The structure of a story is also known as its plot, and every story shares a basic arrangement of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. These activity sheets will teach your students how to map out a story's structure. Activities include using checklists, flow charts, and guides to break a given story down into its individual components, as well as categorizing any story chosen by the student. Answer keys have been provided. Instructors please take note: Many of the stories and worksheets cover multiple pages, so be sure that you have printed all of them.
Print Story Structure Worksheets
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The Hero's Journey
The Hero's Journey is a drama that appears the form of a storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development. It was identified by the American scholar Joseph Campbell.
The Hero's Journey Part 2
Includes Crossing the Thereshold: At the end of Act One, the hero leaves the ordinary world and goes on to face challenges in an unfamiliar word.
The Hero's Journey Page 3
Includes the Resurrection and Retirn with the Elixir: On the threshold of home, the hero is tested once again, experiencing higher and more complete death and rebirth. The conflicting polarities from the beginning of the story are now resolved.
Visualizing Stories
Use this checklist to determine the parts of the plot in the story you just read. Then fill in the organizer.
A Complete Explanation
Use the organizer on the following page to diagram the assigned story. Use the boxes to write brief descriptions of what happens at each part of the story.
The Climb
This follows the outline of the pattern of the story. This is very helpful to explain the entire course of events in a quick look.
Peter Rabbit's Outline
Summarize the text. List five key events from beginning to end. List some events that occur before the climax.
Wazir Story Map
Start with the Narrator's point of view. Was it in: 1st Person, 2nd Person, 3rd Person Limited, 3rd Person Objective, Or 3rd Person Omniscient?
Solve That Billy Goat
Use this checklist to determine the parts of the plot in the story you just read. Then fill in the organizer.
Steel Cane Map
Is there a Falling Action to the story? If so, what is it? If not, why do you think the author ended the story after the climax?
Beginning, Middle, End
What happens at the beginning, middle and end of the story? In the frame, draw a picture that shows what happens. Then, on lines, write what happens.
General Organizer Part 2
Are there chapters that do not contain key events? What happens in those chapters to move the story along?
The Chapter After
Is there a chapter after the climax? If so, what happens in that chapter? If not, why do you think no further chapters are necessary?
The Language of Structure
Demonstrate your understanding of breaking down a story by defining the terms below.
A Story in 9 Sentences
Study the definitions of the 9 story parts below. Beneath each part, write a single sentence telling what happens at this part in your story.
Points Four Through Eight
New information is injected into the story, which once again requires the main character to change gears. This is the last point at which any new information gets injected into the story.
Sum It Up!
Now combine your 9 sentences and write a brief summary of your story. Use the back of the page if you need more room.
The Story Map
You should always have the end in mind before beginning to write a story, and creating a graphic story map can help you organize your ideas. Study the story map below. Then use the blank story map to plan out your own story.
What is Story Structure?
Completing a novel can be an enormous task, even if you have a well-honed writing method in place. Fiction writers rely on story structure to keep them grounded and on task throughout the writing process. But the question is, what is it?
A narrative's structural framework, commonly referred to as the narrative structure, storyline, or plotline, is called story structure. There is a beginning, middle, and end to every tale that has ever been written. It is important to note that authors may present this sequence in a wide variety of ways using literary devices. Narratives can flow smoothly when all three elements are intriguing on their own, can capture the reader's interest, and function well together.
Plot and Story Elements are the two fundamental components of a novel's story structure. It also features protagonists, conflicts, and a strong setting. One of the primary functions of a storyteller is making links between the things that happen and things that matter.
Common Structures
The following are the common story structures that every writer should be familiar with:
1. The Pyramid of Freytag
The Freytag Pyramid is based on the traditional Greek tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripedes. A five-point dramatic structure is named for a 19th-century German novelist and playwright.
Introduction
An instigating event occurs while the status quo is formed.
Rise
The protagonist does everything they can to get what they want. The stakes are higher now.
Climax
The climax is when the protagonist can no longer return to the status quo.
Return or fall
Tension mounts in the wake of the climax as the plot eventually move forward.
Catastrophe
In the end, the protagonist is reduced to their lowest ebb. Their worst nightmares have come true.
2. The Hero's Journey
It was inspired by the monomyth, a storytelling pattern seen in mythologies worldwide. Joseph Campbell proposed it. The Hero's Journey is the most popular story structure of the modern era.
Three-Act Framework
This traditional structure divides a tale's components into three different acts, following the old saying that every story has a beginning, middle, and end. Three acts reinvent The Hero's Journey in numerous ways but with less enticing names.
Intro
The structure is all about getting started. The normal world has been established.
Thrill-Inducing Event
A thrill-inducing event is then introduced. It works as a catalyst for the story's progression.
Challenge
The protagonist decides to take on the challenge directly. Now that they have crossed the threshold, the narrative has a real impact.
Confrontation
The tempo picks up. The real stakes of the tale are revealed when the heroine gets to know her new world and meets her first foes and allies.
Midpoint
It's an occurrence that completely changes the protagonist's path. As with Freytag's pyramid, this is the peak moment.
Plot No. 2
The protagonist is put to the test following the unsettling halfway and fails. Their future is now in jeopardy.
Before the Big Show
The night is at its darkest before dawn. The protagonist is forced to gather their wits and choose between success and defeat.
Climax
She takes on her adversary for the final time. Is there any hope for her? The question looms.
Denouement
Everything is neatly tucked away. The climax's effects are revealed to the reader. A new equilibrium's achieved.
3. In Medias Res
It is a Latin phrase that means in the middle of everything. It's important that the reader feels in action. You won't need two or three pages to set the scene. As the plot progresses, you can add more subplots. A novel skips extraneous information in media res and jumps immediately into the action.
In Media Res's structure is as follows:
Rising Action
The first stage has the introduction of the character.
Summary (Backstory)
The summary has the protagonist's backstory. It sets the scene for the entire tale.
Climax
When the climax unfolds this is the point in the tale when the conflict of the plot is resolved.
Falling Action
The falling action gives a choice to the protagonist to reach a decision. It is the turning point of everything that has been presented.
Resolution
The protagonist solves their dilemma and concludes the issue at hand.
Final Words
A story structure assists in establishing the foundation of your narrative and serves as a map of the universe you're about to create. However, as a writer, you must know that it's okay to deviate from a story structure's prescribed course. After all, you have to let your creativity run wild!