Have you ever wondered how a story is put together? It’s not just a series of events one after the other—there are a number of invisible moving parts in play which work together to make a story compelling, engaging, and authentic. Some will probably be familiar, while others might surprise you.
To write a story that hits all the right notes and lands you that book deal, you’re going to have to master all of them. Not to worry; we’ll take you through all the elements of a story that you need to know (and plenty of additional resources, too).
Plot
Plot is the sequence of events that makes up the story. But, it’s not as simple as one thing happened, and then another thing happened, and then another thing. To create a plot that holds readers’ attention, you need to structure it in such a way that each event builds on the one before, gathering tension and momentum as the story progresses (we’ll talk more about momentum below).
Components of plot
Many writers like to use archetypal plot templates like the three-act structure, the five-act structure, the eight-point arc, or Freytag’s pyramid to order their scenes. Regardless of which framework you’re using to structure your story, each will have these key elements in common.
Hook
Your hook is the first impression that pulls a reader into your story. In a sci-fi, fantasy, or historical novel, the hook might be the unique and interesting world in which the story is set. In a contemporary literary novel, it might be a humorous situation or a relatable point-of-view character.
Whatever it is, your hook should make the reader think, I don’t know what the story is about yet, but I want to keep reading.
Inciting incident
The inciting incident is the first key event that sets the story in motion. Up until this point, the characters’ lives had been going on the way they always had. The inciting incident introduces a change that knocks things off the norm.
This could be the arrival of a new character (“a stranger comes to town”), the introduction of a new law or rule, a sudden illness or curse, a job opportunity, and so forth. It’s a moment which nudges the main character’s path in a new direction.
Rising action
Rising action refers to the complications that gather as the story unfolds. The inciting incident has set things on a new course—then what? The rising action is what happens as a result of the inciting incident.
For example, if your inciting incident is a job opportunity, the rising action will involve the main character learning the ropes, making friends and enemies at work, learning surprising things about what’s really going on at the company, and so forth.
Midpoint
The midpoint is the “hinge” that happens right in the middle of your story, a bit like a second inciting incident. It marks the point when the central character stops passively reacting to the chaos around them and starts making active choices of their own.
In the five-act structure, this is sometimes called the climax.
Crisis
The crisis is a penultimate battle in which all is seemingly lost. The main character might get fired from their job, or experience a romantic breakup, or grieve a lost loved one. Or, it might be a crisis of the self when they feel they’ve hit their lowest point. This plot point feels like the end, but it isn’t.
In the three-act structure, the crisis comes at the very end of the second act.
Climax
The climax is the final battle in which all the threads woven throughout the story reach their ultimate culmination. It’s the plot point which decides the characters’ ultimate fate forever. You’ll recognize this from films as the “big finish.”
Falling action
Falling action is what happens as a result of the climax. Threads are tied off, peace is made, and everybody goes home.
Denouement
The denouement is the final scene of a story, sometimes structured as an epilogue. If the falling action is “The End” of the entire story, the denouement is “The Beginning” of the invisible next installment—it gives the reader a sense of where the characters are going to go next.
Setting
Setting is the stage on which your story plays out. The world of your story will inform every choice the characters make—its culture, its constraints, its geographical and economic structure. Certain genres like fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and certain crime genres are strongly associated with a particular type of setting; in these novels, the setting will play a pivotal role. But even in more general genres like literary fiction and romance, the setting will still have a measurable impact on the way the story evolves.
Components of setting
Setting isn’t just the physical location of a story. It encompasses a range of influences on the story’s time and place. Here are the three different layers every setting will have.
Temporal setting
Temporal setting refers to the time in which your story is set—the time of day, the time of year (this is especially important if your character’s life is influenced by the changing seasons), and the era of history. It also refers to what stage of life your character is at: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age, and so forth.
Every one of these story elements is going to affect the way your characters behave and the choices they make.
Environmental setting
The environmental setting refers to the impact of the world around your characters: culture, politics, attitudes towards law and order, perceptions of gender and sexuality, as well the role of the natural world (for example, the way a town might deal with desert conditions or seasonal flooding).
It’s important for you to have an idea of what these constraints look like in the world of your story, even if they’re not going to play a central role in the plot. This is because the environmental setting determines how your characters live and structure their daily lives.
Individual setting
Now we get to the individual or situational setting, which is what people often think of when they consider “the setting of a story.” This means specific places in which the story happens, such as libraries, offices, the beach, an amusement park, and so forth.
These can be a lot of fun to work with, but they’ll be most convincing to your readers if you explore the temporal and environmental supports first. This ensures your setting feels natural and real.
Point of view
Point of view refers to the style in which the character’s perspective is communicated to the reader. The point of view (or PoV) choice comes down to how much emotional distance you want the reader to have from your story.
There’s no one best point of view that will work for every single story; some will be more effective with an up-close-and-personal relationship to the main character, while others will benefit from some objectivity.
Types of point of view
The most common point of view styles you’ll see in literature are third person (“She went outside”) and first person (“I went outside”). But as you’ll see below, there are a few point of view options within these ranges, and a few nontraditional types of point of view too.
