Hope you are all doing great and that you find this video helpful. In hindsight I probably should have made this two parts, but hopefully it's not too overwhelming. Thank you all for your views, likes, comments, and support!
A little late on the comment here. I cannot express to the viewers how much value for very little money it is to support this channel and Ellen. I’ve been a Patreon supporter since day one and regardless of where I go in the future the support will continue. That’s all I have to say. Happy writing.
Though I plot my stories by intuitive pantsing (and daydreaming), I love learning all of these structures that you can find in many/most good stories. It's just interesting.
Ellen, I humbly request that you please put "Creating Series" at the top of your list. 🙏 It's something I'm currently struggling with and would love to hear your expertise. Series are rarely discussed and when they are it's only about "duologies/trilogies". I hope you can touch on slightly longer series, too. I really can't wait for this video. Maybe it can be a series. (no pun) Thank you. 💜💜💜
you are the kind of person that I sometimes think about and wonder how you doing. even unrelated to writing, I feel like I know you and want to know you more! so likable and balanced and welcoming as a person.
@@EllenBrock that's great to hear!, I've been re-watching your videos in preparation for NaNoWrimo this year and I was wondering about you as well. Cheers!
Your timing is so perfect! Last night I finished reading a book and the ending tanked so bad. (yeah... I'm a reader and a writer) As a writer I usually know how I want my books to end and I plot backwards with my outlines before I begin writing, so when I'm reading, it's very frustrating when the climax and ending get muddled. I found myself asking "Seriously? Was that your plan all along?" (like every author knows what outcome they are aiming towards when they begin) It bothered me the way it would if I'd discovered that I'd been swindled by a salesman, to the point that I sat in bed contemplating "Did the author make those conflict to resolution choices for any reason other than to deliver an 'unpredictable' ending...?" And I decided that their need to create an unpredictable twist ending caused the [renowned] author to sacrifice all the beauty they'd woven into their story, all the emotional attachment they'd fostered for the main characters... It ruined the story. I don't just read books and write stories... I study craft. I pay attention to what others teach (thank you Ellen for taking the time to explain elements of craft mastery to help elevate others!) Brandon Sanderson lecture about *Promises, Progress and Payoff* is one of my favorite explanations on crafting a climatic ending. He says "Don't break your promises during the payoff... unless you can give the reader something they want that's even better than what you originally promise!" I realized that this was where the author went wrong in the book I read yesterday... It basically ended with a dirt sandwich. It's so important to not pull the rug out from under your readers in a way that alienates them from a story. I'm glad that you inadvertently weighed in by posting a video that magically helped me nail down why I was so troubled after reading a book with a crappy ending.
I've definitely had that experience before as well. It's so disappointing when a book flops at the end. Brandon Sanderson is awesome! I will check out that lecture. Thanks for watching!
Thank you! I am a writer and a reader so I'm always picking apart and analyzing books and movies. It's so much fun. It's the ending and the details that make it or break it. I used to think I was too critical and I still need to be careful of that, but it feels great to learn and grow and pay attention instead of just vegging out :)
I love that quote about not breaking your promises to the reader. With a murder mystery you obviously want an exciting reveal of who dunnit, often with a bit of a twist to both validate your readers for figuring a lot of it out, but also reward them with a fun surprise. But for a lot of what I like reading, the journey is more important than the destination. So I often don't look to harshly on the ending, unless it breaks its promise. The ending doesn't always have to be this amazing world shattering reveal full of more twists and turns than your local themepark. The book is ending, it's inevitable, it just needs to do a good job at wrapping things up. As mentioned this is ofc largely genre dependent. For instance the often called out supposed lackluster endings of Stephen Kings' novels rarely bother me. They frequently play out in small towns with a supernatural twist, at the end the big evil gets defeated or at least driven off and things return to small town life. Though the survivors will ofc never be the same again. It usually doesn't escalate so far that it destroys the whole world in epic conflict. (though he has done that too on occasion) Instead you are left with this lingering dread that something might be lurking around in your own town or other small laid back towns around the world as well and that's more than enough. That dread is the real payoff, but it has been carefully crafted by the events his notoriously life like characters go through. Which is the bulk of the book, not just the ending.
