Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction

"Writing is structure," William Goldman said, but aspiring writers often plunge into their work without grasping this fundamental principle. Story structure is one of the most important concepts for a writer to understand, ironically, one of the least frequently taught. In this webinar, New York Times-bestselling author William Bernhardt explains the elements that make stories work, using examples spanning from Gilgamesh to The Hunger Games. In this webinar, he introduces essential concepts in a direct and easily comprehended manner. Most importantly, Bernhardt will explain the elements that make stories work. He will discuss:

1) the multi-act format;

2) inciting incident;

3) character arc;

4) plot points and plot twists; and

5) climax and denouement.

Writing Without Fear

An understanding of story structure is critical to writing a first-rate novel. There is nothing wrong with planning your story before writing it. Most of the best novelists do.

Structure can help you grapple with the seeming immensity of a novel, of creating a world, characters, dialogue, plotting, and more.

Think of story structure as your road map from Chapter One to The End. You may divert to a side road here or there, but structure keeps you pointed at your final destination, a completed manuscript.

Author Bio

William Bernhardt is the author of over sixty books, including the Daniel Pike legal
thriller series (#1 best-selling novel The Last Chance Lawyer). His previous works
include the bestselling Ben Kincaid series, the historical novels Challengers of the
Dust and Nemesis, three books of poetry (The White Bird and The Ocean’s Edge), and
the Red Sneaker books on fiction writing. In addition, Bernhardt founded the Red
Sneaker Writers Center to mentor aspiring writers. The Center hosts an annual
writers conference (WriterCon), An annual cruise (WriterCon at Sea), small-group
writing retreats, plus a bi-weekly e-newsletter and podcast. More than three dozen
of Bernhardt’s students have subsequently published with major houses. He is also
the president/owner of Bernhardt Books, which publishes fiction, poetry, and
creative nonfiction.