Fundamentals of Storytelling and Narrative Structure
Story is cause and effect
A story is not a list of events; it is a chain in which each event happens because of the one before. Test every panel with 'therefore' or 'but'. If the honest connector is 'and then', the panel is filler.
Three-act structure
- Act I, Setup (about 25%): the world, the character, and the inciting incident that breaks the normal.
- Act II, Confrontation (about 50%): escalating obstacles, a midpoint that flips the goal, and the all-is-lost moment.
- Act III, Resolution (about 25%): climax and denouement.
Character and conflict
A character needs a want (external goal) and a need (inner lesson). Conflict - person against person, self, society or nature - is what makes a scene playable. Theme is the one-line idea the story proves.
Worked example
A 60-second short: a boy's cricket ball is lost over a wall. Setup: he stares at the wall. Inciting incident: the ball disappears. Act II: he tries a ladder, then a friend, then a long stick, and each fails. Climax: he knocks, and the neighbour returns the ball with a smile. Resolution: they play together. Theme: asking beats climbing. Notice that the ladder, the friend and the stick are three separate panels, not one, because each is a new attempt and a new failure.
Traps that cost marks
- Boarding every line of dialogue instead of every change in the scene.
- Skipping the inciting incident, so the audience has no reason to care.
- Confusing theme with a plot summary.
- Making the antagonist a cardboard villain with no stated motive.
- Compressing Act II until the climax has nothing to release.