What's your favorite story structure?

[Macarenaoftime]

So do you have a favorite story structure or is your creative process bassed more on intuition?
What cons and pross do you think predetermined story structures have over your writing?

I like a lot the hero's journey just because of how oddly specific it is. It's good if you're beginning your story or if you tend to struggle at midpoints.

However, I don't think it quite fit with my comic because I didn't have a clear theme and I didn't polish certain plot points enough. (I was creating some things on the go :,v)
I don't think I passed through "meeting the mentor"

( I had to edit this because I was rambling too much)

[WillowTree]

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record here... but following Gwen Haye's romance formula is hands down my favorite. It gives such a satisfying romantic arc every time and even though it gets predictable (as most structures do), it's still so much fun to write or read someone who's learned from her method

Pros for story structure is that it's going to meet the genre expectations. Fantasy/romance/action/mystery whatever genre it is, the readers have certain expectations and it's up to the writer to make sure they fill them.

I don't really have any cons? If people enjoy writing genre fiction then the structures are there to help them make sure any readers will enjoy what they write. If someone wants to deviate too much from genre expectations then they're just not genre writers

[Macarenaoftime]

I haven't heard of that formula :0
Definitely gonna give check it out!

[ar-ninetysix]

I would read whatever you linked for myself, but I apparently need to request access?

[allenT]

One of my favorites is the 6 Act Structure. My story however don't fully follow it though.

[RyzaCobalion]

while i don't exactly have an actual story structure looking at the chart my series The Dark Children of The Night half of the hero's journey. Like atm my mc is at the 6th stage where is he tested to prove he's a member of his group.

[Macarenaoftime]

I fixed it haha. If you're interested I would gladly spoil you the whole thing

[Pony_wearing_a_hat]

I really like the 2 in 1 structure used by many cartoons, Gravity Falls in particular made this their main method. Where a series of events and actions taken by the characters solves both a story problem and a character problem, with both being solved at the same time, sometimes oven by the same thing. For example, you could realize how much you need your friends while searching for buried treasure, and find the treasure and admit to your friends that you need them around the same time in the story.

[Macarenaoftime]

[ar-ninetysix]

That's what I get for skimming a topic again oops

I thought there were more story structures that were just weirdly hidden away, not your story in progress?? My bad lol I'd say mine's based on intuition, but I can just look stuff up. Although.. @allenT 's 6 act structure that they mentioned is closest to mine as well.

About predetermined structures for my writing.. I'm not fond of them, bc then my brain gets so wrapped in trying to categorize what actually goes where. I feel like I'd try to rearrange events based on what I feel aligns with certain parts.. It's just more of a mess than it needs to be for me lol I probably just have strong preferences in writing that fall in line with structures I'm not aware of.

[darthmongoose]

Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat" beatsheet.

It's seen as simple or hacky by some people, because it's based around being the absolute bare bones to make a functional narrative for popular fiction, particularly movies.... But for somebody like me who started out as an artist and had to learn to structure a story, "Save the Cat" was the single most useful thing I read for demystifying the process. I may outgrow it eventually, but right now, it helps me get all my chaotic, rambly scenes in order and hang them on something narrative-shaped.

[milejdyvan]

I'd say for me the thing that is more important is the amount of tension in a story at a select time. Basically, if it's stagnant for too long, it just becomes boring, but if the stakes are high all the time and it never gets resolved, that gets boring too. So I don't necesserily have a formula since I want to write a series of books and I can't have them be repetitive (although repetition is sometimes unovaidable) but I tend to try and keep the story interesting throughout. Although I am sure the structure still fits to some existing formula somewhere 🤣 creative writing can only be so creative after all.

[BlunderingAlbatross]

Have to say I'm a sucker for variations of The Hero's Journey There's just something so... classic about it that almost always works. Or at least that's my opinion!

[Dysis]

It's based on intuitions. Then again, the normal world--> inciting incident---> call to adventure is pretty much universal.

I prefer writing the end first and driving the characters to it. And then revealing all the twists and turns and messing with people at the end.