Story structure, side by side

Fourteen plot structures, each broken down beat by beat with examples. Find the shape your story already wants to be, then outline it free.

All story structures

14 structures

Eight essential turning points that drive momentum and rising stakes in every story—based on the hero’s journey and…

A comprehensive four-act structure with 24 chapters for novel-length stories

Campbell's monomyth of the hero's transformative adventure through trials and triumph

The classic beginning, middle, and end framework used in most Western storytelling

A narrative framework that divides a story into four distinct sections with balanced pacing

A classical dramatic structure dating back to ancient Greece and popularized by Shakespeare's plays

A classical five-act dramatic structure that visualizes rising and falling dramatic tension

A streamlined, character-focused framework emphasizing the key moments that drive transformation

A feminine-centered narrative framework focusing on integration, healing, and reclaiming wholeness

A recursive story development process that expands from a single sentence to a complete novel outline

A 15-beat screenplay structure that emphasizes character likability, genre conventions, and precise pacing

A crisis-driven structure that starts with action and builds through escalating complications to a climax

A simplified, circular story structure perfect for episodic storytelling and character-driven transformation

A comprehensive chapter-by-chapter novel structure based on key structural turning points

Pick a structure, answer a few questions about your story, and the free plot builder lays out every beat for you.