Seven-Point Story Structure

I’ve moved this structure near the end of the course. Not because it’s terribly difficult—I mean, you already know it only has seven points—but because I never knew what to make of it. It floats between all the other narrative structures we’ve handled so far. That’s why, in the wrong hands, it causes a muddled and meandering story. But in the right hands, as many successful authors proclaim, it’s the best way to write a story.

What is it?

If you remember the sine wave from high school … this structure is just that.

• For some time, the conflict rises. (The line goes up.)
• Then something big happens, and the conflict seems to slow down. (The line goes down.)

This repeats a few times, until the final line goes up and ends a bit higher than the other peaks. (To mark that the hero finally, definitively, won or resolved the story conflict.)

I must admit that the images/explanations of this structure are all over the place. Some show the final line ending higher than all the others. Which makes no sense, as that’d mean the story ends when the conflict is at its worst, without resolution!

As such, I’ve drawn the structure in the way I understand it, and in a way that is actually consistent. The line represents the strength of conflict, not “is the hero close to winning” or “are we near the end”.

The seven points mentioned in the name are ….

• The Hook: this is your first chapter in which the inciting incident happens. Something fun, interesting, life-changing happens to the hero. The story is off to the races!
• Plot Turn 1: the hero now jumps into the adventure, no way back. (Similar to “crossing the threshold” from the hero’s journey.)
• Plot Pinch 1: the antagonist or major conflict is introduced, which raises the stakes.
• Midpoint: a crucial turning point in the story. The protagonist goes from being reactive to being proactive.
• Plot Pinch 2: the major conflict suddenly becomes much worse. The hero seems to have lost. (Similar to “dark night of the soul” from hero’s journey.)
• Plot Turn 2: the hero discovers something that will help them finally defeat the antagonist.
• Resolution: the hero finally resolves the major conflict, defeating the antagonist.

Plot Turn vs Plot Pinch

A plot pinch is something bad. The antagonist figures out a new way to add new obstacles. (It might also be an obstacle that was already in place, but the hero only encounters it now.) In other words, it’s as if the antagonist is holding the hero, and squeezing them tighter: a pinch point.

These events move the plot forward, but also serve to raise the stakes (to get that rising action you want in a story) and to reinforce the conflict and how bad it is.

As you see in the image, plot pinches occur in valleys. Their occurrence causes the conflict to tighten up and become more extreme, causing the line to go upward again.

A plot turn is the opposite. It might be called “good”, though that’s not necessarily true. The hero doesn’t win, but important things change, and the conflict is reduced for a while. It’s like a “minor victory”.

With these two elements, your hero is basically slung back-and-forth between the two extremes. Between losing and winning. Between making things worse and making things better. Between finding solutions or failing to do so. It is similar to the Fichtean curve in that sense, or to any structure that sees stories as a cycle.

That’s why, if applied at face value, this structure will just lead to a meandering story. The hero is all over the place and the reader is like “what’s the purpose of this? Let’s skip to the end to see how they finally win.”

The solution, as always, is to keep in mind the magic words of change and progress. Every time the plot turns around, this should cause a shift or a change.

The hero tried again, and failed to win again … BUT they received a powerful object for their troubles, or realized they need a different approach.

The enemy has shown how powerful they are again … BUT this time the hero tricked them and was able to extract useful information from the encounter.

For most stories, people know the hero will win in the end. The interesting part is how it happens. The fun part of stories is the journey along the way, and how characters change, progress, and deal with adversity.

If you just follow this cycle of try-fail-repeat without consequences or change, the story becomes boring and unfocused.

Reactive vs Proactive

We discussed this before, with the Midpoint in the 3 and 4 Act Structure. In the first half of the story, the hero is reactive. They are trying to solve the conflict “the easy way”. They’re trying to get home before dinner.

The midpoint is such a shock, such a turnaround, that this changes. From now on, they do things “the hard way”, and will not go home before they’ve defeated their enemy.

Symmetric Stories

This structure is also praised for the fact that it’s symmetrical. (This is also called “chiastic” structure.)

In a good story, the first three points are usually a mirror of the last three points. The midpoint turnaround is literally a turnaround that splits story into these two halves.

This is easiest to see with the start (hook) and end (resolution). In almost all narrative structures, the hero returns home at the end. We start with a status quo, and we end with a status quo … that has changed.

In other words, you already learned that it’s nice to mirror the start and the end. The ending should have the same elements as the beginning, but with a few crucial bits altered. The ending happens at the same place as the beginning, but now our hero has learned some lessons and picked up skills.

The same is true for the other points. The two Pinch Points are mirrored, and so are the Plot Points.

What would it mean to mirror those? Well, for a very simple example,

• The first Pinch Point introduces an evil sorcerer who intends to take over the world
• At the second Pinch Point, they have acquired what they needed and actually execute this plan

Both events revolve around the same topic or action. But they’re not the same, they’re a mirror of each other, so the second time is a different implementation of it.

Looking at plot points, you might go for something related to the hero’s flaws.

• The first plot point sees the hero say “I don’t need help.”
• The second plot point sees the hero beg someone for help.

Again, related, almost the same, but with a crucial change. The plot points are mirrors of each other. Usually, this change is literally a “reflection”: a complete turnaround from one side to the other. Where the hero first believed something to NOT be true, now they believe it to BE true.

Why?

People love patterns. Seeing deeper patterns and structures in stories (or art in general), is part of what gives us enjoyment and makes the art good. (I call this “density in art”: the more purposes a single scene can fulfill at once, the more “dense” it is, and thus the better.)

It also helps with cohesion and contrast. The story is easier to grasp if events are mirrors of each other, related to earlier events. The meaning hits harder if it’s severely contrasted with a mirrored scene from earlier.

Symmetrical storytelling is very common, because it’s an easy (structural) way to make stories more powerful. Now that you know this, you’ll find it everywhere.

Now write!

Write a story using this structure.

• Plan big and interesting scenes at the seven points, which are mirrors of each other.
• Keep the meandering nature in mind: sometimes the hero wins for a while, sometimes they lose for a while.
• But whatever happens, it causes change and progress. Just repetition or recycling isn’t the way.

Because of its symmetrical nature, people often recommend planning your story that way as well.

• Start with the resolution
• Then create your hook (a mirror of the end)
• Then create your midpoint (something that mirrors both resolution and hook, usually a pivotal event that connects the two parts)
• Then fill in the parts in between.

I would never do that, because I am an improviser and do not want to know how my story ends before I write the actual ending. But it’s a solid tactic if you’re up for a bit of outlining beforehand.