Organize your story to enhance the drama.

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Once you have sketched out your event and (perhaps) done some writing to help you focus on key moments, you may be ready to revisit the structure of your story. Think about how you can structure it to make it more exciting or moving for your readers. Following are organizational plans based on the dramatic arc in Figure 2.1 (p. 12) that you can use or modify to fit your needs.

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If your readers are likely to understand the setting and activities described in the story, you might think about opening directly with the conflict’s inciting incident:
  1. Inciting Incident: Hook readers’ attention by showing immediately how the conflict or problem started.
  2. Exposition: Then rewind a bit to tell us what you had been doing when the event happened, and how you ended up in that situation.
  3. Rising Action: Return to the main action, showing how the crisis developed or worsened.
  4. Climax: Describe the most critical moment of the event.
  5. Falling Action: Narrate what happened after the climax.
  6. Resolution/Reflection: Tell how the event ended, and reflect on its autobiographical significance. What impact has this event had on you?
If the situation you were in when the conflict or problem developed is one that might be interesting to readers or might require some explanation, you might open with exposition:
  1. Exposition: Tell us what you were doing when the event happened, and how you got there.
  2. Inciting Incident: Show us how the conflict or problem started.
  3. Rising Action: Show how the crisis developed or worsened.
  4. Climax: Describe the most critical moment of the event.
  5. Falling Action: Narrate what happened after the climax.
  6. Resolution/Reflection: Tell us how the event ended, and reflect on its autobiographical significance. What impact has this event had on you?

If you have drafted parts of your story already (based on the “Ways In” section on pp. 35–36 or other writing you have done), try putting it all together now, so you can see what details your story still needs. You can always change the organization and move the scenes around as you continue drafting and revising.

TEST YOUR CHOICE

Get together with two or three other students to try out your story. Your classmates’ reactions will help you determine whether you are telling it in an interesting or exciting way.

Storytellers. Take turns telling your stories briefly. Try to pique your listeners’ curiosity and build suspense, and watch your audience to see if your story is having the desired reaction.

Listeners. Briefly tell each storyteller what you found most intriguing about the story. For example, consider these questions:

  • Were you eager to know how the story would turn out?
  • What was the inciting incident? Did it seem sufficient to motivate the climax?
  • Was there a clear conflict that seemed important enough to write about?