How The Story Goes

Everything is normal. Not good or bad. Then BLAM—something.

Something terrible. Something wonderful. Something weird.

Jaws attacks. You find out your lost uncle left you a billion dollars. Your hand swells to the size of the bigger sister in Heart.

And a story begins. But what’s next? Nigel Watt’s knows.

DailyWritingTips has great post about Watt’s 8-Point Story Arc. It’s the Doe-Ray-Mi of storytelling and it began with the Odyssey and is on display during every sit-com episode and most Hollywood movies. You can also plot novels—from those written by Tom Clancy to Virginia Wolfe—with Watt’s 8 points.

And if you’re telling a story and want it to grab the audience and enthrall and finally satisfy them… you better generally follow Watt’s structure.

And if you’re so experimental that you wouldn’t even think of using a prefab structure, you better know exactly what you know that millenniums of storytellers didn’t. Or you're probably employing these classic tropes without thinking about it. Either way, Watts is worth a look.