagonist and things slowly

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start to fall apart and get even more

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desperate and finally the fourth part is

04:30

act three which makes up 25% of the

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story like all of the others it is the

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climax of the story where the

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protagonist finally confronts their

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inner flaw and overcomes it and which

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allows them to defeat the antagonist

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despite very very tall odds so let's

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just do a brief overview of what all of

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these chapters look like first we

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actually have an optional chapter so

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while there are 40 chapters here there

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are actually 42 because there are two

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additional and optional chapters one is

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a prologue which gives us an opening

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image that sort of visually represents

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the central conflict of the story

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particularly if it does not directly

05:03

involve the protagonist then we move

05:05

into the protagonist's life with a

05:08

really bad day where they sort of just

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they're we get used to the world that

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they're in but we also get a sense of

05:13

what they really want in life and that

05:16

they're not getting it in some way we

05:18

then move on to chapter 2 which is a

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mystery in a theme one of the things I

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discovered in all my research is that

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almost all of the gripping stories out

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there even if they're not Mysteries have

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some sort of mysterious element at the

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beginning it's one of those things that

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can really get people reading and then

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the mystery and the theme is something

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you want to keep in mind because at some

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point the theme needs to be stated right

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so if you have a character whose flaw is

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that they're you know they don't take

05:43

themselves too seriously maybe they're

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they're a little hard on themselves then

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the theme would be someone coming in and

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saying you're too hard on yourself you

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need to learn to let go and that will be

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basically the statement that sets up

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everything that's going to happen

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throughout the rest of the novel in

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chapter 3 we have a link to the

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antagonist this is a moment where the

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protagonist finds that there's something

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connecting them to the antagonist or the

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forces of the antagonist that they can't

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ignore they're more than just a random

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citizen in the story that we're in they

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have some kind of unique connection to

06:15

the antagonist that makes them important

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the cliche the ultimate cliche version

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of this is they are the chosen one right

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where the the antagonist has to take

06:24

note of them but think of it on as the

06:26

chosen one Trope kind of on a lesser

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scale something that's really tying them

06:30

to the antagonist we then get a grasping

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at straws chapter where the character is

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kind of like resisting this push the the

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things that it's learning that and this

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uh push towards a new world that they

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don't really like but they discover as

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they're resisting that that stasis

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equals Death this is a phrase I got from

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save the cat where they discovered that

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if they remain in their Ordinary World

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they're going to end up uh dying whether

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that is physical death or it could be uh

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emotional mental social or financial

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death and this usually leads right into

07:03

the inciting incident this is the big

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thing that sort of pushes them right out

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of their comfort zone and disrupts

07:10

everything that's going on in the

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Ordinary World that they live in this is

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often accompanied at the same time or

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shortly thereafter by a call to

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Adventure a moment where the protagonist

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decides oh they need to do something and

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yet there's still a lot of resistance

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there uh this Call to Adventure is often

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accompanied by a Mentor someone who

07:30

comes along and sort of helps the

07:32

protagonist in the state that they are

07:34

in but there's usually a refusal of the

07:37

call a refusal what the mentor brings

07:39

the protagonist uh where the protagonist

07:41

really kind of digging their heels in

07:43

not wanting to to take this leap we then

07:46

get a pull out the rug chapter where

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whether the protagonist wants it or not

07:51

they something happens that causes them

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to really just have to take steps and

07:57

they move out of their Ordinary World

07:59

into this much broader much stranger

08:03

newer World which leads us into act two

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and the first chapter of Act 2 is called

08:07

the first plot point where the

08:09

protagonist actively chooses to enter

08:11

into the new world and there's going to

08:12

be a little bit of floundering as they

08:14

sort of enter this really unfamiliar

08:16

realm then we get our enemies and allies

08:18

chapter where we are introduced to

08:20

pretty much the remainder of the cast

08:22

that we haven't met at this point

08:23

particularly any important Sidekicks or

08:26

love interests that might uh have a role

08:28

to play in the story there's often some

08:30

conflict there between them and the

08:33

protagonist themselves and that also

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leads into chapter 13 which is the B

