Story Structure Patterns: What KIND of story is it?

Screenwriting Tricks for Authors

One of the MOST valuable things you can do at any point in your writing process, from brainstorming an idea to launching into a rewrite, is to identify the STORY PATTERNS that are working in your story. Or that you might want to have working in your story!

Last week we were talking about High Concept - and by the way, there’s some valuable further discussion in the Comments section at the end of that post that you might have missed.

Well, identifying the story patterns in your book or script can help you with High Concept - and also it’s an excellent way to brainstorm Setpieces, fill in the long middle of your book with exciting/provocative genre scenes, and just generally help you realize your story.

Story Patterns—what I think of as the KIND of story you’re writing—are different from Genre and Subgenre.

• They’re more granular (specific and precise) than genre and subgenre.

• The same Story Pattern can show up in virtually any genre or subgenre.

The Cinderella pattern, for example, can be at work in a pure fairytale romance (CINDERELLA), a romantic comedy (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA), an action comedy (MISS CONGENIALITY), or a crime story (THE GODFATHER).

The High School Sleuth pattern is obviously at work in A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER - but it is also the main structural pattern of all the HARRY POTTER books, and the STRANGER THINGS series.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (2024)

There is also usually more than one story pattern working in any given book or script.

I recently watched the often-brilliant Sam Esmail’s new Netflix movie, LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND, based on the compelling book by Rumaan Alam. I’m not exactly recommending the movie, but it's interesting to see how the adaptation was influenced by producers Barack and Michelle Obama! And it is extremely useful to take a look at for clear Acts (helpfully labeled Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, etc.), Act Climaxes and Setpieces, and a starry and always watchable cast.

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Plus, it’s a great teaching example of what I think of as a Big Event story pattern. Maybe I should call it the Catastrophic Event, since “Big Event” could be a wedding, and while also life-altering, that is definitely not the kind of story this is!

I’m talking about books and films that feature a cataclysmic, world-changing event. They’re apocalyptic, yes—but instead of focusing on the aftermath of the event, like THE WALKING DEAD (Zombie Apocalypse pattern) or THE ROAD (straight Apocalypse Pattern) the Big Event tends to show the Event coming, then dramatizes the very beginning of the event in fairly real time, and at the end leaves the reader or audience to imagine what happens next. (Also note that these Big Event stories are different from the Dystopian Pattern, where the society has had a Big Event or a series of political cataclysms that have resulted in a new and dystopian society (THE HANDMAID’S TALE, THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER and THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS, THE HUNGER GAMES, etc.)

BIRD BOX, A QUIET PLACE and THE MIST are more horror/sci-fi versions of the Big Event pattern, while LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND is a reality-based, geopolitical disaster. I haven’t seen it, but DON’T LOOK UP sounds like a comic/satirical and again, political take on the story pattern.

There are other variations of this story pattern, like the Pandemic Story (CONTAGION, OUTBREAK) and the more isolated Big Event that you might call The Anomaly or The Phenomenon, where a weird non-human thing shows up, affecting a contained place, and the people in that area or whose expertise this is have to investigate it. (ANNIHILATION, ARRIVAL, THE DOME, a bunch of recent TV series like THE SOCIETY and BETWEEN).

Annihilation (2018)

The Alien Invasion pattern has some crossover with the Big Event, but pretty much deserves a category of its own.

And these days Grid Down, prepper/survivalist apocalyptic action stories, with a particular political slant, have become so common on Amazon I’m surprised there’s not a Kindle category for them.

But regardless of the genre, this Big Event story pattern has some specific structural steps that work to build the kind of delicious suspense that this genre promises, and that fans of the pattern kind of expect from a book or movie. And once you’ve figured out that your own book or script falls into that Story Pattern, it is wildly useful to watch a few movies in a row that use that same pattern. You can get inspired by some classics and also check whether you’re fulfilling the expectations of that story pattern, yourself.

It is a fantastic way to brainstorm scenes at the beginning of your writing process, and to help you revise once you have a first draft, and to generate ideas when you’re stuck in that long middle!

Plus, it’s easy, fun, and partner/family friendly work to do over the holidays, when we can never seem to get any work done, but somehow always seem to have time to watch TV and movies!

So why not set a stealth agenda of watching some movies that will also move your book or script along?

Here’s the process:

1. Identify the Story Patterns that you can see working in your book or script.

Plenty of examples and discussion in these previous posts and workbook chapters:

• What KIND of story is it?

• Working with Story Structure Patterns, Part 2

• A Star is Born Pattern

• Stealing Hollywood Chapter 4 and throughout, especially the Story Breakdowns

• Writing Love Chapter 4 and throughout, especially the Story Breakdowns

2. Make a Master List of movies and books that use the same story patterns.

More on Master Lists:

• The Master List - Ten Movies to Help You Write Your Book

• Chapter 1 and throughout Stealing Hollywood and Writing Love.)

3. Watch a few of those movies looking for common elements and scenes of the pattern that you can use in your own book or script!

As always, I’d love to hear what patterns you’re working with!

And that brings me to another question.

I know a lot of you are paid subscribers primarily to get access to the full archive of posts. But I’d really like to know from you if you’re interested in a private group discussion, and where that could happen that would work best for you.’

I know from long experience how invaluable group feedback (and encouragement!) can be, and these fall and winter months are the best time to hunker down (especially because I won’t be doing all this crazy travel for a while).

But we need enough committed people to build some momentum. So if you think this might be for you, let me know what format would be more useful to you. All other suggestions welcome, and if a core group does get going, I’m happy to meet on Zoom sometimes, too, and/or do a watch-along story breakdown of a movie.

—Alex

All material © Alexandra Sokoloff, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors

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