I am studying Narrative Design for videogames and I am currently working on a task about narrative frameworks and I picked the Character Arc. You are truly amazing, your videos have been so useful so I am very grateful! My school and the task aside, this Character Arc framework and the way you explain it in all different sections is extremely enlighting and enriching. The fact that you always alternate between a bit of theory followed by one or different examples is very effective. Thank you very much for your work 🙏
Especially the part about making sure the obstacles tie into things that happened earlier in the story is very helpful. I often have trouble with my endings not feeling very satisfying, and I think this will really help improve them :)
Absolutely! That was my thought as well. I had a rough end in mind and now I know where to attach the loose ends. And even as a writer (not only as a reader): doesn‘t it feel so much more satisfying when things add up?
Thank you! I'm converting a sequential dream journal into a novel, and I have just realized there is a whole additional proof of character growth at the twist of the first book.
Wow, all of your videos are full of useful information, but this one is especially meaty! Personally, I love that it's all contained in one video - I often listen to your story structure series while cooking and doing chores, and I'll certainly replay this one many times. Like a good story, there will be new details to absorb with every listen! Thanks so much for what you do :)
I’m glad you’re back with another informative video. Using movies for the examples really helps because screenwriters are constrained by run time and therefore strictly keep the plot structure. Novelists have more flexibility, and I read a lot of novels that are either open ended after the climax or open to interpretation (and bittersweet even if they aren’t horror genre). Perhaps that’s because they are more internal, and the narrative voice is stronger. I think it’s difficult to represent narrative voice (not to be mistaken with the director’s vision) in film. I’d love for you to explore the difference between movies/screenplays and novels and narrative voice. Thanks for all your content! ❤️
I've been needing this video so much. When writing the first book in a series, the topic of this video seems especially important to me. Applying this advice to that situation would be a fun thing to explore!
Super helpful! Can you add character arcs to your video agenda? I use KM Weiland's books, which are fantastic, but your take on things is always fresh and nuanced so I'd love to hear it.
Thank you. It's been very helpful (I've made tonnes of notes, getting inspired) and I will be rewatching for more! I'm writing a novel that is broken into a series of books and I'm just finishing the second one, and the climax of the second part is ahead of me. By the way, I'll be exciting to hear about writing a series, and I'm also wondering about your remarks about this specific kind, where all the books are actually one novel in parts (Lord of the Rings style)?
hey Ellen I just wanna say thank u for the great content. As u once said a right explanation for one can differ from one to another. And ur explanation is one that sticks in my memories for the most parts. Congratulation for that. I love that so many people are taking notes here (including me). It shows how much the content here is valued in terms of content. Greetings from Germany
This video series has been incredibly enlightening! I can only imagine how much time went into arranging all of this knowledge into this digestible format. Thanks so much!!!
Just finished watching the whole playlist on structure. These videos have been super helpful! Even as I was watching them, I could identify points in my structures that were tripping me up or getting confused/ignored. Looking forward to going over my work properly when I get the chance with all the points in mind. Thank you so much for the videos!
Thank you! This series was very helpful. I also want to thank you for the incredible amount of preparation needed to create this. I hope one day to write a book that you will enjoy reading.
Bloody awsome, your content is a vast goldvein of usefull information. Thanyou Ellen for all putting all of your hard work into this final chapter. I ve been waiting for this one for a few months now,and it does not disappoint by the least! Foccused on me writting the climax of my very own book, this has really helped me finding a clearer crafting proccess, how to knot all of the past prommises together into one fluent storyline.
Thank you so much for making these amazing videos!! Once you end up making a series where you talk about books instead of movies, I would love to hear about Percy Jackson because it's probably the series I know inside out the most and I aboslutely adore it. Also, you recently mentioned that you were going to talk about book series - I am absolutely looking forward to that because I am really struggling with figuring out a satisfying end for a book while still leaving enough of a hook that there can be a sequel
This has been super useful for my methodological planser brain since its giving fenceposts to hit without being super rigid about what they look like or the timing. Using the third quarter and this one to plot out the next part of my half written draft.
