{"id":66,"date":"2012-01-13T10:30:38","date_gmt":"2012-01-13T10:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=66"},"modified":"2017-05-09T22:21:51","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T21:21:51","slug":"how-to-structure-a-short-story-the-8-point-arc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=66","title":{"rendered":"How to structure a short story – the 8 point arc"},"content":{"rendered":"

I live by this. I have built my Scrivener template around this structure and it really works well for short stories. I\u2019ve also worked my novel plot through the same structure (though that\u2019s a bit more complicated).<\/p>\n

Please refer to Daily Writing Tips: the 8 point arc<\/a> , drawn from Nigel Watts \u2018Teach yourself Writing a Novel.\u2019<\/p>\n

Also, never miss looking at Scrivener<\/a>. It really is the best writing tool ever.<\/p>\n

The eight points which Watts lists are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Stasis – the everyday life starting point where everything is in balance(but tense).<\/li>\n
  2. Trigger – something beyond control of protagonist that triggers the story.<\/li>\n
  3. The quest – this is usually a quest to return to the status quo.<\/li>\n
  4. Surprise – the meat of the story where there are plenty of obstacles and complications to prevent returning to balance.<\/li>\n
  5. Critical choice – MOST important – the protagonist needs to make a critical choice at some point. Choose between good and evil, easy and hard, etc.<\/li>\n
  6. Climax – the choice that was taken results in a climax to the story.<\/li>\n
  7. Reversal – one more reversal. It needs to be credible and possible, even probable and flagged earlier as likely,<\/li>\n
  8. Resolution – final resolution and return to a fresh statis.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Previously I found that my short stories lacked punch or tension. It is important to make sure that steps 4, 5, 6 and 7 are really fleshed out fully and there are a number of set backs for the protagonist to deal with. My stories have definitely improved as a result of this, and I am compiling a series of them to publish soon.<\/p>\n

    Important note: I also find that starting with step 2, Trigger, and filling in step 1 later is a more compelling start to the story.<\/p>\n

    Hope that\u2019s interesting, comments welcome.<\/p>\n

    Next time – pics and media\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I live by this. I have built my Scrivener template around this structure and it really works well for short stories. I\u2019ve also worked my novel plot through the same structure (though that\u2019s a bit more complicated). Please refer to Daily Writing Tips: the 8 point arc , drawn from Nigel Watts \u2018Teach yourself Writing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skill"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to structure a short story - the 8 point arc - Graham Dinton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=66\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Graham Dinton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=66#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=66\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Graham Dinton\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa4cda20d85d970f20575808140fd28\"},\"headline\":\"How to structure a short story – the 8 point arc\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-13T10:30:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-09T21:21:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=66\"},\"wordCount\":311,\"commentCount\":4,\"articleSection\":[\"Writing skills\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=66#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=66\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=66\",\"name\":\"How to structure a short story - 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