Thank you to everyone who attended our workshop on structure last week at the Winchester Writers’ Festival on the importance of structure. We were joined by 24 talented and enthusiastic writers and over the course of the workshop they produced a 100-word flash fiction piece inspired by a postcard, incorporating Sara and Emma’s tips and advice. We loved reading their stories, which goes to show just how important structure is.
Structure refers to the chain of events chosen from the characters’ life stories. All stories are shaped by the characters’ desires, fears and actions, and structuring your novel depends on the sequence in which these key events and character motivations are revealed. Taking Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ as an example, we discussed what a central narrative is and how concurrent storylines contribute to this structural character arc. Ultimately, we wanted to give advice on how to avoid the common problem of a sagging middle section in order to sustain reader interest up to the moment of crisis/dilemma and throughout the dénouement.
Tips from the workshop:
How to use a Three Act Structure:
ACT ONE: Establish a flawed character (protagonist) this could also be a deficiency of knowledge.
ACT TWO: Confront them with their opposite (antagonist).
ACT THREE: Synthesise the two to achieve balance (change). Story:
If you think of a story as a series or chain of events, then a scene is a one-story event. The scene needs to move the narrative forward with its own beginning, middle and end and with its own three act structure that mimics the overall story structure with its own moment of crisis.
Flashbacks and when to use them:
A flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time. They are used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events to fill in crucial backstory. Ultimately a flashback is an interruption of the chronical sequence, so you need to be careful and use them sparingly. They are a good tool if you want to reveal something about the past that changes the reader’s perception about the present.
Thanks once again to everyone who attended, we hope you found the workshop useful and insightful.
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