THE GLORY OF STRUCTURE

One of the biggest problems I have when I first start plotting out a story is figuring out a timeline. When does this happen? Why does this happen? How does it all fit together? Usually I'm hit with a jumble of ideas that I have to take apart, line up next to one another and then rearrange -  in the end, I get what looks a little like a coherent story. Naturally, there's a lot more to do afterwards - but figuring out structure is the first step in a long, and often times frustrating process. In the past year I've come across a few styles that work for me and for others. I thought I'd share them with you guys.

The Synopsis/Query
I know how much a lot of people cringe and shudder when they hear one or both of these words. They are the bane of a writer's existence but they are necessary. And if you write them before you write your book you have less work to do at the end of the writing process. So, how helpful are the two? And in what ways? Well, the query helps you identify the central conflict of your story (since that is what the focus of your query should be). It points out the complications, the stakes and the possible bad thing that will happen if your main character(s) doesn't solve the problem. All things you should know before you start writing. The synopsis is helpful in many of the same ways, but it has the added bonus of forcing you to figure out the key events in the story, and the resolution. By writing your synopsis, you know pretty much everything that is going to happen.

The Three Act Model
The Three Act Model is just a fancy way of naming the outline form of beginning, middle and end. Except it's a little more complicated than that. The three act model stresses the importance of the second act and that this is where the rising action comes to a head - the worst case scenario. Everything that happens after this is meant to diffuse or resolve this worst case scenario. It works in most cases and is easily adaptable to any style of story you have. For more on the Three Act Model I'd take a look at the this article on the amazing blog, The Blood Red Pencil, by Alex Sokoloff.

Dramatic Structure
I find this form to be really helpful in just organizing thoughts and tossing around possibilities. It's also really useful for finding character paths. But, I can't take credit for it. The amazing Parametric of Absolute Write shared it with me and it's been useful ever since. It is broken down like so:

• Setup = protagonist's ordinary life, interrupted by the ...
• Inciting incident = the event that kicks the plot into gear. From now on the protagonist can never go back to their ordinary life. The protagonist tries to deal with this, but just makes things worse, leading to the ...
• First act turning point = big dramatic event ending act one. The protagonist tries to deal with this, but again just makes things worse, leading to the ...
• Second act turning point = big dramatic event ending act two. This screws things up so badly, it causes the ...
• Black moment = the worst-case scenario. Things are now as badly wrong as they can possibly go. The protagonist takes desperate measures, resulting in the ...
• Third act turning point = climax. Afterward, it's time for the ...
• Resolution = tying up all the plot elements.

So these are my helpful tips if you're struggling with the structure of your story. If you don't use any of the above methods, what do you use to make sense of your story in the very beginning?