Story Structure

The second chapter of prose fiction writing. #2

Donny Setiawan
2 min readFeb 13, 2024
Photo by Evangelos Mpikakis on Unsplash

STRUCTURE

Structure includes the entire body of the story or the most important elements in writing fiction. Structure includes:

  • plots,
  • character,
  • narrative.

PLOT

Plot is the part that presents the occurrence of events in writing fiction.

The famous term is 3 Acts, including:

  • introduction,
  • conflict,
  • resolution or climax.

CHARACTER

Character or commonly known as characterization is the part that presents and describes the characters in writing a story.

NON-DESCRIPTIVE

Non-descriptive characterization is a type of characterization that does not use long explanations to explain, you can use tables, lists, or pictures.

Non-descriptive characterizations include:

Motive

  • Want’s (What is desired),
  • Problem’s (What’s the problem),
  • Need’s (What is the need).

Physique

a. physically dead

  • separate physical (head, face, eyes, hair, and so on),
  • overall physical (body and so on).

b. physical life

  • sound (soft, loud, small, etc.),
  • movement (straight walking, stooping, clumsiness, shaking, etc.)

Extra (extras)

  • likes (What is his favorite),
  • dislikes (What is the dislike),
  • hobbies (What is his hobby),
  • etc.

DESCRIPTIVE

Descriptive characterization is a type of characterization that uses lengthy information that is explained descriptively.

Descriptive characterizations include:

  • what (What is the desire, what is the problem, what is the need),
  • why (Why does he want it, why does the problem arise, why does he need it),
  • how (How to make it happen, how the problem affects it, how the need is important).

NARRATIVE

PARAGRAPH

A paragraph is a part that presents an introduction, conflict, and closure in writing fiction.

OUTER PARAGRAPH

a. paragraph order

  • paragraph 1, paragraph 2, paragraph 3, etc.

b. body of the paragraph

  • opener,
  • mid/core,
  • closing.

c. red thread (conflict)

  • main conflict (theme)(A Story/External),
  • intimate conflict (B Story/Internal).

d. keywords

  • keywords per chapter,
  • big keywords (the whole story).

INNER PARAGRAPH

a. paragraph type

  • action paragraph,
  • description paragraph,
  • dialogue paragraph.

b. body of the paragraph

  • introductory paragraph,
  • main paragraph/problem/conflict,
  • closing paragraph/climax.

c. paragraph dramatization (effect)

  • yes, but… (conflict natative),
  • no, and… (conflict narative),
  • no, but… (conclution narative),
  • yes, and… (conclution narative).

d. extra (extra)

  • senses (taste, sight, hearing, touch and smell).

THEME

The theme can at least be determined, based on:

  • figure,
  • incident,
  • object.

Meanwhile, the TITLE is taken based on the theme. However, the title can also be determined, based on:

  • theme,
  • figure,
  • object,
  • word game.

GENRE

  • mystery (horror, crime, puzzle, etc.)
  • action (action) (adventure, road trip, etc.),
  • romance (romantic, friendly, spiritual, etc.),
  • etc.

PROSE

  • long prose (novelette, novella, novella),
  • short prose (short story, etc.).

RHYTHM PLOT

  • chronological plot,
  • reverse flow,
  • mixed (back and forth).

TEMPO

  • slow (detail),
  • normal,
  • fast (jumping).

FIGURE

  • main character (protagonist),
  • opposing figure (antagonist),
  • supporting figure (companion or mentor).

WRITING STEPS

  • idea (abstraction),
  • pre-written (outlining),
  • writing (drafting),
  • revision (editing).***

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Donny Setiawan

Penggemar Bahasa, Sastra, dan Seni. | Language and Art enthusiast.