So useful and illuminating! I'm really looking forward to your breakdown on the structure of a series. Since I normally write based on intuition/gut feeling it's so helpful to have a logical breakdown of everything and a way to name all the beats in a structure so that I can really pinpoint what is making me struggle in book 2 of my series. I have to look closely through your previous videos, but something that really trips me up is the character flaw, misbelief and fear. I don't understand these terms and I don't know if they are all the same. It would be nice to hear a detailed breakdown on this in the future if you haven't already. Thank you so much!
I love your videos and find them very helpful! I was looking through and didn't see one on unconventional plot structure. For instance, I'm writing a novel that has a six act structure. It follows two main characters who make up the first two acts, then their meeting and developing relationship is the third act, then their tragedy is the fourth act, then the fifth act will follow a second tragedy that's a result of the first, then the sixth act reveals the why and the how of the mysteries that surrounded a lot of the tragedies woven throughout the story.
I’m late to this series but it’s amazing! Thank you for all of this work you’ve done this is so helpful! It’s also helpful to see it in movies because they stick to a stricter structure (wow say that 3 times fast! 😅), whereas novels can drag. So often novels (especially fantasy) can meander big time, and you have scenes and chapters where nothing is happening and it’s hard to find the motivation to keep reading through major slumps that can last 100s of pages! This series you’ve made is great at avoiding endless meandering. Thanks again! P.S. I hope you’re all recovered from long Covid by now!
I do think looking at movies is helpful for clarity in explaining the basics, but if the objective is writing a novel then tackling how good novels handle story is very important too. Exactly to avoid the meandering you describe, but also to avoid them being too basic. Because there are epic fantasy novels that so many of us love and they are clearly doing something right. Rarely do I find those to have major boring slumps I have to drag myself through. (I wouldn't love them if they did) Instead I've enthusiastically breezed through huge novels that didn't seem to stick to this basic structure that much at all. Their writing was still surprising, adventurous, opened well, closed well and all that good stuff. But the structure seems far more abstracted. So how are they doing that and how can we do that too and do it well? :)
Brilliant! I feel like I have a solid handle on story structure now, although I think I will have to revise this series when I get to my second draft. Thank you so much!
Harry not viewing the Dursleys as his home is a movie thing btw as it is revealed in the seventh book that as long as Harry still sees that as his home, a protection charm stays on the house to keep him safe from Voldemort (as long as he returns at least once a year). And the reason he specifically had to go to the Dursleys is because Petunia is Lily's sister and therefore the protection that Lily gave Harry when she sacrificed herself is maintained.
It was such an insightful, mmasterfully crafted series. Thank you. I could use some structure when I'm stuck. I just wanted to note that sometimes "amateur" randomness is actually welcome. It's closer to real life. Films and books and even series these days are so predictable I can't watch or read them. If you've seen ten, you've seen them all.
29:20 The Fiona thing,.... i think there is a misunderstanding as to what the "twist" actually is. While factually true... the callback is to her being disappointed that her Prince Charming is an uncouth ogre... also much earlier we learn Fiona's Curse, which is a Poem and goes "This shall be the norm, until you find true love's first kiss, and then take love's true form." So it is not a "twist". Its there in the very beginning. The Poem clearly states she shall take her love's true form. There is no twist in the story. It doesn't surprise you, when you pay attention. What it however does is not call back the wording of the poem until it subverted your erroneous expectation set by all those other Fairytale stories (which is what Fiona also falls prone to - this is the call back. She has expectations as to how this should go...and her expectations are wrong). It simply isn't a twist, because you were told this was going to happen. It is on the audience (and Fiona) to have different expectations from what the story told you would happen. The twist is.. at best "Surprise, i didn't lie!". It would have been a Twist if she had stayed human and it then was revealed that Shrek was cursed to be an Ogre. Because then the twist would be that her true love's form wasn't an ogre as everyone thought it was... but that his true form was human.
This is awesome and your videos have been super helpful! Do you have any content on how to incorporate multiple plotlines and how to tie them together well?
