Story writing: Formats and Structure Explained
Story Writing Format–Structure of writing a story:
- Theme
- Characters
- Setting
- Conflict
- Plot
- Dialogue
1. Theme – Central message / moral of the story. It is inferred and not stated directly.
Common Themes:
- Love
- Courage
- Perseverance
- Importance of Friendship
- Compassion
- Teamwork
2. Character– A character can be a person, animal, or thing in a story.
Types of character
- Major characters
- Minor characters
Major characters -Protagonist –Main character around which the story revolves.
Example-Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker
Major characters -Antagonist –This character/these characters cause conflict for the protagonist.
Example – Captain James Hook, Darth Vader
Minor characters – Play an important part in a story, and move the story forward.
Character Traits:
- Physical character traits- Dark, strong, weak, pretty, ugly, neat, tall, short
- Personality character traits- Demanding, thoughtful, open-minded, friendly, shy, timid, adventurous, curious, pleasant, creative, popular
- Value and beliefs character traits – Honest, brave, compassionate, loyal, humble
3. Setting – Place
Details to include:
Example:
4. Conflict– Major type of conflicts in a story
- Interpersonal conflict – Character vs. Character: When a conflict arises between two or more characters.
- Internal conflict – Character vs. Self: When a character is conflicted with his/her own thoughts or has two contradictory thoughts/feelings and doesn’t know what to act on.
5. Plot – sequence of events in a story. There are six elements in a plot:
- Exposition – Characters and setting introduction.
- Conflict or problem.
- Rising Action – The main character is in crisis. The story gets complicated with multiple events.
- Climax – Occurrence of a major event. Turning point.
- Falling Action – The story begins to slow down and move towards resolving the conflict.
- Resolution – Resolves the conflict and the story ends.
6. Dialogue – It is the exchange of spoken words between two or more characters in a story.
Dialogue as a Tool:
- It conveys important information about the characters or the plot to readers.
- Helps writers to make their characters close to real-life people and show their traits.
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