SubscribeSome definitions, and formalization of the story structure. These are explained in further detail in McKee’s book – Story. Most Narrative Intelligence research use a particular structure. Some follow Propp’s methodology. Some follow the Hero’s Journey. However, I have found the following structure to be the most general.
Structure: A selection of events from the characters’ life stories that is composed into strategic sequence to arouse specific emotions and to express specific view of life.
Story Values: Universal qualities of human experience that may shift from positive to negative, or negative to positive from one moment to the next.
Story Events: Meaningful changes in life situations of a character expressed and experienced in terms of value and achieved through conflict.
Beat: Beats are the smallest elements of a story. It’s the exchange of behavior through action-reaction. Beats are the atomic elements of a story structure.
Scene
: A scene is an action through conflict in more or less continuous time and space that turn the value-charged condition of a character’s life on at least one value with a degree of perceptible significance.Sequence
: A series of scenes that culminate with greater impact than any previous scene.Act
: A series of sequences that peaks in a climactic scene which causes a major reversal of values, more powerful in its impact than any previous sequence or scene.Story (Climax)
: A series of acts that build to a last act climax or story climax which brings about absolute and irreversible change.