This whole series was phenomenal. The best writing advice online, for sure. I just subscribed to Patreon and am so thankful to have such a helpful resource. I only wish I'd discovered your vids during preptober! I do have one question about the structure of the fourth quarter. Do these steps always have to go in order? The way I've plotted my story, act four currently looks like: Preperation, approach, surprise, confrontation, sacrifice, aftermath... Does that really mess things up structurally?
This series was SO helpful and clear! I took notes and started applying them with immediate results. THANK YOU!! I wonder about duologies? If book 1 ends, should the same 3-4th quarter tactics be applied? Do both eyes open to a lesser problem than the overarching 2 book story plot? Would LOVE a follow-up video, or series talking about how these apply to multi-book installments
Thank you, amazing work as usual! Your videos are super detailed, super helpful and (like with books) I love the fact that they are very long haha. I have a question regarding the surprise...does it have to be there always? I'm trying to find some examples in romance but can't seem to find that beat. Does it always happen during or after the confrontation?
Awesome video! Do you know why anti-heroes or people who used to be enemies and then become friends always die for their arc? (Harry in Spiderman 3 and Loki in Infinity War) I love that tight and close friendship and sibling feel but they always die. Do you know any movies where that doesn't happen? I'm guessing they feel they need to make up for what they did and so do something grand and sacrificial?
A minor plot issue with Harry Potter is that if Harry truly felt like Hogwarts was his home, then the protection Dumbledore put into place at number 4 Privet Drive would be nullified… idk if JK has addressed this.
I love all the videos in this series, I just wished you'd take book examples, not films. Films are too rushed and have to be done in 2 hours while books have different types of variations on 3 act structure and are differently stretched and done in different quarters. Your advice has helped me nevertheless. Thank you!
I love the advice, but the examples are unnecessary, (They don't help me) and extend the length of the video far too long. I wish you had some non-example versions of this series.
Ellen: "It's going to be the shortest quarter in your novel."
My Math Brain: *Dies*
Hope you are all doing great and that you find this video helpful. In hindsight I probably should have made this two parts, but hopefully it's not too overwhelming. Thank you all for your views, likes, comments, and support!
Thank you so much!
Not at all - this is great!
Three words: Oh. Thank. God (and you!). This is the answer to my prayers.
3W@@LoveSaidNo
It’s fine. If you have thousands of hours to write a novel you can watch a 51min video. It’s not tiktoc 😂
A little late on the comment here. I cannot express to the viewers how much value for very little money it is to support this channel and Ellen. I’ve been a Patreon supporter since day one and regardless of where I go in the future the support will continue. That’s all I have to say. Happy writing.
Thank you so much for your support!
If you wrote a book on structure, I would preach it on the corner. I love how you break down the elements of a story with this paradigm!!
I'm happy this series of videos is now complete! now I can reference back to them no matter what point in the novel I'm at :)
Though I plot my stories by intuitive pantsing (and daydreaming), I love learning all of these structures that you can find in many/most good stories. It's just interesting.
Ellen, I humbly request that you please put "Creating Series" at the top of your list. 🙏 It's something I'm currently struggling with and would love to hear your expertise. Series are rarely discussed and when they are it's only about "duologies/trilogies". I hope you can touch on slightly longer series, too. I really can't wait for this video. Maybe it can be a series. (no pun) Thank you. 💜💜💜
Yes! Yes! Yes! Please. There's very little on writing a long episodic series.
I had to like this immediately, I've been waiting for this one :)
you are the kind of person that I sometimes think about and wonder how you doing. even unrelated to writing, I feel like I know you and want to know you more! so likable and balanced and welcoming as a person.
That is so sweet! Thank you! I am on a new treatment and doing really well for the first time in a long time. I hope you are doing great as well!
@@EllenBrock that's great to hear!, I've been re-watching your videos in preparation for NaNoWrimo this year and I was wondering about you as well. Cheers!
Yay Ellen upload let's go! Your videos are insanely helpful!
Thanks for the vid Ellen :) nice to have another vid from you!
