Story Writing: Structuring the Story Using Freytag’s Pyramid Story Structure | Mohammed Shamash | Skillshare
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Story Writing: Structuring the Story Using Freytag’s Pyramid Story Structure

teacher avatar Mohammed Shamash

Watch this class and thousands more

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Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Introduction

      1:21

    • 2.

      What is Freytag’s Pyramid

      6:44

    • 3.

      Exposition

      5:49

    • 4.

      Rising movement

      5:25

    • 5.

      Climax

      4:25

    • 6.

      Falling Action

      5:58

    • 7.

      Denouement or Catastrophe

      2:19

    • 8.

      Inciting Incident

      1:08

    • 9.

      Freytag’s Pyramid Story Structure Example

      7:18

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About This Class

It is not easy for everyone to write a story. To create a powerful and compelling plot, one must be familiar with all areas of story writing. And structure is one of the most fundamental parts of tale writing. It is critical to understand how to structure your story in order for it to be a huge success. So, in this class, we will look at one of the most essential story structures known as Freytag's Pyramid.

In this class, we have covered the topics such as:

  • What is Freytag’s Pyramid
  • Exposition
  • Rising Movement
  • Climax
  • Falling Movement
  • Denouement or Catastrophe
  • Inciting Incident
  • Freytag’s Pyramid Story Structure with An Example.

Meet Your Teacher

Hello, I'm Mohammed a beginner level writer. I help other beginner level writers find simple and effective ways to write. I am a Masters Student at Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul, Turkey. I also give free writing classes to Bachelor and high school students.

