A narrative structure is a literary element generally described as the framework that underlies the order and manner in which a story is written. The narrative text structures are the plot and the setting. When writing a script, you should know that the story structure consists of story plots (Act 1, act 2, and Act 3.) There are six plot points in total.
INCITING INCIDENT
TURNING POINT, I
MIDPOINT CRISIS
TURNING POINT II
CLIMAX
RESOLUTION
Keep in mind when writing a narrative remember to divide your story into three acts:
Act I is 25% of your manuscript. The inciting incident happens roughly around 10%
Act II is 50% which consists of the midpoint crisis. The midpoint crisis happens in the middle of Act II.
Act III is 25% which consists of a climax and resolution.
ACT I
ACT I consist of 25% of your screenplay. This part is known as the setup.
What do I mean by setting up sets the tone for a screenplay that consists of the place? You probably remember from grade school that the setting is where the story takes place, like the woods or Grandmother's house. The setup setting of a story tells the time, place, and duration of a story and is told using techniques like imagery.
Place
Time
Duration
The Main Character/s
Location and Mood
Genre
The Premise
The Inciting Incident
The Main Character/s
Exactly who is your main character? What are his strengths? What are his weaknesses? Does he live a jet-setting lifestyle or does his life revolve around his desk job? Whatever sense of normality your main character has is about to be torn apart.
Location and Mood
Where does your character/s reside and what are the conditions? Does he live on the peaceful island of the Bahamas or the cold, crowded streets of New York? A group of gang members are accused of murder and now have to fight their way home through other rival gangs and elude the police at the same time (From the movie Warriors).
Genre
By the end of the first ten pages, it should be clear if your movie is an action flick, a romantic comedy, horror, or other.
The Premise
The premise is a sentence that gives a complete summary of your whole movie.
Example:
X MEN The Age of Apocalypse: A group of superheroes with unique abilities must come together to fight an ancient evil incarnate. After the first 10 pages, there are two more important plot points in Act I:
The Inciting Incident
The inciting incident is the 10% mark of your screenplay.
Within the first ten to 15 pages the audience should have already known the backstory of the main character. After that, the main character’s life should be thrown into chaos. A major problem occurs which the main character will have to resolve for their life to return to normal. Your main character should have the motivation and will to achieve this goal by doing anything imaginable.
Plot Point I
From the point of the Inciting Incident, the character is in a state of unraveling and is forced to access his situation and come up with a plan to resolve the problem.
ACT II
Act II is 50% of your story and the most important. Act II is the meat of your story. It is difficult yet the most fun. Act II sets your main character/s on a journey to resolve the conflict. In this journey there will be obstacles, there will be grief, and there will be despair. These are the things to consider when the journey grows difficult with every turn of the page of the script. Every time he takes a step on the path to reach his goal some force (inner or outer) will block his path, forcing the main character to think quicker and grow stronger if he wants to succeed.
MIDPOINT CRISIS
Okay, so your main character has gotten his plans together. It's full-proof (somewhat) and it's ready to go! Just as the journey is starting to look promising for the main character/s, the character/s reaches a new low point in his/her journey. It could be the death of a friend that was crucial to the plan, or the antagonist could have learned the plans and found a way to undermine it.
PLOT POINT II
All right, the main character has reached an all-time low and there seems to be no way out. This is great for you and your protagonist/s and here’s why. At this point, the protagonist has nothing to lose and their only way to go is up. He or she decides to confront the situation head-on. The main character just had enough, and the score needs to be settled. This point in the story happens close to the end of Act II.
At this point, you should consider three things.
1. Force the main character to take action to solve the problem created by the inciting incident.
2. Make the character (and audience) fully aware of the “ticking clock”. Time is running out for your main character to finish the job.
E.g., In the movie Tower Heist. The main character must act and rob his rich employer to get their fellow employees what they are worth. All this must happen before the employer returns to his apartment.
3. Focus the main character on their ultimate goal.
What does the main character/s want or expect of the outcome; Money, fame, peace of mind, or that dream girl? Whatever it may be, it must be worth the fight to get it.
ACT III
Act III is the last and yet important piece of your screenplay. It is the last 25% of your story. Let’s call it closing out your story.
CLIMAX
Okay, so your main character/s has run out of your character and is now forced to act. You can say this is like an epic battle between good and evil. Well maybe that is too dramatic, but the protagonist and antagonist must have their all-out battle. The height of the conflict happens in the Climax.
RESOLUTION
Okay, so you wrote an epic screenplay and the characters have made their peace with the outcome of the climax. Now the hardest part comes when writing a screenplay. That is closing out your story. The character completed its character arc. At this, you would see a major change in the main characters as a mental, possibly spiritual change they had undergone.
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