Narrative Structure?

[Darkfantasy]

I'm studying narrative structure for my writing class and in this book it says a novel is constructed of an opening scenes, no point of return, then for crises that build up to the climax.

I'm not really sure what a crises would be. Is it anything that creates a goal for your character like If the goal is to find a vaccine, an epidemic would be the crises. Crises build up is anything that increases the urgency of reaching that goal; perhaps the epidemic has spread passed the quarantine zone.

Can the crises be internal not just external? Does it have to be a crises for the mc or can it be for any character?

New to writing for help much appreciated

Thank you

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I'm not really sure what a crises would be. Is it anything that creates a goal for your character like If the goal is to find a vaccine, an epidemic would be the crises.

Yes that could be a crisis.

Crises build up is anything that increases the urgency of reaching that goal; perhaps the epidemic has spread passed the quarantine zone.

I'd say it's the building tension of the crisis, or the ticking clock, if you will. Let's say your starting crisis is this epidemic. Your scientist is looking for a cure. Too much time goes by with no success. The virus breaks quarantine. The scientist learns their spouse and infant child never made it to the refuge & the disease is encroaching on their location...uptick in the ticking clock.

Can the crises be internal not just external?

Absolutely! Like a crisis of faith for instance.

Does it have to be a crises for the mc or can it be for any character?

Well, that depends. Generally though, I'd say the MC should have a close connection to the crisis. If they don't, should that be your MC?

I want my MCs to have a close, emotional connection & response to the happenings around them. Conflict, tension, & emotion are great tools.

 

[Darkfantasy]

Ah than you very much x

 

[Chilari]

Nicely put, TAS. I would add that you might ahve heard crises being refered to as obstacles too. The character has a goal, and an obstacle to that goal. In seeking away around the obstacle, they come across another; or as a side plot becomes more important some aspect of it presents an obstacle to the main plot. Obstacles are what stop the character achieving their goals - and yes, can be external as well as internal.

So for someone seeking a vaccine or cure for an epidemic virus, maybe (and I'm no medical expert here, but you'll get the idea) the problem arises that the cures tested on lab animals successfully are not successful in humans, and thus using lab animals in the search for the cure becomes counter-productive. This is an external obstacle. So another scientists points out that they only way they're going to get a cure is to have human test subjects. And maybe the state governor agrees because the situation is deserate and there's a prison population at a nearby high security prison who could be test subjects - a few violent criminals suffering for the good of the whole of humanity! So the scientist has to decide: is this ethical? Can I justify this? And that can be an internal conflict.

Struggles with self-doubt regarding abilities, suffering from anxiety, trying to make important personal decisions and so on are other internal conflicts which can have an impact on external obstacles.

 

[Malik]

The definition of a dramatic work involves a constant worsening of the protagonist's situation, ending in a resolution of the problem set; either the events change the character in such a way that they discover a solution -- this is particularly effective when it's some aspect of the protagonist's personality that is causing the downward spiral -- or, if it's a tragic work, the main character just dies. American audiences generally don't buy tragedies, and American authors generally don't write them.

A point of no return is important but often overlooked by amateur writers. Why the hell would your protagonist keep enduring something if he/she could just walk away from it with no loss?

 

[Addison]

Crises are made by conflict, and there are four layers of conflict in a story; internal, interpersonal, external and antagonist. Most stories have a powerful antagonist (voldemort, white witch, Sauromon, dracula etc) with the plot carrying the hero toward the final battle powered by external factors like a monster, prophecy or something. But you don't have to do that. The antagonist, the evil in the story, doesn't have to be all powerful. It could be a house - NOT Amittyville - nature, an illness, and the other layers are what drive the story.

Four layers of conflict, four layers of crises. Whichever takes the lime light is entirely up to you.

 

[Helen]

is constructed of an opening scenes, no point of return, then for crises that build up to the climax.

I think even that half-sentence confuses a lot of things. For example, you're talking about at least two things - getting characters onto the journey and then what happens on the journey.

 

[Addison]

Mmmm....not really.

You have the opening scenes that set the stage and have the readers care about the character. The door of no return, a.k.a inciting incident (without which there would be no story), and all the other conflicts and obstacles that build up to the climax where so much comes to a head, both the over all plot (defeating the Evil Lord), the character making that choice that completes their arc of development.

 

[senseiseth]

I'm studying narrative structure for my writing class and in this book it says a novel is constructed of an opening scenes, no point of return, then for crises that build up to the climax.

I'm not really sure what a crises would be. Is it anything that creates a goal for your character like If the goal is to find a vaccine, an epidemic would be the crises. Crises build up is anything that increases the urgency of reaching that goal; perhaps the epidemic has spread passed the quarantine zone.

Can the crises be internal not just external? Does it have to be a crises for the mc or can it be for any character?

New to writing for help much appreciated

Thank you

Okay, this can be tricky, but tricky can lead to a good story. A crisis doesn't have to be something major, something obvious, or even really exist.

I have a short about this guy in a fantasy army. He joins the army for three big reasons; cash, glory, girls. That's it. Nothing really that big. And he figures, I'll survive my first battle, get home and all the joys of life will come flooding my way. However, at the end of the story, and the battle goes against his side, this guy now has a real problem on his hands; getting home.

There's pretty much two crises that you can see; one 'fantasy' (no pun intended), and one real. The fantastical one is the boy's delusions of what being in a war is gonna bring him. (Kinda cliched, but for the time period I'm working in it still fits) And the real one is the kid is now in a situation where he might very well die, never see his family again, and all because he didn't let his head do the thinking for him.

It's a subtle crisis that's in the story, but it's a very prevalent one. And the nice things about an opposing force is you don't always need it to be a physical thing. Or even a character, it can be a force in and of itself.

 

[Darkfantasy]

Thanks guys for being so helpful. I don't get the chance to get onto the computer for writing very often. Thanks a lot xxx