Thanks for this series, I knew about Hero's Journey and such already but this really made a lot of things much clearer. I found it really helpful
Your timing is so perfect! Last night I finished reading a book and the ending tanked so bad. (yeah... I'm a reader and a writer) As a writer I usually know how I want my books to end and I plot backwards with my outlines before I begin writing, so when I'm reading, it's very frustrating when the climax and ending get muddled. I found myself asking "Seriously? Was that your plan all along?" (like every author knows what outcome they are aiming towards when they begin) It bothered me the way it would if I'd discovered that I'd been swindled by a salesman, to the point that I sat in bed contemplating "Did the author make those conflict to resolution choices for any reason other than to deliver an 'unpredictable' ending...?" And I decided that their need to create an unpredictable twist ending caused the [renowned] author to sacrifice all the beauty they'd woven into their story, all the emotional attachment they'd fostered for the main characters... It ruined the story. I don't just read books and write stories... I study craft. I pay attention to what others teach (thank you Ellen for taking the time to explain elements of craft mastery to help elevate others!) Brandon Sanderson lecture about *Promises, Progress and Payoff* is one of my favorite explanations on crafting a climatic ending. He says "Don't break your promises during the payoff... unless you can give the reader something they want that's even better than what you originally promise!" I realized that this was where the author went wrong in the book I read yesterday... It basically ended with a dirt sandwich. It's so important to not pull the rug out from under your readers in a way that alienates them from a story. I'm glad that you inadvertently weighed in by posting a video that magically helped me nail down why I was so troubled after reading a book with a crappy ending.
I've definitely had that experience before as well. It's so disappointing when a book flops at the end. Brandon Sanderson is awesome! I will check out that lecture. Thanks for watching!
Thank you! I am a writer and a reader so I'm always picking apart and analyzing books and movies. It's so much fun. It's the ending and the details that make it or break it. I used to think I was too critical and I still need to be careful of that, but it feels great to learn and grow and pay attention instead of just vegging out :)
I love that quote about not breaking your promises to the reader. With a murder mystery you obviously want an exciting reveal of who dunnit, often with a bit of a twist to both validate your readers for figuring a lot of it out, but also reward them with a fun surprise.
But for a lot of what I like reading, the journey is more important than the destination. So I often don't look to harshly on the ending, unless it breaks its promise.
The ending doesn't always have to be this amazing world shattering reveal full of more twists and turns than your local themepark. The book is ending, it's inevitable, it just needs to do a good job at wrapping things up. As mentioned this is ofc largely genre dependent. For instance the often called out supposed lackluster endings of Stephen Kings' novels rarely bother me. They frequently play out in small towns with a supernatural twist, at the end the big evil gets defeated or at least driven off and things return to small town life. Though the survivors will ofc never be the same again. It usually doesn't escalate so far that it destroys the whole world in epic conflict. (though he has done that too on occasion)
Instead you are left with this lingering dread that something might be lurking around in your own town or other small laid back towns around the world as well and that's more than enough. That dread is the real payoff, but it has been carefully crafted by the events his notoriously life like characters go through. Which is the bulk of the book, not just the ending.
I am studying Narrative Design for videogames and I am currently working on a task about narrative frameworks and I picked the Character Arc. You are truly amazing, your videos have been so useful so I am very grateful! My school and the task aside, this Character Arc framework and the way you explain it in all different sections is extremely enlighting and enriching. The fact that you always alternate between a bit of theory followed by one or different examples is very effective.
Thank you very much for your work 🙏
Especially the part about making sure the obstacles tie into things that happened earlier in the story is very helpful. I often have trouble with my endings not feeling very satisfying, and I think this will really help improve them :)
Absolutely! That was my thought as well. I had a rough end in mind and now I know where to attach the loose ends. And even as a writer (not only as a reader): doesn‘t it feel so much more satisfying when things add up?
I had to watch this as soon as I saw the upload. Your videos help so much, and always when I need them! Thank you~
Thank you! I'm converting a sequential dream journal into a novel, and I have just realized there is a whole additional proof of character growth at the twist of the first book.
