Dramatic structure refers to rules that make stories more satisfying to audiences. The three-act structure is a common approach that breaks stories into three parts and includes five steps: exposition, ascending action, climax, descending action, and resolution. Other approaches, such as the Dramatica system and Christopher Vogler’s book, provide more specific guidance. The term applies to all mediums, including novels and short stories.
Dramatic structure is a term describing the rules governing the flow of a story, designed primarily to make stories seem more dramatically satisfying to an audience. There are different approaches to dramatic structure and they can vary widely in terms of complexity and popularity. Most approaches are generally focused on the best ways to initially grab the audience’s attention, keep them interested once they’re engaged, and then send them away with a satisfying conclusion of some sort. The word “dramatic” can sometimes suggest that this term applies only to stories designed for dramatic mediums, such as plays and films, but in reality the term is also very often used to describe the structuring of novels or short stories, and often the The same approaches to story structure can be applied without modification to almost any medium.
One of the most common and universal approaches to dramatic structure is called a “three-act structure,” which generally breaks a story into three separate parts, ideal for the act structure of many plays. There are two different primary versions of this approach. In one version, the climax of the story is in the second act, and the final act simply incorporates the story’s final moments after the main action has been completed. For the second version, the third act would include the climax of the story, which would make it longer and more important.
In both cases, the three-act structure provides for five separate steps towards the overall narration of a story. First, there’s the exposition, where the writer introduces the audience to the key characters in the story and sets up the initial situation that will lead them into the heart of the story. This is followed by ascending action where the heroes encounter various obstacles for the first time, a climax where the heroes eventually reach some kind of turning point, and descending action where the heroes take the necessary actions to reach their goals. Things wrap up with the final stage of the three-act structure, usually called a resolution or epilogue, where the writers will generally wrap up the story threads as neatly as possible.
The three-act structure is fairly simplified and could potentially apply to many different types of stories, but sometimes the basic concept of the three-act structure doesn’t provide specific enough guidance for some writers. As a result, there are many other approaches to dramatic structure that are often built along the basic lines of the three-act structure but provide more specific advice on how to let a story play out. This would include things like the Dramatica system, which often incorporates computer software into the story development process, and a system outlined in Christopher Vogler’s book, “A Writer’s Journey,” which builds on ideas borrowed from the mythologist Joseph Smith regarding to the structure of the history of myths. and legends around the world.
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