 Fantasy: July 15, 2020 Issue [#10274] |
This week: Building in Fantasy: Story Structure Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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Fantasy Newsletter by Dawn
“The essence of plot structure is: struggle — therefore, conflict — therefore, climax. A struggle implies two opposing forces in conflict, and it implies a climax. The climax is the central point of the story, where the conflict is resolved.” — Ayn Rand |
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Story structure is an important factor when writing that goes across all genres but there are some elements that can be looked at in particular for speculative fiction. For those that do a lot of building and planning, the structure is figured out early on in the writing process. For someone who is a little more free flow, pantser style of writer, structure does get figured out or built but it's more of an over time, different process. No matter the type of writing process you have, there is room to consider how to structure a story overall before, during or after writing a draft.
A little research pulled up an interesting approach to plot structure found on the blog Fantasy Authors Handbook by Philip Athans. He has a rather short philosophy on "all the structure you will never need." The blog post does go more into detail but the very main point and structure is put into a single sentence. According to the Fantasy Authors Handbook the only structure needed is: "The villain starts the story, the hero ends it."
While put into a simple sentence and it won't work for every single story structure, it does make sense for some speculative fiction stories. A fair number of epic fantasy stories, for example, can be pinpointed as having the start sparked by the villain in some way. Certain ones will be more obvious but others have a subtle approach because the reader isn't aware of the exact villainous presence or influences until later within the long story. But still, if you think about a number of the fantasy and sci-fi stories you've read over the past however many years, I am sure you can see where this might be an evident fact (maybe with more structure too but still...) that the villain sparks things and the story is the process of the hero finding the way to end things.
Another way to look at putting together a structure for the story is to look at the purpose and sequence of events. On the blog for Turner Stories, there is a post that looks into structuring for fantasy with a bit of al longer approach that focuses on how a writer lines up the events in order to get the main character from start to finish. The author, NA Turner, lays out 10 steps in structure that fit within the usual known 3 act approach
According to Turner: "The most important thing is that you know where you’re going. What state you want to leave your character (and your reader) in at the end of the story."
One could see where having that information helps when writing a story. It isn't a hard and fast rule for first drafts because at times you might not know where you are going and exactly how things are going to end. Those factors can be determined over time but help in a finished product. Building a story takes some work with many different layers with planning, foundation, ground work, walls and ceilings... okay some of that is for building houses but you get the idea. The structure of a story is a factor to consider no matter the length with longer stories having more involvement in the process. How you do it, the material you use (slate roofs are expensive, just fyi), and where you put the information is up to you.
How do you structure a story? Do you have a plan yet? Let others on WDC know or ask any questions in the discussion forum available on the site and keep writing.
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How do you build the story structure when it comes to a speculative fiction story?
Last month I discussed the use of diversity in fantasy and other speculative fiction stories. Here are a couple of comments sent in over that topic:
Comment by Santeven Quokklaus 
My fantasy world has two definite groups who are antagonistic to humans. Humans come in all races and creeds, and it does not mean anything. But there are the Amazons who started a large-scale war, and so are looked upon as British of a certain generation look upon Germans and Japanese. They keep to themselves in their own nation, but members of the race do venture forth. The war was many generations ago, but is still remembered. The second are lizard-men, who humans struggle to cope with as they show no emotion outside the base ones. They also seem capable of love and hate. But I think the humans in my story are not actually given a race, and if they are, it is merely as a descriptor. My fantasy world has very little slavery. There is a homophobic tendency in many cultures in my world, but I have made sure that any same-sex attracted characters are not portrayed as the bad guys; the homophobia is shown to be pathetic. The main clashes in my world are between mortals and demons, as the arc is a demon Lord trying to conquer the world of man. 2 million words so far and we're still going!
Comment by brom21
Diversity is something I have not actively engaged in my writing. As you pointed out, diversity is a good template for conflict. Thanks for the info. I will apply it!
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