Story Structure Architect

"It's been said that there are no new ideas; but there are proven ideas that have worked again and again for all writers for hundreds of years.

Story Structure Architect is your comprehensive reference to the classic recurring story structures used by every great author throughout the ages. You'll find master models for characters, plots, and complication motifs, along with guidelines for combining them to create unique short stories, novels, scripts, or plays.

Especially featured are the standard dramatic situations inspired by Georges Polti's well-known 19th century work, The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations. But author Victoria Schmidt puts a 21st-century spin on these timeless classics and offers fifty-five situations to inspire your creativity and allow you even more writing freedom. Story Structure Architect will give you the mold and then help you break it."

-Penguin Random House

Learn about how nontraditional throughlines subvert the traditional three-act structure of a story.

This book is extremely organized, presenting, different conflicts, genres, and dramatic situations in lists for your reference. It can help you determine the tone and mood of your book, choose the perfect structure for your story, and help you decide the type of situation you want your character to encounter. Story Structure Architect is especially helpful for screenwriters, with many of the story examples coming from famous films, but this book can improve storyteller craft for all mediums. Though it may not be a sit-down read, as it aims to address nearly all story types and possibilities, this book is certainly helpful for when you need to refer to specific parts that pertain to the story you want to tell.