Writing Blog Number 2

20240926 Story Structure Writing Methods (Personal)

Story Structure Writing Methods (Personal)

There has been a lot of chatter in newsfeed and on newsletters about the writing methods people use.

Do you use Socrates' 3-act structure? The Hero's Journey? Freytag's geometrical shape? Crisis-Conflict-Resolution? Some other style of writing? How do you structure your stories? Why do you use this and not this? You should try the snowflake method! You need to do the rising action method! People who don't use one method never sell! Magazines only look for this other method!

In the end, do you use the Freytag's Pyramid, The Hero's Journey, Three-Act Structure, The Dan Harmon Story Circle, The Fichtean Curve, Save the Cat, The 7-Point Story Structure, The Snowflake Method, or some other method?

So... what method do I use?

No idea. And, more to the point, I do not care.

I just write. I have an idea, and I write it. I don't think about anything like structure. I put in what needs to be in there. I know some of my stories seem to utilise the dictates of certain methods, it is only because my story-telling fell into that.

In my opinion, looking at a story-writing method and sticking to that stifles creativity.

Just tell a story. If it's good, people will like it. if not, they won't. If you're lucky, it will sell. if not, then it won't.

This whole "which story structure writing method do you/ should you use" argument takes away from the one thing that we are here to do:

Write a story!