Unravel the Secrets of Spellbinding Narratives With These Five Commandments of Storytelling

Writing a compelling and engaging story is a craft that requires understanding the core principles of storytelling.

Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned writer, these principles serve as a roadmap guiding you toward creating a captivating narrative. The five commandments of storytelling – Inciting Incident, Progressive Complication, Crisis, Climax, and Resolution – are the key elements that structure your story and engage your readers.

This is what I mean, with an example of each point.

Inciting Incident

As a beginner writer, it's crucial to get your story rolling with an event that disrupts your main character's world.

This is your inciting incident.

It should challenge the status quo and provoke a response from your protagonist. For instance, the protagonist might discover a secret, lose their job, or meet a stranger. This incident acts as a catalyst, thrusting your character into an unforeseen situation and setting the stage for the events to follow.

For example: Lily, a dedicated office worker living in a bustling city, finds a mysterious old book in her grandmother's attic during a weekend visit. The book is filled with stories of adventure, magic, and distant lands. This discovery disrupts her usual life and stirs an irrepressible longing for adventure within her.

Complication

This is where the hurdles and obstacles that your protagonist faces become increasingly difficult.

As a writer, your goal is to continually raise the stakes, making the circumstances more and more challenging for your character. These can be anything from internal struggles within the protagonist's mind to external conflicts with other characters or the environment. This constant escalation keeps the reader engaged and curious about how the protagonist will overcome these obstructions.

Like this: As Lily starts reading the book, she begins to experience strange occurrences. Objects move without her touching them, and she starts to hear whispers in a language she doesn't understand. These events, which grow more intense with each passing day, destabilize her normal life and challenge her sanity.

These are her escalating complications.

Crisis

The crisis represents a critical turning point in your story.

This is where your protagonist is cornered and needs to make a hard decision. It's an emotional high point where the pressure reaches its peak. As a writer, your job is to create a believable crisis that forces your protagonist to take decisive action, making the reader anxious about the outcome.

Decisions, decisions: On a fateful night, Lily is abruptly transported to a fantastical world described in her grandmother's book. Lost, scared, and confronted by a hostile creature, Lily must make a crucial decision - to face the creature and fight for her life, or hide and potentially remain trapped in this world forever.

This represents the crisis in her story, a major turning point demanding decisive action.

Climax

The climax, the most intense part of your story, is the showdown or the ultimate face-off that your story has been leading up to.

It's the culmination of all the tension and conflict you've been building through the inciting incident, progressive complication, and crisis. The climax should be a decisive event that brings a significant change in the protagonist’s situation. Remember, your climax should be the highlight, the moment everything is at stake, and the outcome is uncertain till the last moment.

Read this: Lily decides to confront the creature using a spell she remembers from the book. It's a terrifying struggle but eventually, she manages to subdue the creature using her newfound magical abilities.

The climax of this story is this breathtaking battle and the revelation of Lily's powers.

Resolution

The resolution, or denouement, is where you tie up loose ends and bring your story to a close.

The outcome of the climax usually changes the trajectory of the character’s life, and in the resolution, you depict that change. It's the part of the story where the conflicts are settled, and a sense of equilibrium is restored. As a new writer, it’s essential to provide a satisfying conclusion that resonates with the reader, leaving them with a sense of completion when they turn the last page.

Like this here: Having defeated the creature, Lily finds herself back in her own world, with the book now blank and ordinary. However, her life is no longer the same. She is changed, filled with a newfound sense of confidence and self-reliance.

This resolution wraps up her story, showcasing the transformation of Lily's character and her return to a sense of normalcy, albeit a new one.

The final word

In essence, mastering the five commandments of storytelling can dramatically improve your writing skills.

These elements act as the skeleton of your narrative, giving it shape and direction. As you embark, and eventually learn and grow on your writing journey, remember the power of your story lies not just in the sequence of events but in how these events unfold and influence your protagonist's journey.

Understanding these commandments is your first step towards crafting a story that resonates with readers and leaves a lasting impact.

The story of Lily, as portrayed above, is not referenced from any real story or published book. It is a fictional narrative created for the purpose of demonstrating the Five Commandments of Storytelling: Inciting Incident, Progressive Complication, Crisis, Climax, and Resolution. It serves as an example of how these elements can be integrated into a story to increase its engagement and impact.

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