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Level: Beginner

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Transcripts

1. Introduction: Hello friends, welcome to my class. In this class, we will continue our journey of creative writing. In this class, we will talk about story structure. In our pervious class, we have already talked about story structure. However, that was a different one. It was about hero's journey story structure. But in this class, we will talk about a different story structure. It is called as Freytag's Pyramid story structure. This structure will help us in organizing our story in a very good way. In this class, we have covered the topics such as, what is Freytag's Pyramid exposition, rising movement, climax, falling movement, denouement, catastrophe, inciting incident. And lastly, we have explained the Freytag's Pyramid story structure with an example. 2. What is Freytag’s Pyramid: In our previous class, we have talked about the hero's journey story structure. In this class, we will continue our creative writing topic journey with the story structure topic called as Freytag's Pyramid, the plot pyramid. In this section, first I will explain what is Freytag's pyramid or the plot pyramid. Then in the upcoming section, we will look at its different aspects and explain it to you with examples. In addition to this, I will give you a detailed explanation of each of aspects and also components of Freytag's pyramid structure. So that you will be able to integrate and use this story structure in your writings, which will make your story writing process much more exciting and much easier. However, please remember that before using the Freytag's Pyramid story structure, please make sure that the plot you have written and outlined blends perfectly with your story structure. Because if the plot does not suit with the Freytag's Pyramid story structure, than you have to choose another story structure which best suits your plot. Most of the time. The plot of the story is written and outlined before selecting the structure of the story. So please make an outline of what your plot will be. Then. Once you have determined your plot, now choose which structure works best with your outline plot. In this class, we have only talked about the Freytag's Pyramid story structure. We will talk about different type of story structure and our next classes. The Freytag's Pyramid was named after a famous writer from Germany called as Gustav Freytag's. The structure is in a pyramid shape. Hence, it is called Freytag's Pyramid story structure. This type of structure is taken from the old and classic stories of Greek culture. This type of structure was originally designed for tragic types of storylines. However, nowadays, Freytag's Pyramid story structure is not very popular among our modern readers. Because our modern readers do not like the tragic and sad ending types of stories. People usually read stories in which the hero or the protagonist prevails in the end, thus leading a happy life thereafter. Therefore, we will use this Freytag's Pyramid story structure and explore and explain it to you in this class in two different formats. First one is the original format, which will lead us to the tragic ending of the story. The second one is new and redesigned format, which will lead us to the happy ending. In this type of story structure, we will see a very straightforward way of arranging a story. It usually starts with introduction, then continues with middle, then ends with a conclusion. There are a total of five points in this type of story structure. First point is the introduction. In this point, we will introduce the readers to the main characters, the setting of the story. The second point is rising movement. Where the rising action, in this point, the hero or the protagonist will start to move forward towards his goals. In this point, the stakes will rise and the conflict begins. The next point is climax of the story. In this part of the story, the hero will come to a place where he can no longer return to his old good life. The next point is falling action. In this point of the story, the aftermath of the climax will unfold. And when the story continues to move forward towards its end, the tensions and the story will continue to rise as the end approaches. The last point is catastrophe ending. This type of original story format has a tragic ending. In this point, we will see that the hero of the story has lost all his hopes. He will feel like he is constantly falling in deep dark pit. All his worst fears have come to life. He is unable to recover. This is how the story ends. However, we have another redesign structure where we can see that all the first four points are same. Only the last point, which is catastrophe, will change into denouement. In this point, we will see that the hero has overcome all the obstacles and this path. He successfully accomplished his mission and accomplished all his goals. In this point, we will see that the story has ended in a happy ending and all the things are settled and ended in a satisfying way. In the next part, please pay very close attention to the class because we will explain how to apply and insert each point into in the story, right. 3. Exposition: This point is also called as Exposition. In this point, we will tell the readers how the story begins. We will tell the readers about the characters of the story and the setting of the story. We will tell the readers about the background information. All this information will set the path of the story. We will tell the readers about the existing conditions of the characters of the story. In this part, while we introduced the characters, we will also establish the stakes to adjust the story with the readers. We will first have to ask some questions while we set the story in motion. First, you have to ask the question, where am I? Then you have to answer it. Then you have to ask the question, what is happening? Then answer it. The readers don't know anything about the environment of the story. So in the beginning act of the story, you have to introduce the readers about the environment of the story. In the first part of the story, you will also have to tell the readers how things are going for the characters. What are situations of the characters? Tell the readers what is the world they are looking into, how things work in this world. Some of the writing experts at a sub point to the exposition called as inciting incident. This sub point is not present in the original part