Full transcript
0:00What if I told you that most writer's
0:01block isn't actually about words at all?
0:04It's actually about the structure of
0:06your story. Now, I'm Jason Hamilton if
0:08you don't know me, the most hopelessly
0:10nerdy storyteller that I know. And I
0:12once spent three years at Kindlepreneur
0:14as the lead content person there, making
0:16sure to where I wrote and edited all the
0:19content that went on Kindle, including
0:21quite a few articles on story structure.
0:23I'm also a fantasy author in my spare
0:25time. And these days, I spend a lot of
0:27my time teaching authors how to use
0:29tools like AI in or in order to speed up
0:32their process as a productivity tool
0:34without compromising their creativity.
0:36Now, in today's video, we're ripping the
0:38roof off story structure, why some plots
0:41glide while others face plant, and how
0:43much tension actually works, and the
0:45sneaky rhythm that keeps readers turning
0:46pages, that sort of thing. So, if you're
0:49ready to see the blueprint behind every
0:50bingeworthy tale, let's crack it open.
0:53First, what is story structure really?
0:56Most of us think of a story as the words
0:58on the page, the characters, the cool
0:59magic system. Uh, but underneath all of
1:02that, there's an invisible architecture
1:04that holds it all together. And that is
1:06what structure is. It's the framework
1:08that organizes everything into a
1:10sequence that feels both satisfying and
1:13emotionally resonant. And without it, a
1:16story is just a list of things that
1:17happen. With it, those same events
1:20become more meaningful. And here's a
1:22distinction that trips us up a lot uh
1:24for a lot of writers and that is the
1:25difference between story and plot. The
1:28story is the shall we say complete raw
1:31data. Every single thing that happens
1:33from A to Z in chronological order. The
1:36plot however is the specific way you
1:39choose to arrange and reveal those
1:41events to the audience. So think of it
1:43as a detective's evidence board. The
1:45story is every piece of evidence, every
1:47interview, every dead end. The plot is
1:49the dramatic order in which the
1:51detective and therefore the audience
1:53pieces it all together to solve the
1:55mystery. Now, one is just information.
1:57The other is an experience. Many writers
1:59get scared of structure because of this.
2:02They think that it's a rigid cage that
2:04will kill their creativity and produce
2:06formulaic boring work. But that's
2:09actually not it at all. Every art form
2:11has structure. Music has scales and
2:12chord progressions. Dance has
2:14choreography. Painting has composition.
2:16Uh these rules don't limit the artist.
2:18They provide a foundation to build on
2:19and language to speak and a solid story
2:22structure gives you the confidence to be
2:24creative knowing that the whole thing
2:26won't collapse underneath you. But
2:28that's just the big picture. What are
2:30the actual bricks and mortars of this
2:33blueprint? So if structure is the
2:35blueprint, then plot beats are the
2:37individual lines and measurements of
2:39that blueprint. And they are the
2:41fundamental building blocks of your
2:43narrative. the uh specific mo moments of
2:46action, decision, or revelation that
2:48propel the story forward. And a beat
2:50isn't just something that happens. It's
2:52an event that forces a character to make
2:54a choice, which in turn creates change.
2:57It's the heartbeat of your story,
2:59keeping that narrative alive and moving.
3:02And we all know the big ones, even if we
3:03don't know their names. Uh there's the
3:05inciting incident, that moment that the
3:07ordinary world is shattered for the
3:09protagonist. Then there's the climax,
3:11the final epic confrontation. We all are
3:13pretty much familiar with that one. But
3:14a story is filled with dozens of smaller
3:18smaller micro beats and things like
3:19that. A character discovering a secret
3:21letter, a sudden argument, the choice to
3:23take a shortcut through a dark alley.
3:26Each one of these is a beat that pushes
3:27the story forward, deepening our
3:29understanding and maintaining that
3:30crucial momentum. And along with this
3:33chain of beats, you have a few special
3:35ones that we call turning points. These
3:37are the major shifts in the story.
