Writing is one of the best ways to express your creativity. It is also one of the highest-paying careers nowadays. Getting a publisher for most writers seems like the challenging part in their storytelling journey, but it is not. The challenge lies in structuring the story that you want to tell to make it exciting and easy for your readers to follow and relate with. A basic story structure typically comprises a beginning, a middle, and an end.
There are now free platforms that offer professional guidance on how to write your own storybook online to get these basic structures right. There are many story structures that you can pick from for your book, but a few primary elements in your story will determine your choice. The following are the four story structures that will suffice for almost all books nowadays:
Milieu Story
In writing, the milieu denotes the world—the society, weather, planets, and other elements that came up during the creation. All stories have a milieu, but if you structure yours around one, the milieu in your story will become what you care about the most. In Gulliver’s Travels, for instance, the strange lands he travels to are the milieu of the story. Milieu stories always follow a structure where a character goes to a new place, observes things that transform him or her, and returns to his or her origin as a new being. This story structure is mostly used in fantasy and science fiction, and it always ends with a character returning to his or her homeland.
Idea Story
This is based on the process of seeking answers and discovering things through a character’s eyes. The story structure begins with a question then ends with the answer to the question. Most mystery novels follow this story structure where a crime happens in the beginning and is solved in the last chapter. When using the idea story structure, ask your question early on in the beginning of your book and end your book as soon as possible after answering it.
Character Story
All stories have characters, of course. However, a character story structure primarily focuses on who the character is rather than what he or she does. Your story will begin when a character is impatient, angry, or unhappy in his or her present role and begins the process of seeking change. The story will end when the character settles in a new role or gives up on the struggle of finding something new and settles into his or her old role.
Event Story
In this structure, your story begins when something is out of order in the world. In classic literature, for instance, this included the death of a king, appearance of a monster, or breaking of a vow. The event story will end with the establishment of a new order or the restoration of the old order.
The right structure for the story that you want to tell makes the difference between a bestseller and a flop. With the right online platform, you will get expert guidance on how to choose the best structure from the options given above for your story. Moreover, you will be guided through the story’s writing to guarantee coherency and a captivating story.