First person subjective
First person subjective stories are told from the character’s perspective using the pronoun “I.” The main character tells their story directly to the reader (or sometimes another person, through letters or diary entries—this is called “epistolary fiction”).
In this point of view, the character will convey their innermost thoughts, feelings, and fears in a one-on-one conversation.
First person objective
First person objective point of view is also told from the perspective of the character using the pronoun “I,” but it’s a bit different. Instead of sharing their thoughts and feelings about what’s happening, they’ll state the facts and nothing but the facts. This is sometimes called the “witness statement” point of view.
This first person point of view style can be really useful in horror or thriller novels—the character describes horrific happenings without any emotion, which makes them even more chilling.
Second person
Second person narrative is a more experimental writing style that tells a story from the reader’s perspective using the pronoun “you.” The most famous example of this is the “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories, which go, “You step into the crumbling old manor and assess your surroundings…” This perspective is generally more effective in short stories, flash fiction, and poems than in full-length novels.
Third person objective
Third person point of view always uses the pronouns “She,” “He,” or “They”—the “Once upon a time” narrative. In these stories, the narrator is telling the reader a story about someone else.
Third person objective is similar to the “witness statement” PoV above; it presents a factual account of events without delving into the emotions and perceptions of the people in them.
Third person limited subjective
This third person point of view is one of the most popular choices in fiction. It shows the events of the story through one character’s perspective. The reader gets to see what the central character is thinking, but not what’s happening inside the other characters’ heads. Like all third person viewpoints, it uses the “Once upon a time” pronouns of “She,” “He,” and “They.”
Third person multiple subjective
This third person narrative uses the same technique as third person limited subjective, above, but it moves between one character and another. Sometimes romances will do this by moving between the two leads. Or, a novel might move between the experiences of a group of friends.
However, this narrative style shows only one character’s perspective at a time. The shift to another character will usually be signaled by a scene break or chapter break.
Omniscient
Third person omniscient point of view is the “God” perspective in which the reader can see the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and experiences of every character in the story. This all-knowing narrator also uses the third person pronouns, and shows how a range of different characters can have a range of perceptions in the same moment.
Fourth person
Fourth person point of view is a more experimental narrative style that tells a story from a collective using the pronoun “We.” This can be useful for communicating the perspective of a particular identity—women, office workers, neurodivergent people, and so forth. Like second person point of view, it’s generally best suited to shorter, more compact work.
Character
Character and characterization are some of the most important elements in any story. Without a compelling and well developed character, the reader has no reason to stay invested in the story from beginning to end. Moreover, its character—their choices, experiences, fears, needs, and motivations—that drives the plot to its inevitable conclusion.
Components of character
Every great character is built out of a few different elements: their motivations, their strengths, and their weaknesses. It’s these elements which spur them into action throughout the story.
Conscious motivation (want)
A character’s conscious motivation is the thing they want most when the story begins: to go to college, to date the girl next door, to find an ancient amulet rumored to grant immortality, etc. This is the goal that the character will be working towards just before the inciting incident knocks their world off kilter.
Unconscious motivation (need)
The unconscious motivation is the true, visceral need that lies beneath the conscious want. For example: if a character’s conscious motivation is to go to college, their unconscious motivation might be parental validation, or a chance at transcending generational poverty, or escaping an abusive household.
The character’s conscious want and unconscious need will drive their actions in different ways. That’s why it’s important for you as the writer to understand both.
Key strength
Every character has something that makes them strong and something that makes them weak. In a SFF story, the character’s strength might be a literal superpower or magical ability. In a literary story, the strength might be something like compassion, enhanced intelligence, effusive confidence, and so forth. The character will be able to fall back on this strength in times of crisis.
Fatal flaw
The “fatal flaw” is a character’s key weakness: kryptonite, greed, a lack of self esteem, etc. In a tragedy, the character succumbs to their fatal flaw and is ultimately destroyed by it. In a more hopeful story, the character will find the strength to overcome it.
The dynamic between the character’s key strength and weakness creates tension as they’re influenced by the two throughout the story.
You don’t need these elements for all the characters in your story, but it’s a good idea to think about them for the main characters (which we’ll look at next).
Types of characters in a story
Now that we know a bit more about what makes a compelling character, let’s look at the type of characters you’ll find in most stories.
Protagonist
The protagonist is the main character of a story. Most of the time there’s only one protagonist, but in a dual PoV or dual timeline novel there might be two. The reader experiences the story predominantly through the protagonist’s eyes and experiences.
Antagonist
The antagonist is the character who is in opposition to the protagonist. They might be a villain who wants to take over the world, or they might be a friend, partner, or colleague who sees things in an irreconcilable way. The antagonist’s role is to create complications, intentionally or unintentionally, for the leading character.
Secondary characters
Secondary characters are the ones who play an important supporting role in the protagonist’s journey. This can include friends, allies, enemies, family members, and mentor figures. Sometimes these supporting characters go on journeys of their own—these are called subplots.
Tertiary characters
Tertiary characters are the next layer out: the minor characters who might walk on stage once or twice during the story. These can include colleagues at work or school, extended family members, and the occasional comic relief.
