The Most Popular Story Structures | Hero's Journey, Save the Cat, Story Circle

I use Save the Cat as a guide as I write my first drafts. It helps me see how much father I need to go (I'm a discovery writer). I use the calculator on line.

I didn't even know about Dan Harmon's story circle when I filmed my video, but looking into it it's hard to say it's not... "inspired"

"Nothing is original. Everything has already been had, and life as a writer is just rehashing other people's ideas until you die." -Megan Tennant

YES! Thank you! I've been screeching this from the mountain tops within the literary world for way too long. This video is gold!

gotta say for a pantser trying to learn how to outline...its all confusing.

How about 3 act story structure?

Awesome overview, Megan! I can attest that most story structure paradigms aren’t “created” as much as extrapolated from the existing. My own Six Act paradigm has its roots in traditional 3 act structure, but places the focus on a sequence of 6 universal character actions and goals that are surprisingly ubiquitous in modern storytelling across multiple genres.


Setup

ACT ONE: DEALING WITH AN IMPERFECT SITUATION/The Initial Goal
Turning Point Catalyst 1: The Disturbance
Turning Point 1: The Dilemma


ACT TWO: LEARNING THE RULES OF AN UNFAMILIAR SITUATION/The Transitional Goal
Turning Point Catalyst 2: The Reality Check
Turning Point 2: The Commitment


Confrontation
ACT THREE: STUMBLING INTO THE CENTRAL CONFLICT/The False Goal
Turning Point Catalyst 3: The Turn
Turning Point 3: The Moment of Truth


ACT FOUR: IMPLEMENTING A DOOMED PLAN/The Penultimate Goal
Turning Point Catalyst 4: The Lowpoint
Turning Point 4: The Newfound Resolve


Resolution
ACT FIVE: TRYING A LONGSHOT/The Ultimate Goal
Turning Point Catalyst 5: All is Lost
Turning Point 5: The Final Push


ACT SIX: LIVING IN A NEW SITUATION


My most recent video series “How to Outline Your Story Using Character Actions” gives a more in depth overview and examples. If you’re interested, I'm sure I can arrange to get you a copy of my book, "The Story Structure Secret: Actions and Goals". I'm not in the habit of giving it away, but I see how much you love books so I know it will be in good hands, haha!


Either way, keep up the awesome work!

Cousineau: Kooz—in—No. Okay?

The eight-sequence model was pretty standard in writing feature films and Snyder knew it well, so I strongly think he's also using it a lot (although he moves some of its transitions into things that were selling better while he was working rather than making the original eight sequences equal in length). It's worth a look, but it'll feel a little old-fashioned. You can also look at Shakespeare's five-act structure for another vintage approach. And both of them also map decently well onto a hero's journey, just with different advice for pacing.

Huh. My story fits the Leemings version.

Thank you!

can you review Verbalize by Damon Suede, i also have been studying story structure for many years and this book is a whole different take at making a story.. he explains that is VERBS that make characters, not a character sheet and all that stuff that the reader doesnt care about.. hope you get time to read it.

I see no reason why my galactic adventure woman can't just put herself at risk to save a kitten on a crashing starship about to fall onto a dangerous planet?

Kishotenketsu is a good one that isn't related to Campbell's Hero's Journey.

Not a writer, but interested, I wanna say that the Leeming recounting of the Hero’s Journey is overtly theological. I don’t know if he’s religious but that was the life of Christ and he probably views it as the ultimate human drama. Hence the specific wording.

i'm a writer from the philippines, thank you so much for your videos! it helps me a lot! ^_^

Its confusing which is why I don’t even bother looking up other methods of outlining. I have done the Jessica Brody’s MasterClass on Save The Cat, and that has helped me tremendously. I suggest and vouch for that method as its ridiculously simple and easy to understand.

I've had to force myself to stop reading Aletheia long enough to actually write and im sad cus I dont wanna stop.... XD its SO good!!!!

Also, im super grateful for the story structure videos because i have bad anxiety and being able to sense at what point that shuts gonna hit the fan has saved me from MANY panic attacks, whether the book is fantasy/dystopian/or contemporary.

nar nar

You make incredible content I am very thrilled to have found your channel.

David Leeming's version does not at all invoke the notorious WTF ? expression if you just consider the source of the Hero's Journey to begin with, which is steps of Esoteric Initiation... In that world Leeming's version is highly accurate of the journey the adept goes through, much more so than many of the other renditions of the so called "Hero's Journey" which serves a different function, namely, that of storytelling, for storytelling's sake. Basically, the origin of the story structure as a whole, and of storytelling, springs from the process of esoteric initiation.

OMG YOUR BACKGROUND LITERALLY GAVE ME GASMS. melts

OH MY GODDDD!! watching a video of yours for the first time and what a spetacular background is that!!! im absolutely gagged. Also thank you for the amazing content

Wow. This was awesome. I can't stop watching this. I'm writing my first fiction. I've written and published two non-fiction How-to books on Lucid Dreaming, but fiction is new for me. It's a Mid-Grade book that combines two narrative structures. This video helped me a lot.

By the way, your Apoptosis/Apotheosis mishap is how originality survives.

Thanks for the information, that was useful ......and also, you are very cute.

((Read my comment & save your time as I put this video in a nutshell.))
Heros journey is the only way to tell a story. Save the cat & the story circle are just dfrnt forms of heros journey.

When I first started writing my WIP I knew nothing about plot structure. Didn't even know that was a thing. But by pure coincidence (or by me getting a solid feel for structure based on the movies and books I enjoyed) it turned out my WIP fairly closely follows all of this.

Hi! I’m a first time watcher, and I just stopped watching. Then, after your video dropped off my screen, I felt remorse. There was a specific reason that I abandoned the video, and I thought I could at least tell you why. You referred to one of the greatest psychologists ever, a contemporary and sometime friend of Sigmund Freud and the founder of Depth Psychology (not to mention Jungian psychology) as well as the psychological study of myth and many other very good things, as “Carla Jung.” Carl was a male. And the “J” is pronounced like a “Y”, and the “u” like the “oo” in Moon. So, it’s Carl Yoong. I’m sorry it’s so complex, but it is. Other than that, I appreciate your sharing your knowledge with us listeners. Please keep doing your videos. There was a young man the other day on a video for authors, and he was so conceited that I couldn’t stand it. I stopped watching, but didn’t tell him why. 😢 But I told you why. 😊 I’ll drop by again later. All the best to you.

I think i am falling in love with cloud kitten