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Story the B story is basically uh where

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a character such as the love interest

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but can be the mentor or any other

08:43

character kind of comes in and helps the

08:45

protagonist work on their flaw this is a

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moment where the theme might be stated

08:50

again and we're really like learning

08:52

sort of the message the what is the

08:54

story about from chapters like this one

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we then get a set of three different

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chapters that in save the cat are called

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fun and games I split them into three

09:03

specific chapters to give us three

09:05

attempts at basically it's like a

09:07

montage a training montage where in the

09:10

first one the character is trying

09:12

something new and they might fail they

09:14

might not but even if they do fail it is

09:16

a fall forward where they're gaining new

09:19

skills they're learning new things uh

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even if they do ultimately fail the test

09:24

that they go under in chapter 15 it's

09:27

very much the same thing but they make a

09:28

second attempt or they try something

09:30

else and they might fail that trial as

09:33

well in chapter 16 they might actually

09:35

have some success something that

09:37

actually helps them earn a little

09:38

respect among all of the other allies

09:40

characters and maybe get a little bit of

09:43

attention from the antagonist and other

09:45

enemy characters and because of that

09:47

attention we are LED into chapter 17

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which is called the first pinch point

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this can be a literal or non-literal

09:52

battle between the protagonist and other

09:56

antagonistic forces this is an ideal

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place for a plot twist or something big

