Structure

Having trouble with your midpoint? By giving your protagonist everything they think they want

Not every dramatic question is as easy as "Does the hero defeat the bad guy?"

Choosing what the audience knows and when they know it in order to maximize narrative momentum and emotional resonance.

While ALIEN was not written in 8 sequences, it is a superb example of the 8-sequence approach.

Sometimes the needs of Act 1 do not lend themselves to an early inciting incident. For those unique stories, you have the 3-Part Act 1.

I approach each screenplay structure as a fractal and have found that the most satisfying screen stories follow this pattern.

When structuring your story, you don't have to start from scratch. There are plenty of places to look for inspiration, and one of them is genre.

Narrative momentum is the force that keeps the audience compelled to continue watching. It's why a good 3-hour movie can go by so much faster than a bad 90 minute film.

Relationships are vital for every story. Audiences care deeply about relationships, perhaps more than anything else. But what about when the relationship is the story?

The most effective inciting incidents are personal, and the best ones evoke an emotional reaction from the protagonists and from us.

Without a want, the narrative is stagnant. But with it, we can map out the entire story structure.

The dramatic question is one of your best tools for your story structure.  So much so, that two of my three primary goals in the "pre-outline" phase of any project.