ABDCE Structure Examples from Famous Works of Literature

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Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot

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Wesleyan University

Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot

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Курс 1 из 5 — Specialization Литературное творчество

In this course aspiring writers will be introduced to perhaps the most elemental and often the most challenging element of story: plot. We will learn what keeps it moving, how it manipulates our feelings, expectations, and desires. We will examine the choices storytellers make to snag our imaginations, drag them into a fictional world, and keep them there. We will learn how to outline and structure a plot, discuss narrative arc, pacing and reversals and reveal the inevitable surprise: connecting the beginning, middle and end.

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The Power of Structure

In this module we're going to learn what story structure is and how by understanding structure you can learn how to sequence the events in your plot to help maximize your own storytelling abilities.We'll talk about Freytag's pyramid, the five act structure, how that structure can be found in works of classic literature, and have a conversation about how structure and outlines can help organize the stories you want to tell.

ABDCE Structure Examples from Famous Works of Literature7:08

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Brando Skyhorse
Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing
English

[MUSIC]

Welcome to segment two.

The action background development conflict end structure in

famous works of literature.

Now, one of the great things about learning the ABDCE structure,

which we talked about in the prior segment,

is realizing that you already know this structure.

You are familiar with the structure because you've absorbed it in so

many stories that you've read or are familiar with already.

Let's take a look at the structure in three stories that

you probably already know.

F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, William Shakespeare's Romeo and

Juliet, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Let's start by talking about one of the most famous and

familiar 20th century English language novels, The Great Gatsby.

What's the action, the lead or thesis of the book?

Our main character, Nick Carraway,

moves to Long Island, renting a house in the fictional village of West Egg and

takes a job in New York City as a bond salesman.

The background, Nick's cousin is Daisy who's married to a man named Tom Buchanan,

a college acquaintance of Nick's.

Development, Nick meets the mysterious and enigmatic Jay Gatsby,

who once had a romance with Daisy, and spends the summer in Gatsby's world.

Daisy and Jay rekindle their romance and start an affair.

Nick learns through a woman he's dating that Tom has a mistress

named Myrtle Wilson.

When Tom realizes Daisy is in love with Gatsby, Tom confronts Gatsby and

reveals to Daisy that Gatsby made his fortune through bootlegging.

Tom then sends Daisy and Gatsby back to West Egg.

Note how every line of summary here is literally another rising action.

The climax,

the key narrative twist in your story that brings all the threads together.

Gatsby's car, driven in a reckless rage by Daisy, kills Tom's mistress.

The ending.

Now, what happens to your characters after the climax?

Gatsby is murdered by Myrtle's husband, and Nick leaves Long Island

in a complete state of disillusionment, and moves back to the Midwest.

Now let's take another famous piece of literature,

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

The Action, Romeo is taken by his cousin Benvolio

to a Capulet ball where he meets and instantly falls in love with Juliet.

The background, Romeo's family, the Montagues, and

Juliet's family, the Capulets, are sworn enemies.

Development, Romeo and

Juliet, after a whirlwind courtship, decide to get married.

Juliet's cousin Tybalt,

incensed that Romeo snuck into the Capulet party, challenges him to a duel.

Romeo refuses to fight, so

his friend Mercutio accepts the duel on Romeo's behalf.

Tybalt kills Mercutio, so Romeo kills Tybalt and is exiled.

The climax, Romeo returns from exile and sees Juliet in the tomb.

Thinking she's dead, he kills himself.

Juliet turns out not to be dead,

only in a death-like coma due to a potion provided to her by a friar.

When she awakens, she discovers Romeo is dead, then kills herself too.

The ending.

The friar that gave Juliet her potion tells the entire story to both

the Montagues and the Capulets, who agree to at last end their grudge.

Now I discussed in module one how the Harry Potter books were

magnificent feats of plotting.

But how does one of those books fit into the five

act ABDCE structure that I just outlined for you?

Let's take a look at Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone.

Action, Harry Potter an orphan that's being mistreated by his horrible aunt and

uncle, the Dursleys, learns just before his 11th birthday via a hand-delivered

message from a half giant named Rubeus Hagrid that Harry is a wizard.

Background.

We learn that a great and terrible wizard, Lord Voldemort, murdered Harry's parents,

but vanished when he tried but failed to kill Harry Potter when he was an infant.

Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Hagrid place Harry

in the care of his Muggle uncle and aunt, Vernon and Petunia Dursley.

Development, now this is where a majority of the book takes place.

Harry learns what it means to be a wizard and starts discovering the wizard world.

He also begins to meet a few of his supporters, Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione,

and antagonists, Snape, and Draco Malfoy.

We follow Harry through his first year in school where he faces the standard

problems of a new student, getting lost on the way to class, trying out for

the quidditch team, noticing mysterious happenings going on around the school.

Ultimately, Harry, Ron, and Hermione reach an erroneous conclusion

that Snape is trying to steal the Sorcerer's stone and attempt to stop him.

Climax.

The climax comes when Harry reaches the end of the teacher's set traps and

puzzles, and sees not Snape, but Professor Quirrell

attempting to steal the stone by looking for it in the mirror of Erised.

During the climax, Quirrell reveals that he had tried to kill Harry earlier in

the year at a quidditch match, and that he'd released a troll into the school.

Ultimately, Quirrell reveals that he's being possessed by Lord Voldemort,

who forces Harry to look in the mirror and find the stone.

Harry gets the stone but refuses to give it to Voldemort/Quirrell.

When Voldemort tries to take the stone from Harry, Harry passes out.

Harry wakes up later to find out Quirrell couldn't take the stone from him,

likely because he's still under the protection of his mother's love,

which saved him as a baby.

Dumbledore reveals that Voldemort left Quirrell to die and

that the stone has been destroyed.

Ending, the conclusion of the school year, Harry, Ron,

Hermione, and Neville win back all the house points they lost earlier

by sneaking out of their common room, and Gryffindor wins the house cup.

Harry returns home to the Dursleys for the summer

without letting them know he's not allowed to use magic outside of school.

Three great works, three great examples of the ABDCE structure.

In the next segment I'm going to discuss how structure and

outlines can help you organize your plot and the story you want to tell.

[MUSIC]

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