5 Secrets of Story Structure

This week’s book is from K.M. Weiland, titled, The 5 Secrets Of Story Structure: How To Write A Novel That Stands Out. This book is a supplement to the book Structuring Your Novel. I will discuss that book in a later post.

This Supplement Has

• The Inciting Event
• The Key Event
• The Pinch Points
• The Moment of Truth
• The Climactic Moment

10 Steps To Story Structure

• The First Act
  • The Hook
  • The Inciting Event
  • The Key Event
  • The First Plot Point
• The Second Act
  • The First Half of the Second Act
  • The Midpoint
  • The Second Half of the Second Act
• The Third Act
  • The Third Plot Point
  • The Climax
  • The Resolution.

Inciting Events

• According to Weiland, there are three different “Inciting Events.”
  1. Beginning of the Story (I see this has the Hook)
  2. First Plot Point
  3. First Act’s Turning Point

Key Event

The Key Event is when the protagonist leaves their familiar world and heads off to some place unfamiliar.

Pinch Points

I did not know about Pinch Points until I read this book. The book describes them as “…small turning points…” (Weiland, 22).

The First Pinch Point – New Clues
The Second Pinch Point – What’s at Stake

This 53-page book (according to my Kindle) is a great way to review structure. You can read it in one day. Depending on how fast you read, in a half-hour. It is a great guide to have in your reference library to glance at things when your mind gets fogged over on a point in the structuring of your book.

Before you get yourself all worried about having to use structure in your writing. Look over your previous work. You will notice there is structure. Writers have gotten used to writing this way that it has become second nature.

Have you read this book? What is your take on it?