Knob
Structure models
You might say: story templates, beat sheets, three-act structure
Maps of where the big turns usually fall. Each model shows the pattern at a different level.
- What it does
- Give you a checklist to diagnose a draft: what is missing, early or late.
- Ask
- Which model fits my genre, and where do my turns fall on it?
- Trouble
- A formula followed beat by beat; the story feels mechanical.
Catalogue: Model
- Three acts: Setup to about 25%, the long middle to 75% with a midpoint near 50%, then the end. Weiland notes the timing is flexible.
- Save the Cat! beats: Brody’s 15 beats at set points: Catalyst 10%, Break into Two 20%, Midpoint 50%, All Is Lost 75%, Final Image 99–100%.
- Hero’s journey: Vogler’s 12 stages, from the ordinary world to the return with the elixir. A flexible skeleton, not a formula.
- Seven-point structure: Wells: hook, plot turn 1, pinch 1, midpoint, pinch 2, plot turn 2, resolution. Plan backward from the resolution.
- Freytag’s pyramid: Five parts for drama, from introduction to catastrophe, with three crises on the way.
- Kishōtenketsu: Four parts: introduction, development, twist and conclusion. The third part, ten, brings an unexpected turn.
Connections
- See also: Planning
Sources
- Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit, pp. 2–3, Introduction to the 15 Beats
The following is a quick overview of the 15 beats
- Christopher Vogler, “A Practical Guide to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, 1985 memo; The Stages of the Hero’s Journey
He reaches the INNERMOST CAVE where he endures the SUPREME ORDEAL.
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