10:00

that happens that kind of upsets the

10:02

status quo that has been building this

10:04

whole time we then get chapter 18 which

10:06

is problem revealed where the

10:07

protagonist is it's it's kind of a

10:09

reactionary chapter where the

10:11

protagonist sees everything that happens

10:13

and realize they're a little over their

10:14

head and in chapter 19 that chapter sort

10:17

of continues where they learn critical

10:19

information that kind of messes things

10:21

up a little bit it changes their whole

10:23

worldview and that leads to the midpoint

10:25

where the main character might actually

10:27

have a success it's going to at least

10:28

seem like a success and they are also

10:31

forced to sort of look at themselves in

10:32

a figurative mirror and realize that

10:35

there is something within them that

10:36

needs to change although they're not

10:38

quite ready to make that change yet this

10:40

is a major turning point of the story

10:41

and a opportunity for the external

10:44

conflict the a story and the internal

10:45

conflict the B story to kind of

10:47

intersect and that major turning point

10:49

leads us into act 2B and the first

10:51

chapter external demons close in this is

10:54

where the literal villains of the story

10:57

whoever that might be are St starting to

10:59

get more and more threatening and in

11:01

chapter 22 it gets even worse in chapter

11:05

23 this is another sort of reactionary

11:07

chapter to everything that's been going

11:09

on the internal demons or the internal

11:11

doubts or fears or whatever the

11:14

protagonist has going on inside them

11:16

will start to really manifest and get uh

11:18

to become a major problem and so at this

11:20

point the main character and all of his

11:23

allies are not doing so hot and so they

11:26

formulate a plan of attack where they

11:28

sort of regroup figure out what they're

11:29

going to do and make a plan now the

11:32

protagonist can't just be a random

11:33

member of this group they have to have a

11:35

crucial role which is what we

11:37

established in chapter 25 once that

11:39

crucial role has been established and

11:41

the plan is put into motion we get to

11:43

the second pitch point which is another

11:45

battle against the antagonist but once

11:47

again the protagonist realized that they

11:49

severely overestimated the antagonist

11:52

and they are way over their head and

11:54

things kind of fall apart which leads us

11:56

to chapter 27 where All Is Lost this is

11:58

a major low point of the story where

12:01

things just don't seem like they can get

12:03

any worse is often accompanied by a

12:05

shocking Revelation something that came

12:07

with the All Is Lost chapter where um it

12:10

just seems like there just isn't any

12:12

hope anymore the protagonist may feel

12:14

guilt they may feel anger they may

12:16

alienate some of the Allies that they

12:18

have with them and this leads to a

12:20

moment of depression where the main

12:22

character had it basically gives up and

12:24

says that they can't do it that they are

12:26

not the one for this job that they just

12:28

can't keep going on but one or more of

12:30

the Allies might come in and give them a

12:33

pep talk this is just a motivational

12:35

speech where they sort of help the main

12:37

character dig deep within themselves and

12:39

realize that yes they can do it and that

12:41

they can't give up now and that leads us

12:43

into act three the final Climax and the

12:46

last 25% of the novel where in Chapter

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31 we have the seizing the sword chapter

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this is basically where the protagonist