of the Freytag's Pyramid. It is added to the redesigned version, which has a happy ending. We will talk about this subplot while explaining the redesigned version of Freytag's Pyramid. In the first part, which is the exposition part, we first give the readers the information about the characters and explain the readers about the distinction qualities of the characters. In this point, we will also tell the readers the relationship between the characters. Then we will be telling the readers about the environment of story. We will tell them the place where the story is taking place. And we also tell the readers which time era the story is taking place in. E.g. you can tell 1650 London. And while telling the readers about the characters and the setting of the story, we will also tell them a small backstory to make the readers aware of the stakes of the story. In this part of the story, we don't only introduce the readers to the main characters such as hero and the heroine of the story, but also the villain of the story as well. The background story. We'll tell the basic conflict of the story all while creating the mood and atmosphere of story. In this part of the story, you only have to focus on telling the readers who is, who, what is happening, when it is happening, where it is happening. It is just like creating a new world for the readers, which he will try to explore as the story continues. The length of the introduction may differ from one story to another. It mainly depends on how complicated the conflict of the story is. It means that the more complex the story, the lengthy the introduction. It also depends on the settings you have created. It means that the more detailed the setting of your story than the lengthier the introduction. If your story is set in a fantasy world, then you have to write a lengthy introduction in order to introduce your world and its qualities and its functions, et cetera. It means that you have to spend more than one chapter just to build the world of the story and explain it to the readers. It has to be a lengthy one so that the readers can explore it and enjoy it thoroughly. The most important thing is that it does not matter how long the introduction is. The only thing that matters is that whether you are able to draw your readers into your story or not. The introduction part is important because it will make your readers hook onto your story. So while creating a fantasy world, please make sure it is very real and believable to the readers. Ending of the introduction should be with a conflict which will move your story forward. 4. Rising movement: It is also called as rising action. In this part, the conflict begins. This is the part where the tension and the stress starts to rise. This is the part where the suspense starts to build up. This is the part where the plot of the story picks up its pace. This conflict is the part where the readers will be glued to their seats and start to wonder what will happen next. In this part, many questions will start to form in the minds of the readers, such as the how will the hero overcome the obstacles? How will they get out this complex and hard situation? How he will win, and so on. In this part of the story, the plot starts to become more complex. The stakes of the plot begin to rise higher. This is a part where characters will get a false hope. A false promise as if they are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. However, it is actually not the light, but more depth of the darkness. The protagonist will cling onto a false hope, which will bring him more depression and more anxiety. As the suspense and the tension rises, it will bring out the character development. It will increase the anxiety and make the characters to grow and evolve. Not only one scene, but many small scenes can be combined to make one rising action of the story. Such as the protagonist might be fed up of something or someone, which is why he is angry and upset. Then in the next scene, he will try to fix the situation, but it ends up becoming worse. Things gets worse means that protagonist might make a big mistake while resolving the issue. Or he might make a wrong decision, which will further escalate the issue. Or the villain might come in the way here, giving him more trouble. Or new characters will unintentionally further complicate the plot, which will make him angrier and more depressed. This part of the story where the complexity of the basic conflict is further escalated by adding more different obstacles in the path of the protagonist. This will make the protagonist more frustrated and it will make it difficult for the protagonist to reach his goals. Other conflicts in the story are also introduced in this part. It may not necessarily come from the main antagonist, but it may even come from secondary characters or other unimportant adversaries. This part of the story, we'll explore the conflict of the story and rise the tension of the story up until the climax of the story. Rising action usually tends to be a bit lengthy because this part of the story not only includes and explores the conflict of the story and its complications, but also includes some flashbacks and side stories of either main characters or side characters. You should not always tell the flashbacks in one scene that you should give your readers some little information here and there. Little by little, the readers will get to know more about the motives and the reasons behind the actions of characters. Little by little. As the plot moves forward. Also, as the conflict open out and reveals itself to the world of the story. And the nature of the story will also get revealed little by little. Each point of the story should make it to the climax of the story. It should be connected in such a way that climax of the story should come as natural as possible after the rising action. As if they're rising action was built up for climax of the story. Lastly, make sure that all the characters of the story have been introduced at this point. Make sure no one is left out. It should just leave some questions which will eventually be answered in the climax of the story. 