Conflict
Every compelling story needs conflict. Conflict happens when one character wants something, and another character wants something different, and their two needs can’t exist at the same time. The tension that arises as each character tries to get what they want is what moves the story forward.
Without conflict, there’s no story.
Types of conflict in a story
Conflict can manifest in several different forms, depending on what’s standing in the way of the protagonist achieving their goals. Sometimes, a character can encounter more than one obstacle. These are the major types of conflict you can use to develop your story.
Character vs. character
Character versus character is the most obvious type of conflict. It occurs when two characters’ goals—for example, world domination and the preservation of free will—are directly opposed.
Not all character versus character conflicts happen between a good guy and a bad guy; sometimes it can be something like two students competing for the same scholarship. Neither is “the good one” or “the bad one,” but only one of them can come out with what they want.
Character vs. nature
Characters versus nature is your typical disaster movie. The conflict stems from a force of the natural world such as a tsunami or a tornado, or assaults on the body like freezing temperatures or hunger.
This obstacle is always an impersonal force. It doesn’t want to hurt anyone—it’s just acting according to its nature.
Character vs. society
Character versus society means that the main character is coming up against a contentious element of their world’s culture (that’s your setting, remember?). For example, a woman trying to succeed in a male-dominated industry, or a dystopian world in which certain traditions put the protagonist at risk.
Character vs. self
The character versus self conflict is also known as internal conflict, and happens when the primary character is caught between two opposing goals or beliefs. This might be something like choosing between saving a city or saving a loved one. Or, overcoming a deeply internalized prejudice when presented with a new perspective.
Effective stories almost always have internal conflicts, even if the driving major conflict comes from something else. That’s because internal conflict gives your main characters greater emotional depth.
Momentum
Have you ever read a book that seemed to drag on forever? That’s because it didn’t have narrative momentum, the secret story element that’s key to holding your reader’s interest.
This means that the story moves along at a steady pace, with each event building on the one before as it powers to its inevitable conclusion. There are a number of ways you can ensure your story has strong momentum, including concise chapter structures, varying your syntax, following established plot templates, and tightening your prose during revision. You can read more about these techniques here.
Most of what gives a story strong momentum happens during the second and third drafts, after the rough material has been written. Once you have a first draft in place, you can look for areas where the momentum starts to sag and pull it back together.
Depth
A good story is like an iceberg. The reader sees only a small portion of it, but there’s an entire world hidden under the surface. A good writer knows how to hint at this hidden world and create depth that engages the reader. This is primarily achieved in two ways: backstory and subplots.
Backstory means what happened in the characters’ lives before the story begins: childhood experiences, first loves, the events that made them who they are today. Although you won’t be able to reveal everything to the reader in the constraints of the story you’re writing, you’ll be able to hint at it through the way the character behaves and the secrets they might reveal.
Subplots, which we touched on briefly above, are secondary storylines which parallel the main storyline. This creates a more nuanced world and reminds the reader that everyone sees themselves as the hero of their own story.
Tone
Tone is the overall mood, atmosphere, and voice of a story. It affects how your reader is going to feel while they’re reading your work.
For example, a gothic romance will have a different tone from a contemporary sports romance, even if the storylines are very similar. And a cabin-in-the-woods horror will have a different tone from a cozy mystery.
Tone is affected by things like the amount of tension and suspense you incorporate, as well as the style of language and the setting you build within your story. You may find it helpful to do some brainstorming about your desired tone (visual mood boards are great for this) before you begin writing, to get you into the right mental space for a certain style of storytelling.
Resolution
Once you’ve crafted a beautiful work of storytelling, you’re going to need to give it a satisfying resolution. Even if you do everything else right, a reader won’t forgive a rushed, disjointed conclusion. A successful resolution will answer all the big, dramatic questions raised in the first half of the story and wrap up any lingering loose ends.
Remember when we talked about what a character wants and what they need? Your characters won’t always get what they want, but they should get what they need—even if it’s in a way they don’t expect.
Sometimes, endings can be left to interpretation. Did the main characters really travel into another galaxy, or are they all caught in a symbiotic dream? Did the lovers work things out when they met for the last time, or did they say goodbye for good? These kinds of questions generate discussion and interpretation. However, if you leave the central crime in your mystery novel unsolved, your reader is going to be very upset.
Theme
Theme is one of the most essential elements in an engaging story. It’s the point behind the narrative arc and the set design and all the other moving parts. Theme is the key message you want your readers to come away with when they close the book.
For example, a story’s theme could be the unbreakable bonds of family. Or, the need to break free from toxic and outdated traditions. Or, the consequences of restraining bodily autonomy. In this way you can use a completely fictional story to communicate an important social message without the reader even realizing that you’re doing it.
Some writers begin with a theme in mind and then write a story about it. Others write a story in order to figure out what they’re trying to say, and then enhance the theme during revision.
Mastering these basic elements will make your story shine
Writing stories is one of life’s great pleasures. But, without all the necessary moving parts of a story, your hard work might fall flat or fail to engage your readers. That’s why things like well developed characters, compelling conflicts, and powerful themes are such an important part of the writing process. Now, you have all the tools you need.
