How to Structure a Story
If you understand the basic theory of how stories really work, it’s possible to approach the putting together of a story in a quite mechanical way. These steps give you the skeleton of the story: the ‘flesh’ of plot and character will follow rather easily if this framework is in place.  1. Recognise (or postulate) a core vacuum.  What does this mean? It means that a very good starting place for a story is coming up with a menace, a huge threat, a hole or gap or peril which
Challenging Exceptions to the Laws of Fiction
In studying the fundamentals about fiction and how it operates, sometimes someone challenges one of the principles by trying to find an exception to it.  Occasionally, it is suggested that these universal laws that govern story-telling don’t apply to this or that example. And it’s true that, in any attempt to communicate maxims so profound, it seems that some special kinds of examples are left out. But this needs a closer look.  If we accept that at their heart most stories