7 Story Planning Methods That Don't Give a Stuff About Structure

Master Fiction Writing

Ah, the dreaded three act structure, four act structure, and five act structure. If you're a novelist who just isn't feeling structure, you're definitely not alone. You're ready to dive into the deep end and start planning your novel without any of these structures, but you don't know where to start. Fear not, intrepid writer! I'm here to guide you in the mysterious and wild world of novel planning without traditional structures.

Let's start with the basics, then ignore them. What is a three act structure, four act structure, or five act structure? Simply put, these are the most common forms of writing structure when it comes to novels. They all follow a basic outline of a beginning, middle, and end. The main difference between them is the number of acts. Simples!

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's move on to planning a novel without this any of this traditional nonsense.