🏗️Plot ArchitectureLesson 1 of 6

Story Structure Fundamentals

10 min

advanced

Before we bring AI into plotting, you need to understand story structure. Not as a formula to follow blindly, but as a toolkit to use consciously. The best stories work because of structure, even when they seem to break rules.

Key Concepts

1
Three-act structure: setup, confrontation, resolution
2
The 'Promise of the Premise'—what readers signed up for
3
Protagonist wants something and faces obstacles
4
Rising action = stakes get higher
5
Structure is servant, not master—know rules before breaking them

Examples

Prompt / Technique

Basic structure check:
Act 1 (25%): Who wants what? What's the status quo? What disrupts it?
Act 2 (50%): What obstacles? What's at stake? How does pressure increase?
Act 3 (25%): How does it resolve? What changed?

Result / Insight

This framework fits most stories