3:40They're those points of no return. The
3:42first major turning point is often when
3:44the protagonist finally commits to the
3:45journey, leaving their old life behind
3:47for good. A lot of people will argue
3:49that the inciting incident is a turning
3:52point, but really that's something that
3:54happens to the protagonist. It's not
3:57actually a choice that the protagonist
3:58makes. After the inciting incident, the
4:00protagonist must make that choice and
4:02cross over into the new world, which
4:04usually happens at the transition from
4:06act one to act two. The second big one
4:09usually happens when everything seems
4:11kind of lost and the hero has to dig
4:12deep to find a new way forward for that
4:15final confrontation. And these aren't
4:17just events. They are, think of them as
4:19doorways that the character walks
4:20through, and they can't go back. The
4:22magic is making these beats and turning
4:24points feel organic and not forced. The
4:27best ones don't feel like an author is
4:28just making things happen or that the
4:30characters are just doing what the
4:32author asks them to do. Uh they feel a
4:35lot more natural and the inevitable
4:37consequences of a character's choices.
4:40Now the beat could grow out of the
4:42character not to be forced upon them
4:44because without that connection all you
4:47have is just a sequence of events and
4:49these events are utterly meaningless
4:51without one more critical component and
4:54that one more critical component is
4:56conflict. Every story has conflict and
4:58without it you don't have a story
5:00honestly you have a pleasant anecdote.
5:03Uh even genres like cozy mystery for
5:06example where the conflict is
5:07significantly lessened still has
5:10conflict otherwise there wouldn't be any
5:12need for a story to happen. It's just
5:14the conflict is a lot more cozy I guess
5:18you [laughter] could call it.
5:19Protagonist is missing their cat or they
5:21there's an ingredient to a potion that
5:23they're supposed to brew and they that
5:25they can't find if it's like a cozy
5:27fantasy or something like that. But
5:28there's still conflict. Conflict is that
5:30force that creates the tension, drives
5:32the character's actions, and keeps your
5:33reader absolutely glued to the page. And
5:36it's the problem that needs to be solved
5:38and overcome. But great stories rarely
5:41have just one layer of conflict. They
5:43actually operate on two different levels
5:44at once. First, you actually have the
5:46external conflict. This is the stuff you
5:49can see. So, fighting the dragon,
5:51stopping the asteroid, uh unmasking the
5:54villain. It's the visible struggle
5:56against an antagonistic force. the stuff
5:59that happens. But pulling the strings
6:01beneath the surface of the external
6:03conflict is the internal conflict. And
6:06this is the protagonist's inner battle.
6:08Their fear, their doubts, uh a moral
6:11dilemma that they might be dealing with.
6:12The external conflict provides the
6:14action, but the internal conflict
6:15provides the meaning. This is why I will
6:18tell people that having a good plot will
6:20automatically include having a good
6:23character arc. A lot of people think
6:24character is more important than plot. I
6:26would say that they're almost more of
6:28the same thing than you might think. Cuz
6:30if you don't have good internal conflict
6:32baked into your plot, you're not going
6:34to have a good character and vice versa.
6:36Now, handinhand with conflict, you have
6:37to have stakes. Stakes are the answer to
6:39the most important qu question a reader
6:41can ask, which is so what? If the hero
6:44fails to stop the villain, so what? If
6:47they succeed, so what? That's the
6:49stakes. And it's uh what the character
6:51stands to win or more importantly lose.
6:54A story with low stakes is a story no
6:56one really cares about. It doesn't
6:58matter if the hero wins or loses if
7:00nothing of value is on the line. And the
7:01key here is that stakes must escalate.