Wow, all of your videos are full of useful information, but this one is especially meaty! Personally, I love that it's all contained in one video - I often listen to your story structure series while cooking and doing chores, and I'll certainly replay this one many times. Like a good story, there will be new details to absorb with every listen! Thanks so much for what you do :)
I’m glad you’re back with another informative video. Using movies for the examples really helps because screenwriters are constrained by run time and therefore strictly keep the plot structure. Novelists have more flexibility, and I read a lot of novels that are either open ended after the climax or open to interpretation (and bittersweet even if they aren’t horror genre). Perhaps that’s because they are more internal, and the narrative voice is stronger. I think it’s difficult to represent narrative voice (not to be mistaken with the director’s vision) in film. I’d love for you to explore the difference between movies/screenplays and novels and narrative voice. Thanks for all your content! ❤️
I've been needing this video so much. When writing the first book in a series, the topic of this video seems especially important to me. Applying this advice to that situation would be a fun thing to explore!
Good to see you again, Ellen!
Wow. Thank you so much for this series. Just finished the video. As always, you pack it with so much insight.
Really was looking forward to this. Really brilliant insights.
Super helpful! Can you add character arcs to your video agenda? I use KM Weiland's books, which are fantastic, but your take on things is always fresh and nuanced so I'd love to hear it.
Thank you. It's been very helpful (I've made tonnes of notes, getting inspired) and I will be rewatching for more! I'm writing a novel that is broken into a series of books and I'm just finishing the second one, and the climax of the second part is ahead of me. By the way, I'll be exciting to hear about writing a series, and I'm also wondering about your remarks about this specific kind, where all the books are actually one novel in parts (Lord of the Rings style)?
Once again a really well-structured video with nice explanatory examples!
hey Ellen I just wanna say thank u for the great content. As u once said a right explanation for one can differ from one to another. And ur explanation is one that sticks in my memories for the most parts. Congratulation for that.
I love that so many people are taking notes here (including me). It shows how much the content here is valued in terms of content.
Greetings from Germany
This video series has been incredibly enlightening! I can only imagine how much time went into arranging all of this knowledge into this digestible format. Thanks so much!!!
Thanks for sharing your brilliancy with us! So helpful and inspiring.
Been struggling with writing a satisfying climax to the story, having it broken down like this is a life saver
So happy to see you! Thank you for the new video!
Just finished watching the whole playlist on structure. These videos have been super helpful! Even as I was watching them, I could identify points in my structures that were tripping me up or getting confused/ignored. Looking forward to going over my work properly when I get the chance with all the points in mind. Thank you so much for the videos!
Been looking forward to this one!
Thank you for your always helpful and insightful videos!
Hands down one of the best writing channels in all of TH-cam. Thanks!!
Came here for the great content, left with a lovely deeper understanding of Woody and Buzz's "youre flying!" Scene. MY HEART
This series has been super helpful, thanks Ellen!
You are so clear, sharing examples to highlight the points along the story arc. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your support!
Thank you! This series was very helpful. I also want to thank you for the incredible amount of preparation needed to create this. I hope one day to write a book that you will enjoy reading.
Bloody awsome, your content is a vast goldvein of usefull information. Thanyou Ellen for all putting all of your hard work into this final chapter. I ve been waiting for this one for a few months now,and it does not disappoint by the least! Foccused on me writting the climax of my very own book, this has really helped me finding a clearer crafting proccess, how to knot all of the past prommises together into one fluent storyline.
OMG yaaaassss! I’ve waited so long for this. So excited! Thank you.
Thank you so much for making these amazing videos!! Once you end up making a series where you talk about books instead of movies, I would love to hear about Percy Jackson because it's probably the series I know inside out the most and I aboslutely adore it. Also, you recently mentioned that you were going to talk about book series - I am absolutely looking forward to that because I am really struggling with figuring out a satisfying end for a book while still leaving enough of a hook that there can be a sequel
Yaaaaaaaas. I've been loving this series.
You’re an amazing teacher. Thank you for everything you do! It’s truly amazing and valued. Stay healthy, girly. You rock
This has been super useful for my methodological planser brain since its giving fenceposts to hit without being super rigid about what they look like or the timing. Using the third quarter and this one to plot out the next part of my half written draft.
