Lesson Story Structure and Plot 1-12 Video Lecture | Learn and Master: Creative Writing - Art & Craft

in this series I'm revisiting story
structure and plotting because I want to
make a better video series than what I
had before what we're going to cover is
story structure and plotting and so I
made up this story structure and
plotting guide which I'll explain what
all this stuff means and how it applies
not only will you learn what good story
structure is but you'll learn how to
make how to come up with the components
of a storage structure you also learn
what plotting is and how to do it but
most importantly you'll learn how to
craft your own story complete and
awesome I guarantee by time you finish
with this series you will be able to
come up with a complete story or to
complete a story that you've been having
troubles with and to make it good
ok so let's get started really quick
with an overview everything that we're
going to cover and then I'll go into
detail so we'll be going over at all
this is in detail but first just a quick
overview so you have here act 1 act 2
and act 3 act 2 you can see is the
longest of the acts every story is
broken down into the three acts system
within that three act system movies and
many novels are broken down into five
turning points which we have listed here
these five turning points I have labeled
opportunity Monkeywrench no turning back
all seams loss and climax and between
each of those five turning points there
are the things that lead to them so you
have this set up you have the new
situation progress complications higher
higher higher to lose at a higher higher
stakes there's more to lose
I should just name that more to lose
finally give it on aftermath all this
will make sense once we go through which
each each of these mean and then you'll
be able to just look at this here and
come up with fantastic stories once you
know what all this means and how to put
it together and use it it's a very
powerful tool once you know how to use
this guide
okay so okay real quick before I give an
example for you know before we get into
all this means and get started
this here's the ten percent mark 25 50
75 and 90 percent and so you'll see that
the setup of your story only takes the
first 10% and then this is when you know
at 25% this is when your story actually
kicks into gear this is when the desire
and goal are clear that's what the
ending you know what how we kind of we
don't we don't know how it's going to
end but the ending is now in mind that
that is the desire the the thing that
the character wants to obtain is
revealed here and we'll either at the
climax they will get that goal or they
will fail to get that goal but it that
will be the end so the end is revealed
here that meaning we can foresee whether
this character is either and get what
they want or not this is the turning
point which happens exactly at 50% and
it doesn't have to be exactly but most
stories that you'll read or watch
whether in comic book form or movie form
or novel form you're going to have the
turning point very much happen at the
50% mark and then at the 75% mark you're
going to have this point where all seems
lost this in row math in romances this
is when you know they've won of them
find out what the other one has been up
to you know usually it something that
you know makes one of them angry and
then how dare you be hiding that for me
and they break up then they then they
give it all and then finally here's when
they get back together and then yeah
they get married happily after okay so
you can calculate these percentages
based upon the number of papers for a
screenplay for example if you have 120
pages of screenplay then you can figure
out what the 10% mark is on your
calculator just by typing in 120 120
times 10% that would be page 12 but uses
a by about page 10 though you really
want to make that happen where you want
that opportunity presented okay and then
if it's a novel let's say you go by I
would go by the amount of words so
because that's how you got tell you
submit manuscripts
is by word count and not page count so
let's say you have a hundred 100
thousand word novel which is pretty
typical then 10 percent would obviously
be the first 10,000 words so a couple
chapters and then if it's 80 thousand
page novel it'd be the first eight
thousand words so anyway okay so that's
how you figure that out I'm going to
give a quick example then with the
fisherman and just kind of show how and
how this this is the same as this down
here but this is showing the escalation
like a visual imagery of how it story
goes how it gets more and more and more
more conflict more at stake more
suspenseful and then finding the
aftermath okay so let's see if I can do
this in five minutes or less so we'll
start here with the the set up which is
here before this at ten percent mark so
it'll go from here to here max coven a
simple fisherman is poor and heartbroken
he needs cash to fix his boat he fishes
and works on his boat to escape the pain
felt from the loss of his wife he's
offered a big sum of cash to bring in
some crabs his boat will make it if not
he and his crew are prepared for the
worst while fishing for crabs they find
two girls adrift on a lifeboat he needs
to catch his crabs for the day or he
will not be paid but he needs to help
these ladies they need to get back to
their homeland which is in the opposite
direction he agrees to help them now
we're moving from here to here he agrees
to help them okay so now this is the the
monkey wrenchers about to be thrown in
that that is now he has to make a
decision does he say no I can't help you
I'm just I'm going to take you back to
the harbor where you could find another
ride back to your place I need to finish
my work I need to get paid I need to you
know I need to work I need to fix my
boat it's falling apart but they
convince them that they really need to
go and they can't go back there it's too
dangerous or something and you know they
don't they can't wait they really need
to get back to their to their place to
their home so he agrees to help them
so he figures that you know maybe he can
still fish you know on the way there he
can catch some crab on the way there and
there's something strange about these
two there's something strange and
mysterious about the whole story now
we're moving from here to here they
don't have enough fuel to get back max
is falling in love with one of the
sisters the other one is driving him up
the wall the crew are begging him to
turn back it's too late now they don't
have enough time to catch the crabs that
is if they were to you know if they were
to turn back there's there's really no
point now
they either we're going to catch the
crabs or not they have to get the
sisters back back safely and hope
they're telling the truth about their
loaded father that is to hope the
sisters are telling the truth about
their loaded father their father being
able to pay them a lot of money okay so
now they're at that point of no turning
back
they've wasted too much feel that can't
go back now if they're going to get the
crabs you need to just get them and
maybe they can bring them back on the on
though you know keep the keep the crabs
and then on the on when they do get back
maybe they can still find a buyer for
them okay so now we're going to move
from this no turning back point from the
halfway point of the story to here from
50 to 75% of the story so they run into
problem after problem and now max has
more than his crew to worry about the
complications are getting worse and he
has more to lose the stakes are getting
higher
the sisters lit the sisters lives are at
stake they face a storm seen imps a
giant squid so this is all this crazy
stuff is happening from here to here
also you'd have some conflict happening
from here to here as well but this is
where it really starts ramping up and
there's more at stake and everything is
getting really difficult and hard max
loses two crew members and can no longer
run the boat properly the boat is
sinking all hope seems lost this is
where we're at this this point here
where all seems lost max lets the crabs
go in order to keep the boat afloat so
he makes a hard decision as to let the
crabs go because you know the boats
sinking they weigh too much so he throws
all that money away
and he does his best to seal the leak
and now a huge wall blocks the path to
the sisters home he won't let the sister
into his heart he's too afraid to get
hurt because he's been running this
whole time from his wife's death now
we're going to move to the 75 to the 90%
where he said he's going to give it all
all seemed lost but now he's going to
give everything he has to do this and
get past this wall there are two statues
in front of the wall and so interesting
enough the final battle is is against
the wall it's not to getting some huge
monster the sisters don't know why the
wall is closed and ever has been before
Mack's coven swims to the wall stairs up
that the huge statues and asked them
what to do he didn't come all this way
to lose his crabs and not be paid they
tell him the answer is love and I'll
going to end this part here and then
we'll go into part two and quickly
finish how this this example sums up
then we'll go into more detail all of
this and it will help you to write
awesome stories it's it's really awesome
to know how to use this thing trust me