5. Climax: In this type of story structure, the climax will usually come at the middle part of the story. In this part of the story, the fate of the characters is decided. In this part of the story. We will try to create maximum suspense. For creating the maximum suspense. In this part, we have to create the conflict which is at its peak. Conflicts at its peak means that you have to show the main conflict of the story in such a way that it will become impossible for protagonist to resolve the conflict. However, climax can end in two ways, depending on the version of Freytag's Pyramid. If it is a happy ending, then the climax will become as a turning point in the life of the protagonist. The length of the climax may differ from the rider to Rider. However, every rider will show the idea and the theme of the story. In this part of the story. He will show it in such a way that their readers will feel emotionally sad or emotionally happy. After reading this part. If you are writing a tragic story ending, then this part of the story will serve as a point of no return for the protagonist of the story. It means that either the life of the protagonist of your story will become good from the climax or it will become a bad one and will turn into worse till the end of the story. Please don't forget that. The climax of the story is the part which will decide how the story is going to end. When we try to write a tragic ending, we will make sure that all of the good things that happened to protagonist before the climax will crumble down and fall into pieces from the climax part of the story. Or if you are writing a happy ending, then the bad things that happened to protagonist before the climax, we'll start to fade away. And from the climax of the story, good things will start to happen for the protagonist. His life will become good and will improve tremendously. This part of the story is where the readers will connect the most. So if you are writing a story using the Freytag's Pyramid story structure, then you have to put extra effort to make sure that the climax of your story is very well-written. In this part of the story. As a writer, you have to show your readers the fullest and the deepest strength of your protagonist. You have to write a protagonist where he is showing his full strength in either creating a good life or making it worse. The climax will serve as a reversing and dividing point of the story. If the story shows good energy in the first half, then the climax will reverse it in the second half and turn it into a bad energy. If the first half is giving a bad value, then the climax will reverse it and give good values. In the second half of the story. As we have seen that the rise of the action before the climax than the climax will reverse it and the action will fall in the second half of the story. Now, we will talk about falling action in the next part. 6. Falling Action: When writing the happy ending story, we have to resolve all the things. Starting in this part. In this part of the story, we will see that the suspense of the story starts to unravel. In this part of the story, we will see that the pieces which were scattered before are now coming to one place. They are starting to fall into place. In the falling action part, we will see that the protagonist of the story clearly has the key to the victory in his hands. So when we have to write a happy ending story, we have to make sure that the conflict of the story and the main issue and main problem of the story is solved in this part of the story. However, when writing a tragic and a sad ending of the story, we will have to change the falling action, which is opposite of the happy ending falling action. In this part of the story, we will see that the protagonist of the story has crossed the point of no return. In this part, we will see that the protagonist has no place to escape. He has to face his fate and watch his life fall apart. The story will move forward with a Tragedy genre. Because of this tragedy seen in the falling action, the readers will feel that the hero has no one who can help them out this miserable situation. They will feel that the fate has been very cruel to the hero. They will feel the inevitable sense of catastrophe. This part of the story also has very tense scenes in it. It should be filled with tension and anxiety, which will make the readers glued to their seats. However, the storage should also give a little hope that the it may end and happy ending. However, the hope will be shattered no long after the falling action. In the catastrophe part, the protagonist will come face to face with the antagonist. And we'll try to solve the conflict between them. In the happy ending story, the protagonist will win and resolve the conflict. However, in the tragic ending story, either the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist will not be resolved or the antagonist will gain the upper hand. In this part of the story, we will see that the main action where the climax is over and the plot of the story is moving forward towards its end. It is just the aftermath of the climax. However, it is not as simple as writing other part of the story. It is one of the hardest parts of story to write because you have to connect all the things in this part of the story. Because you have to make sure that you have not left any loose ends. You have to tie up all the loose. And in this part of the story, you have to make sure that all the conflicts, major or minor, has either resolved or at least addressed in this part, you have to grab the attention of the readers until the ending of the story. So make sure that you are not giving everything that readers one in this part. You can do this by expanding the world of the story. Or you can leave some mysteries of that world unanswered. Which means that you will have to leave some answers. For the last part of the story. Makes sure that this part only focuses on the climax, the aftermath of it. And it should keep pushing the story towards its end. The main difference between the rising action, falling action is that the rising action will make the life of Hera from normal to hard. While the falling action will make the life of the hero form hard to normal, rising action will change the status quo. The hero, while falling action will reverse it and return it. Like I have said before, the catastrophe part should not come as natural to the readers. Make sure that you leave some hope for the readers and the protagonist. It means that you have to show that there is a very slim possibility that the story for the protagonist will become good. However, will riding a happy ending story, it is not necessary. But for the tragic ending story, it is important that the hero should not lose the hope until the very end of the story. Then the story will move towards the catastrophe part. 7. Denouement or Catastrophe: It is the part where the outcome of the