Wow thanks Ellen, really cool having this sort of access to a professional editor.
This series has been incredibly helpful and has helped me transform my MG story before diving into my second draft.
I'm astonished how useful your videos are. They've really resolved issues I've been having and strengthened other parts.
Really good job with this discussion. I’m 80000 words into my first novel and I’m in the 4th quarter. This was really helpful. Thanx.
So useful and illuminating! I'm really looking forward to your breakdown on the structure of a series. Since I normally write based on intuition/gut feeling it's so helpful to have a logical breakdown of everything and a way to name all the beats in a structure so that I can really pinpoint what is making me struggle in book 2 of my series.
I have to look closely through your previous videos, but something that really trips me up is the character flaw, misbelief and fear. I don't understand these terms and I don't know if they are all the same. It would be nice to hear a detailed breakdown on this in the future if you haven't already.
Thank you so much!
greta stuff Ellen! I love your videos - and then when I see its nearly an hour long I get excited!
these videos have been so helpful. thanks for doing them
I love your videos and find them very helpful! I was looking through and didn't see one on unconventional plot structure. For instance, I'm writing a novel that has a six act structure. It follows two main characters who make up the first two acts, then their meeting and developing relationship is the third act, then their tragedy is the fourth act, then the fifth act will follow a second tragedy that's a result of the first, then the sixth act reveals the why and the how of the mysteries that surrounded a lot of the tragedies woven throughout the story.
This was such an incredible aid! I’m so close to wrapping up my novel and didn’t know the keys.
Thank you so much Ellen！Your videos really have helped me a lot!
Excellent break down of the key concepts. Thank you so much for sharing.
I’m late to this series but it’s amazing! Thank you for all of this work you’ve done this is so helpful!
It’s also helpful to see it in movies because they stick to a stricter structure (wow say that 3 times fast! 😅), whereas novels can drag. So often novels (especially fantasy) can meander big time, and you have scenes and chapters where nothing is happening and it’s hard to find the motivation to keep reading through major slumps that can last 100s of pages!
This series you’ve made is great at avoiding endless meandering. Thanks again!
P.S. I hope you’re all recovered from long Covid by now!
I do think looking at movies is helpful for clarity in explaining the basics, but if the objective is writing a novel then tackling how good novels handle story is very important too. Exactly to avoid the meandering you describe, but also to avoid them being too basic. Because there are epic fantasy novels that so many of us love and they are clearly doing something right. Rarely do I find those to have major boring slumps I have to drag myself through. (I wouldn't love them if they did) Instead I've enthusiastically breezed through huge novels that didn't seem to stick to this basic structure that much at all. Their writing was still surprising, adventurous, opened well, closed well and all that good stuff. But the structure seems far more abstracted.
So how are they doing that and how can we do that too and do it well? :)
This was fantastic. I took tons of notes that will for sure be helpful. Thank you!
I stumbled across this video and your channel. Love the content. Helped me so much with my writing.
Awesome video! It answered loose ends I hadn't even realized I'd had.
This series was extremely helpful. Thank you very much.
I was stuck writing a finale. Holy moly this helps a lot!
Brilliant! I feel like I have a solid handle on story structure now, although I think I will have to revise this series when I get to my second draft. Thank you so much!
Harry not viewing the Dursleys as his home is a movie thing btw as it is revealed in the seventh book that as long as Harry still sees that as his home, a protection charm stays on the house to keep him safe from Voldemort (as long as he returns at least once a year). And the reason he specifically had to go to the Dursleys is because Petunia is Lily's sister and therefore the protection that Lily gave Harry when she sacrificed herself is maintained.
I’ve been looking forward to this, thank you so much! Informative, great examples, just awesome! Feels almost illegal I get to watch it for free
It was such an insightful, mmasterfully crafted series. Thank you. I could use some structure when I'm stuck.
I just wanted to note that sometimes "amateur" randomness is actually welcome. It's closer to real life. Films and books and even series these days are so predictable I can't watch or read them. If you've seen ten, you've seen them all.
