Writing Essentials: The Four Levels of Structure

We all know how important structure is regardless of what you're writing. It doesn't matter what type of structure you follow, whether you prefer three or five acts, or eight sequences, the structure is there to hold the story together. The structure will help you organise your story, the material, so that your introduction won't take up half of the story while the climax is spared a paragraph. What would happen if a building had nothing on some of the floors, or there were corridors that led nowhere and rooms without an entrance? Everything in a building is carefully arranged, so that when you're in there, you won't even notice it. Just like each floor of a building has an organised set of corridors and rooms, and each room has a door, there are also structures within the main construction of the story, structures that will help you organise the scenes or chapters, and more detailed parts of the story.


The four levels of structure are:

1) Story Structure
As discussed above - this is the bigger picture, the whole story from beginning to end. Create a map for yourself that will help you visualise where each part of your story fits and whether all the parts are in balance. Do all parts of your story get the right amount of attention?

2) Storyline Structure
In a long story you will have different storylines that sometimes connect and other times run parallel without 'meeting'. Each of those storylines should have a structure of their own. Storylines should be analysed through characters because it's the character that the audience is following. Take a character and separate them from the main story for a second in order to examine more closely what is going on with them, just in that one storyline - how is it introduced? Does it evolve? Does it end up anywhere? Are there consequences and a resolution? This could be a secondary character, the antagonist, or any other character. You will notice immediately whether there are any plot holes, or the storyline is too sparse, or too long. Don't forget that each character is the protagonist of their own story and their motives and wants need to be as clear as anyone else's.

3) Act Structure
Each act has their own structure. For example, Act I is the introduction (or The Routine as in Frank Daniel's Eight Sequence Method). This is not just a delivery information so that we can get to the story later but this, too, is a dramatic unit of storytelling. Which means it needs to just as dramatic as any other part of the story. The Introduction, just as any other act or sequence in the story, has to have a beginning, middle and end.

4) Scene/Chapter or Event Structure
Sometimes it takes several scenes to cover one event (i.e. when action moves from one location to another). The scene needs to be examined without any parallel action involving someone else (if there is one). Each scene has their own beginning, middle and end, and is a unit of dramatic storytelling. Beginning doesn't necessarily mean exposition (i.e. showing who, where and what - you choose how you reveal your information and when) but you can start with something that sets the tone or the context, you can begin with the obstacle, anything, just as long as the scene will develop further - someone wants something and faces opposition, and therefore, there are consequences - which take us to the following scene. Don't forget cause and effect!

Working on different levels of structure will help make the whole story richer and more engaging.
Separating different levels of the story in order to examine them by themselves will help you rationally analyse your story and see whether the different parts of the story are in balance. Viewing your characters' stories separately will also help with character development because you will see where the character is psychologically at each stage of his/her personal narrative.

You can use bullet-point lists or index cards for dismantling the story. Write only a a few keywords or a short title on each card, so that you will have an overview without having to take time to read each card. You can always add new cards or shuffle them around to discover new options for the narrative.

Structure is there to hold the story together and structure itself should be invisible to the average reader. If you think about a problem - a problem has a structure: first, everything was normal, then something happened, there was a reaction, something was done about it, and there were consequences and a resolution. If you leave out one of those steps, the whole thing will look awkward, there's a beat missing. It's the same with stories. If all the parts are there, each given proper amount of attention, the story will run smoothly and the average reader won't notice a thing - the structure will become invisible.

Good luck!