STRUCTURE Is For the (Thunder)Birds

Writing is so much fun! It's also a process. Dan Wells, author of I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER... kidding. He's the author of the I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER series, and his latest, PARTIALS, taught an amazing class on story structure.

When writing, painting, or even packing boxes to move from one house to another, structure helps you know how to start, the path to follow, and where to end.


Here's the basics to the seven point system:

Hook

Plot Turn 1 - Call to adventure

Pinch 1 - Apply Pressure

Midpoint

Pinch 2 - Apply even more Pressure

Plot Turn 2 - Resolve to do something - The power is in you (your MC)

Resolution

Here's the system put into action with HARRY POTTER. 

Hook - sad little Harry under the stairs

Plot Turn 1 - finds out he's a wizard

Pinch - the scary Troll he and his friends battle

Midpoint - Harry sees the scary guy (I think it's voldemort) sucking on the Unicorn blood and he resolves to do something to get the bad guy

Pinch 2 - they go down the hole and his friends all get taken out by the traps (big chess for Hermoine and Ron- remember)

Plot Turn 2 - Harry is alone and he has the stone in his pocket. He realizes that the power is in him because he's pure and his mother's love is what saved him and allowed him to live so he knows that's how he'll destroy (for a bit) Voldemort.

Resolution - Harry succeeds.

So freakin cool!!! If you're interested in watching the series for yourself, here's the YOUTUBE link for the first one.

How do you write? Structure aka Plotter or Panster?