It’s been a great and helpful education for me, thank you very much 🙏🏻💐
I love your videos
29:20 The Fiona thing,.... i think there is a misunderstanding as to what the "twist" actually is. While factually true... the callback is to her being disappointed that her Prince Charming is an uncouth ogre... also much earlier we learn Fiona's Curse, which is a Poem and goes "This shall be the norm, until you find true love's first kiss, and then take love's true form." So it is not a "twist". Its there in the very beginning. The Poem clearly states she shall take her love's true form. There is no twist in the story. It doesn't surprise you, when you pay attention. What it however does is not call back the wording of the poem until it subverted your erroneous expectation set by all those other Fairytale stories (which is what Fiona also falls prone to - this is the call back. She has expectations as to how this should go...and her expectations are wrong). It simply isn't a twist, because you were told this was going to happen. It is on the audience (and Fiona) to have different expectations from what the story told you would happen. The twist is.. at best "Surprise, i didn't lie!". It would have been a Twist if she had stayed human and it then was revealed that Shrek was cursed to be an Ogre. Because then the twist would be that her true love's form wasn't an ogre as everyone thought it was... but that his true form was human.
This is awesome and your videos have been super helpful! Do you have any content on how to incorporate multiple plotlines and how to tie them together well?
Be my friend. I'm a Afghan Combat veteran trying to write a political/historical/military warfare fiction. Very passionate about it
This whole series was phenomenal. The best writing advice online, for sure. I just subscribed to Patreon and am so thankful to have such a helpful resource. I only wish I'd discovered your vids during preptober! I do have one question about the structure of the fourth quarter. Do these steps always have to go in order? The way I've plotted my story, act four currently looks like: Preperation, approach, surprise, confrontation, sacrifice, aftermath... Does that really mess things up structurally?
I have not much with writing but I am subscribed just to see your face while you talk :) You are so incredible beautiful. Thanks for another video :)
I love your videos so much!
love these videos so much.
Working on my fourth quarter right now.
You are saving my life.
This series was SO helpful and clear! I took notes and started applying them with immediate results. THANK YOU!!
I wonder about duologies? If book 1 ends, should the same 3-4th quarter tactics be applied? Do both eyes open to a lesser problem than the overarching 2 book story plot? Would LOVE a follow-up video, or series talking about how these apply to multi-book installments
This video is so helpful. TYSM ❤
Very helpful. Thank you so much
this confirms my novels work.
Thank you, amazing work as usual! Your videos are super detailed, super helpful and (like with books) I love the fact that they are very long haha. I have a question regarding the surprise...does it have to be there always? I'm trying to find some examples in romance but can't seem to find that beat. Does it always happen during or after the confrontation?
Really helpful. I’m trying to match up these guidelines with why the climax(es) of the Black Widow movie didn’t work for me haha
Ellen thank you!
Awesome video! Do you know why anti-heroes or people who used to be enemies and then become friends always die for their arc? (Harry in Spiderman 3 and Loki in Infinity War) I love that tight and close friendship and sibling feel but they always die. Do you know any movies where that doesn't happen? I'm guessing they feel they need to make up for what they did and so do something grand and sacrificial?
Thank you, great!
A minor plot issue with Harry Potter is that if Harry truly felt like Hogwarts was his home, then the protection Dumbledore put into place at number 4 Privet Drive would be nullified… idk if JK has addressed this.
So many things about story structures make no sense to me until now that I've heard an explanation using Shrek
How about making this a podcast on Spotify etc.? It would be great to listen to this with the screen off!
I love all the videos in this series, I just wished you'd take book examples, not films. Films are too rushed and have to be done in 2 hours while books have different types of variations on 3 act structure and are differently stretched and done in different quarters. Your advice has helped me nevertheless. Thank you!
Thank you
45:45 is this why The Force Awakens got so much flack from the fan base?
Amazing
I think the ending is the hardest part to write.
What's another word for thesaurus?
Why is there no synonymocron?
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okay lo 09
First!
I love the advice, but the examples are unnecessary, (They don't help me) and extend the length of the video far too long. I wish you had some non-example versions of this series.