6 minute read
Getting Started Telling Your Stories CAPT George Galdorisi, USN (Ret.)
Making the Freytag Pyramid Real
Since Rotor Review is published quarterly, I thought it would be helpful if I recapped what we talked about last time. Two big hitters:
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The log line: You have got to have one if you are going to write a novel. Here is the gouge:
If you are even semi-serious about banging out a novel, this is a necessary step to get your brain around just what it is you intend to write. This is something you must have before you rush out of the starting blocks and start slamming 80,000 to 100,000 words on paper
A log line is crucial to helping you focus on your story. Here is what a log line is. The subject of the sentence will describe (1) an imperfect but passionate and active protagonist. The verb will depict (2) the battle. And the direct object will describe (3) an insurmountable antagonist who tries to stop the protagonist from reaching (4) a physical goal on account of (5) the stakes, if the goal is not reached.
The Freytag Pyramid: All good novels follow this process. You want to do this!
Just to remind you of what we teed up last time, here is what the Freytag Pyramid looks like:
And here is what each segment of the Freytag Pyramid means: 1. Exposition: Setting the scene. The writer introduces the characters and setting, providing description and background. 2. Inciting Incident: Something happens to begin the action. A single event usually signals the beginning of the main conflict. The inciting incident is sometimes called "the complication." 3. Rising Action: The story builds and gets more exciting. 4. Climax: The moment of greatest tension in a story. This is often the most exciting event. It is the event that the rising action builds up to and that the falling action follows. 5. Falling Action: Events happen as a result of the climax and we know that the story will soon end. 6. Resolution: The character solves the main problem/ conflict or someone solves it for him or her. 7. Dénouement: (a French term, pronounced: day-noomoh) The ending. At this point, any remaining secrets, questions or mysteries which remain after the resolution are solved by the characters or explained by the author. Sometimes the author leaves us to think about the THEME or future possibilities for the characters.
So…have you done your homework and read or watched The Wizard of Oz? Yes, it’s a children’s story, but it is a perfect example of how a hugely popular story follows the Freytag Pyramid.
Stay with me on this. What we are going to do is show how a simple children’s story is built using the Freytag Pyramid. If this works for The Wizard of Oz, then it likely works for your story:
The Wizard of Oz Exposition
The exposition stage of the story sets the scene and introduces the characters. In The Wizard of Oz, the exposition is everything that happens from the beginning of the story to the tornado. We meet all the major characters. Dorothy runs away with Toto and meets Professor Marvel; and on her way back to the farm, Dorothy is overtaken by the storm.
The Wizard of Oz Inciting Incident
Next comes the inciting action, which is the event that introduces conflict into the story. This is a bit tricky in The Wizard of Oz, because there are two elements in the story that might be called the conflict:
One is the conflict between Dorothy and Miss Gulch, because Miss Gulch wants Dorothy’s dog put to sleep. This is what causes Dorothy to run away from home, leading to the blow to the head she receives during the tornado. In this sense, we might consider Miss Gulch’s threat the inciting moment.
But this conflict becomes more complicated when the tornado transports Dorothy to the Land of Oz. There, Dorothy’s house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East and kills her, and the Wicked Witch of the West threatens to kill Dorothy in revenge.
The Wizard of Oz Rising Action
The rising action is where the plot becomes more complicated and exciting, building tension. This includes Dorothy’s departure from Munchkinland, her meetings with the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, her arrival in Emerald City, her audience with the Wizard, and her capture by the Witch.
During this part of the story, small obstacles are thrown in the path of Dorothy and her companions, and the two conflicts mentioned during the inciting incident are reemphasized.
The two conflicts are then explicitly linked when the Wizard tells Dorothy he’ll help her get back to Kansas if she brings him the Witch’s broom.
Dorothy and her companions then face their most difficult challenge, with Dorothy getting carried away by the flying monkeys and her companions breaking into the Witch’s castle to rescue her.
The Wizard of Oz Climax
The climax is the most dramatic and exciting event in the story. In The Wizard of Oz, the climax comes when Dorothy and her friends are trapped in the Witch’s castle, and Dorothy kills the Witch by dousing her with a bucket of water. At that moment, much of the story’s tension is released because at least one of the conflicts, the one between Dorothy and the Witch, is ended, and the plot begins its descent down the other side of the pyramid.
The Wizard of Oz Falling Action
The next element is the falling action, which is made up of events that result directly from the moment of climax. The element after that is called the resolution, where the character’s conflict is resolved:
After Dorothy has killed the Witch, she takes the broomstick back to the Wizard. He solves the problems of Dorothy’s three companions, and agrees to take Dorothy back to Kansas himself.
This is the falling action: it shows the results of the death of the Witch, but it doesn’t resolve Dorothy’s second conflict, the fact that she wants to go home to Kansas.
The Wizard of Oz Resolution
The resolution comes when the Wizard accidentally takes off in his balloon without Dorothy, and Dorothy learns from Glinda the Good Witch that she could have taken herself back to Kansas at any time just by using the ruby slippers. At this point, Dorothy’s conflict is finally resolved. The threat from the witch is liquidated, and she realizes that she always had the power to go home.
The Wizard of Oz Dénouement
The denouement is the ending of the story, when order is restored. At this point, we are often shown the characters one more time so we can see what happened to them. In The Wizard of Oz it’s the final scene in Dorothy’s bedroom, where she is reunited with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry and the now familiar farmhands:
In some stories the denouement simply shows that order has been restored, and the world is now back to the way it was. But this isn’t usually the case, and it’s certainly not the case in The Wizard of Oz.
Dorothy is back home, but everything is not back to the way it was before she went to Oz. Dorothy’s understanding of herself and her place in the world have profoundly changed.
Easy breezy. I trust that by walking through this together you can see how your story can be steered to use this device to make what you want to say compelling for readers.
If your curiosity has kicked in and you don’t want to wait for the next Rotor Review, try this link to my website: https:// www.georgegaldorisi.com/. Other than writing thrillers, I like nothing more than connecting with readers. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and learn more about my books, blogs and other writing on my website. For those of you trying to up your game regarding any kind of writing, check out my “Writing Tips,” which offer useful advice for all writers from established authors to future best-selling writers.
Until next time.
