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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/2154
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/2154
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I know it's frustrating, but in general, I'm not familiar with many resources that go into a lot of detail about abstract plotting and story structure. That's because plot varies so tremendously between stories - the twists and turns of a mystery story are worlds apart from the twists and turns of heroic action, and a romance will be different than both of them. And within any one genre, you can _still_ tell so many unique, individual stories, that it's extremely difficult to give generalizations more significant than "first things start moving, then they get really bad, then everything comes to a compelling conclusion."

What you _can_ do is examine existing story structures - understand how _some_ stories work, so you can do similar things with your own work. That's not "what points the story should hit and when" - but you can find some tried-and-true examples of structures that work. Just as an example, we recently discussed [the recurring structure of _House_ episodes.](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/1724/do-episodes-of-the-show-house-follow-a-constant-structural-pattern/1741#1741)

Two resources on story structuring that I can recommend:

- [_Plot_](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0898799465), by Ansen Dibell, of Writers' Digest "Elements of Fiction Writing" series. Dibell discusses some great structural tools, including set-piece scenes and mirroring.
- Orson Scott Card's [_Character and Viewpoint_](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0898799279) and his [_How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy_](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/158297103X) both describe his "MICE Quotient," which is a simple categorization of plots and stories by their central focus (Milieu, Idea, Character, Event); this division makes clear how a different focus leads to a very different plot, structure and story - and can help you fit your story structure to its primary focus.

Hope these are helpful. :)

Original score: 7