7:03The story can't start with the fate of
7:05the universe hanging in the balance. It
7:07has to build over time. And at first,
7:10the hero might just want to save their
7:11family farm or something like that. But
7:13as the conflict grows, the stakes are
7:14raised. Soon it might not just be the
7:17farm, but the whole town, then the
7:18kingdom, then the world. Uh you they
7:21might also get more personal like
7:23perhaps the character gets a love
7:24interest over the course of the story
7:26and that love interest is threatened
7:27towards the end. This happens a lot at
7:29the end of stories and each choice the
7:31hero makes every setback they face
7:34should make the situation more dangerous
7:35and the potential loss more devastating.
7:38And this constant escalation is what
7:41creates that feeling of unbearable
7:42tension leading up to the climax. And
7:44all of this external pressure, this
7:45conflict, and these stakes are secretly
7:47designed to do one primary thing. And
7:49we've talked about what happens on the
7:51outside, meaning the plot, the beats,
7:53the conflict. But the real magic of a
7:56story actually happens on the inside.
7:57Plot is what happens to your character.
8:00And the character arc, remember uh I
8:02said that this is properly baked into a
8:04plot. The character arc is what happens
8:06inside them. It's their internal journey
8:08of transformation. And a character at
8:11the beginning of a great story is
8:12fundamentally different from who they
8:13are at the end. And the plot is the
8:17gauntlet that they had to run to force
8:19that change. The arc begins by
8:21establishing who the character is at the
8:23start, including their flaws, their
8:25fears, their false beliefs about the
8:28world. They might believe that money is
8:30the only thing that matters or that they
8:31are too weak to be a leader. But the
8:34inciting incident, that is the thing
8:36that kicks off the plot. It's also the
8:38event that directly challenges this core
8:40belief that the character has. And the
8:43entire rest of the story is an argument
8:44designed to prove them wrong. Uh as the
8:47character moves through this rising
8:49action, uh every obstacle they face,
8:51every choice they make, uh that chips
8:53away at that old self. The external
8:56challenges forces them to develop new
8:58skills, confront their inner demons, and
9:00question everything they thought they
9:01knew. And the midpoint of the story
9:03often brings a huge revelation that
9:05fundamentally changes that perspective.
9:08Finally, the climax isn't just a test of
9:11their new fighting skills. It's the
9:12ultimate test of their transformed self.
9:15They can only succeed by embracing the
9:17new person they've become. Now, this
9:19isn't just for protagonists either. The
9:20best stories give arcs to villains and
9:23mentors and sidekicks. Uh, for instance,
9:25a villain who is purely evil is
9:27something of a caricature these days.
9:29And a villain who has their own twisted
9:31logic and their own set of motivations
9:33and maybe even a moment of terrible
9:35change that is terrifyingly real. And
9:38these interwoven arcs create a very rich
9:41narrative where the world feels alive
9:43because everyone in it is growing and
9:44changing. Now you might be thinking this
9:47all sounds a little bit modern, very
9:49Hollywood, you know, but what if I told
9:51you this blueprint is actually ancient.
9:54So the quest to understand the DNA of
9:56storytelling isn't new. We've been
9:58trying to map these patterns for
10:00basically as long as we've been telling
10:02stories. Over 2,000 years ago, the Greek
10:04philosopher Aristotle actually looked at
10:06the plays of his time and boiled them
10:08down to a simple elegant idea, which is
10:10a story must have a beginning, a middle,
10:12and an end. Today, that sounds obvious,
10:14but it was a revolutionary thought. The
10:16recognition that narratives needed a
10:18deliberate shape to be effective. Now,
10:20fast forward to the 19th century.