12:53

figuratively or literally picks up a

12:55

sword they pick up the tools that they

12:57

need or even just the mantle of

12:59

responsibility that they need to go at

13:02

the antagonist in their forces and from

13:05

there they gather the team in chapter 32

13:07

which is basically it's very similar to

13:08

the plan of attack that we saw earlier

13:10

but this time he's going around and

13:12

maybe making amends with some of the

13:14

Allies that they might have offended

13:15

before starting to really gather that

13:17

team and uh get ready for another major

13:20

confrontation which leads us to a set of

13:22

three different chapters here with the

13:25

first second and third stage of the

13:28

final battle the first stage is

13:30

basically where the protagonist and his

13:32

allies put the first part of the plan

13:34

into place and it actually usually goes

13:36

very smoothly the second stage of the

13:38

battle also usually goes well and

13:41

succeeds but at this point some of the

13:43

Allies might be dropping off think of

13:45

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone

13:47

where Harry Potter by the time he gets

13:48

to the final challenge at the end uh Ron

13:51

and Hermione have left they you know

13:53

they ended up not being able to continue

13:55

which leads us to the third stage where

13:57

the protagonist is basically all alone

13:59

up against the antagonist and thinks

14:01

that he's got this or she's got this and

14:03

then finds out that she does not have it

14:06

and they have another All Is Lost moment

14:09

where the antagonist gets a upper hand

14:12

on the protagonist and things just don't

14:13

look very good and that leads us to the

14:15

ultimate defeat where it looks like the

14:17

protagonist is just not going to be able

14:19

to make it that All Is Lost that things

14:21

are not going to work out in the long

14:22

run and the protagonist has a moment

14:25

that I just call a use the force Luke

14:27

moment where the protagonist has to dig

14:29

deep inside themselves to really find

14:32

that nugget of a thing that they need in

14:34

order to win usually it is a

14:37

confrontation of an internal struggle

14:39

they've been having this whole time and

14:40

they finally make a personal change uh

14:43

or a change in attitude and beliefs that

14:46

allows them to actually succeed from

14:48

that comes the unexpected Victory where

14:50

they actually are able to overcome the

14:52

antagonist and win and this is basically

14:55

the final climax of the story where

14:57

everything you know just explod exps or

15:00

you know whatever happens the man and

15:01

the woman kiss for the first time and or

15:04

they get engaged or whatever it is uh

15:06

this is the final moment of that climax

15:08

where everything comes together then we

15:10

have a few chapters that are sort of uh

15:13

you know in the ACT threea structure

15:15

it's called the danuma uh or the the the

15:17

falling action and we start with a

15:19

Bittersweet reflection where you know we

15:21

have the protagonist has won the battle

15:22

and they have changed as a person but

15:24

there's almost a certain sorrow with

15:27

seeing the life that they love left

15:29

behind in order to make the changes that

15:31

they had to make and we see very vividly

15:34

the death of self that this person has

15:36

had how they are a very changed person

15:38

and there's a closing image at the end

15:40

of this chapter where we get to see just

15:42

how much this person is different from

15:44

the person that they were in the very

15:46

first chapter that we see them and then

15:48

we have one last optional chapter that I

15:50

call the after credit scene as a nod to

15:52

Marvel and their after credit scenes

15:54

where it's basically just a teaser of

15:56

the conflicts to come the conflicts that

15:58

might still remain uh it's useful if

16:00

you're doing a series uh in particularly

16:03

in certain genres now some of this and

16:05

the wording and everything that I've

16:06

been using might seem a lot like it is

16:08

only for action thrillers or fantasy

16:11

sci-fi but really you can adapt these

16:13

things however you need to do it for

16:15

romance for mystery whatever it is that

16:17

you need just figure out like what is

16:19

the antagonist or the protagonist of say

16:23

of romance right an antagonist could be

16:26

the parents of the love and interest who

16:29

don't really want the two to get

16:31

together it might be societal Norms

16:34

right an antagonist can be a whole lot

16:35

of different things so we're not

16:36

necessarily talking about life and death

16:38

situations here this could be as simple

16:40

as a relationship that may or may not

16:43

work out and that the sort of death the

16:45

All Is Lost moment that we're

16:47

encountering is just those moments where

16:48

we just don't think this relationship is

16:50

going to work out that's an example for

16:52

a romance story and I could go far in

16:54

more depth of how this applies to every

16:56

genre but it will work for every single

16:58

genre all right so note that this is a

17:01

plot template that I have put together

17:03

specifically for a simple standard novel

17:06

with a single major protagonist now if

17:08

you happen to have more than one

17:10

Viewpoint character that is a little

17:11

different you would have to add

17:13

additional scenes for that specific

17:15

Viewpoint character and if they have a

17:17

character Arc which they ideally should

17:19

you're going to have to put a separate

17:21

progression of scenes to show that

17:23

character Arc for that character and

17:25

this is why I named this the plot module

17:28

because something I'm going to be

17:30

developing in the future is more ways to

17:33

create other scenes for other characters

17:35

and a way of layering them in in a way

17:37

that makes sense for the story you'll

17:40

see for instance in Epic Fantasy it's

17:41

one of the only genres that allows for

17:43

multiple Viewpoint characters that go

17:46

really indepth and so you can get like

17:48

three 400,000 word novels and the reason

17:51

they're able to do that is because they

17:53

have a lot of viewpoint characters each

17:55

one of which probably has a similar

17:57

story structure to what you see here as

17:58

as it stands if you have 1,500 to 2,000

18:01

words per chapter here you're looking at

18:03

a 60,000 to 880,000 word novel which is

18:06

about standard for most simple novels

18:09

but if you're going to add another

18:10

Viewpoint that might expand it to 100 or

18:13

120,000 words so I'm going to be

18:15

developing a lot of different modules

18:17

that you can then work with this 40

18:20

chapter outline as a way putting them

18:22

together and you know in such a way that

18:24

they sort of fit perfectly into the

18:26

overall structure but that said you can

18:28

absolutely take this 40 chapter outline

18:31

for a simple single protagonist story

18:34

and use it all over the place and I've

18:36

already outlined about like six books

18:38

using this outline template that I'm

18:41

going to be uh handing off to other

18:43

writers and doing myself and doing with

18:45

AI and basically doing a variety of

18:47

different things I'll have more to say

18:48

about that in the future now if you want

18:51

to get your hands on this document that

18:53

you see right here this document is

18:55

available completely for free to those

18:58

who subscribe to my email list those of

19:00

you who are interested can find it below

19:02

and I am actually working on a

19:04

completely original book on this subject

19:08

where I will basically go far more in

19:10

depth than I'm able to do here in one

19:12

video and that book should hopefully be

19:15

available here in the next couple of

19:16

months now if you want to learn more a

19:18

little bit about story structure and

19:19

other essential storytelling skills I

19:21

have a video called storytelling 101

19:23

that you definitely want to check out

19:25

I'll put a link to it here but I hope

19:27

this video was useful for you and I'll

19:28

see see you in the next one