story is shown. It is the part where the story will come to a conclusion. It is part where the conflict of the story is completely resolved. It is part of story where the protagonist of the story will win and the story will finally be over. Happy ending version of Freytag's Pyramid has denouement part. However, the original ending of the Freytag's Pyramid story structure has a different term for the ending. And it called as catastrophe. It means that it will not end in a happy ending. Instead, it will be a sad and tragic ending. It means that everything will go wrong for me protagonist in the end of the story and in this part, the protagonist will most probably we'll meet a tragic end such as death. If you ask, why would we want to write a tragic ending? Then to answer your question, I will say that if your protagonist is an anti-hero, then he will inevitably have a tragic ending. Or if your main character of the story is a bad guy or a straight-up antagonist, then the story will have an unhappy ending. So if you are writing a sad story than writing a story where the hero is bound to fail in the end can be regarded as a reasonable lending. The journey of the hero should end in a devastating and then a disastrous way. But if you are writing a happy ending, then make sure that the protagonist has not failed. But as overcome every single obstacle. And one in the end. 8. Inciting Incident: Now, we will talk about the inciting incident, which is not in the original part of the Freytag's Pyramid story structure. It was added later on in the happy ending version. It is also called as inciting action. However, some claim that this part is already in the original version, but it not the main part of the story structure. It is just the subpart of the exposition. Nonetheless, it is the part where the life of hero will change from normal life to a heart and unsure life. It can be an incident or a person which will change the status quo of the hero. It is a factor that will trigger the change in the life of hero. 9. Freytag’s Pyramid Story Structure Example: In this part, I will show you how to structure your story using the Freytag's Pyramid story structure. We will use a template to create the story structure. The template will be made of the main points of the Freytag's Pyramid story structure. First point is exposition or introduction. Let's say the name of the protagonist and the main character is Sam. In this exposition part, we introduce Sam and other key characters of the story and the setting of the story. Sam is a teenage boy. He stays with his family, his mother and his father in London. He is a good and intelligent boy who excels in his studies. He is very extraordinary qualities such as He is very strong, stronger than normal people. He is fast, sometimes faster than a normal car speed. He can jump very high, higher than normal people. Although he has all these good and extraordinary qualities, he does not get love and recognition from his family. Then comes the inciting incident. One day when Sam returns home from school, he hears loud noises from his house. When he was at the door, the door was open. He saw his mother and father. They were arguing with each other. During the argument. It's slipped out from his father's mouth that Sam was not their biological child. He was adopted from the orphanage. After hearing this, he sets out to find his real parents. On his journey. He went to an old friend of his parents. His name was Jordan. He found the address of Jordan from his adopted families safe. When he meets with his real parents friend Jordan, he will get to know a shocking truth about his birth. He will find out that his mother was an extraordinary being. She came to the Earth from an unknown planet. His father was a scientist. They both died in a car accident. Their death was a mystery. Jordan will hand over a stone to Sam. He will tell Sam that he has safeguarded this stone. And this stone belongs to his mother. This stone has some supernatural powers. This was the last thing Sam's parents protected until their last breath. And somehow the stone only recognized his parents and no one else. Now, the stone is in sam's hand, and it has recognized Sam. When he met with Jordan, he began to stay at his house. Jordan has a daughter called Susie. Susie is also a teenager, same as Sam. Then Sam decides to stay with them and enrolls in the same school as Susie. Now comes the climax of the story. Sam and Susie fall for each other. They together started to grow and evolve. And they together conducted experiments on the stone. Many years have passed, and now they are a married couple. In all these years, they together started to understand the powers of stone little by little. One day, someone knocks at Sam's door. When Sam opens it, he will see a man who is very similar to his mother. Then the man introduced himself as Matthew. He is his mother's friend. He is from the same planet as his mother. Sand then invents him to the dinner to get to know more about his mother. When they were having have dinner, Matthew used some power and made both Susie and Sam unconscious and stole the stone. After that, Sam decided to go after Matthew and get back the stone. Then comes the falling action. Even after Matthew has stolen the stone, Sam still feels connected to the stone. In his dreams. The Stone calls him and asked him to find it. Then one night, sam sees some reflections in his dream. It is about the place where the stolen stone is stored. Then Suzy and Sam go in search of that place. And after many trails and hardships, they find the stone. He confronts Matthew, and then he will have a big fight with him for the stone. At the end, sam will win the fight, then escaped with the stone. Matthew is arrested. However, Sam is injured and is in a very bad shape. When he returns home. He is immediately admitted to the hospital. He is unconscious and he is very little hope of getting regaining consciousness. Then in the last part of story, which is denouement, Sam recovers and regains his consciousness. He has won and secured the stone. Then he stays happily with his Susie. But if you were to write a tragic ending, then you can say that Sam got the stone back from Matthew. However, he was injured very badly during his fight with Matthew. He is admitted to the hospital and he is in very critical condition. Then in the catastrophe part, you can reveal to the readers that he is unable to recover from the injuries. Sam has died in the hospital. Susie continues to protect the stone from here onwards.