10:22There's a German playwright named Gustaf
10:24Freyag who took it a bit further and he
10:27and he actually analyzed Greek tragedies
10:30and Shakespearean dramas and saw a more
10:32detailed pattern which he called a
10:34dramatic arc. He visualized it as a
10:37pyramid. And he wasn't just inventing
10:39the formula. He was an observer and a
10:41story theorist charting the currents he
10:42saw running through the most powerful
10:45stories ever written. And he saw the the
10:47setup, the rise in tension, the peak at
10:49the climax and the fall to a final
10:50resolution. Then in the 20th century, we
10:53get the mythologist named Joseph
10:55Campbell, one of my heroes. He's
10:56actually on the wall back here
10:58somewhere. Uh he studied myths and
10:59legends and religions from every corner
11:01of the globe and discovered that they
11:02were all telling the same story. And he
11:04called it the mono myth or the hero's
11:06journey. And from ancient Sumeriia to
11:08the jungles of the Amazon, he found the
11:10same universal pattern of a hero called
11:12to adventure, crossing into a special
11:14world, facing trials, and returning home
11:16transformed. Now, of course, this isn't
11:19the only type of story we have out
11:20there, but it is a very common one and a
11:23clear example that there are themes
11:25across cultures in the that come in the
11:28form of storytelling, which suggests
11:30that structure isn't just a artistic
11:32tool. It's actually something more
11:34deeply fundamentally human that is
11:37actually wired into our collective
11:39psyche. And the reason these patterns
11:41feel so right uh is what theorists call
11:44vera similitude. It means that a good
11:46story structure mirrors the natural
11:47rhythm of human life and we all face the
11:50challenges that disrupt our ordinary
11:52world. We all struggle, we all learn,
11:54grow through adversity, etc. And we all
11:57experience moments of transformation.
11:59Now, a story that follows this pattern
12:01feels resonant because on a subconscious
12:03level, it reflects our own journey. Now,
12:05we've talked about the concepts, but
12:07many storytellers have codified these
12:08into specific models. I myself have one
12:10called the 40 chapter plot module. And
12:13you'll hear names of a lot of these
12:15different structures thrown around like
12:16the the three-act structure, the hero's
12:18journey, save the cat, freight tags
12:21pyramid, and of course the plot module,
12:22right? You know, a little shameless
12:23plug. And I encourage you to take a
12:25moment to look at these because you'll
12:27find that they share a lot of those core
12:28elements that we discussed. When I was
12:30doing research for the plot module, I
12:32discovered that most of these uh plot
12:35structures that you will find out there
12:36are actually kind of a spin on the same
12:38thing. Even mine is kind of a spin on
12:41the same thing. I just get more detailed
12:42about mine. You have things like your
12:44setup, your rising tension, your
12:47escalating conflict, some major turning
12:49points in there, a climax, and a final
12:51resolution. And if you understand these
12:54building blocks and see them echo
12:55throughout history, like we've kind of
12:57covered, that is the key to unlocking
12:59your own storytelling potential. Because
13:02knowing the theory is just one thing.
13:03Putting it into practice to build your
13:05own powerful stories is actually
13:07another. And that is the process of
13:09taking these abstract ideas and making
13:10them concrete and turning a blueprint
13:13into a living breathing world. And it
13:14can be overwhelming to do it alone.
13:16That's why I created my own private
13:18community called Story Hacker Gold where
13:20we get deep into the this topic of story
13:22structure and my plot module. Uh, and
13:25it's where I share my entire process to
13:27take you from having zero to having not
13:30just one book in your hands, but
13:31potentially 12 plus books a year, uh,
13:34using some of the tools that we offer
13:36inside of the group. And we cover
13:38everything from building your structure
13:39to all the tools you need to market it
13:41effectively and all of that. And we even
13:43get into how you can use AI to enhance
13:45your process, speeding up your workflow
13:47without ever really compromising your
13:48unique creativity or your own personal
13:50ethics. And this is a system that has
13:52led the authors of my group to write a
13:54book in a month easily. Has allowed me
13:57to personally write a complete novel
13:58that matches my vision exactly how I
14:00would have written it the traditional
14:02way with specific world building, my
14:05characters, and my detailed outline in a
14:07week. So, when you join, you get access
14:09to the weekly live calls with me, a
14:10library containing the ebook and audio
14:12book book versions of all my books, uh,
14:14at least my books for authors, and a
14:16community of dedicated writers to
14:18support you. If you're ready to stop
14:19feeling blocked and start building
14:20stories that work, that is your next
14:22step.