I would've made this a forum post too, but this might end up being a little longer and require more formatting than a forum post. Anyways, Story Structure is the foundation of every story. Usually, one would start off making a very simple, rigid, story. After a little writing, you can drift away from this, as it can end up being really reptitive and boring. Here, I'll teach you different ways to structure your story, so they aren't all the same.
The Starter's Method[]
This one is the most common method of all. Let's throw a random idea out there: a superhero with explosive powers fights an antagonist with hydrokinetic powers. There's our basic premise -- notice how it's a single sentence? That's called a high concept story. But we'll get to that later. To establish this story, we'll need to give the audience a full background of how it begins, progresses, and ends.
The Start[]
Let's say our main character is named Nathaniel Sherman. You'll need to develop him, but there's a dialogue post and characters post for that. Anyways, here, you reveal how Nathaniel gets his powers, why he got them, and what he'll use them for. Well, to start, let's say Nathaniel is broke. He doesn't have a job and he needs money quick, so just to go with the typical ridiculous trend in superhero movies -- he's part of a experiment, and when it fails, he's left with the ability to point at anything and make it explode. Great. We've established why our story is going in the direction it is. Nathaniel's now a freak of nature. Yet, he decides to use his abilities for good. However, something has risen.
The Middle: The Antagonist and Development[]
Nathaniel now has his powers. But, unbeknowst to him, the same lab was operating on someone else, who also got superpowers. This can be where our hydrokinetic antagonist can come in. Let's call him something corny, like Hydro. Now, usually in this part of the story, we want to establish who Hydro is, and why he's an antagonist. In generic superhero movies, he usually just wants to destory stuff, so let's go with that. Now, Nathaniel loves his city, so he gets upset at Hydro for, well, destroying everything. But, when he tries to stop him, he runs into an impass -- Hydro is somehow immune to his explosive powrs, and Nathaniel loses!
With this, we have a stop in Nathaniel's journey. This is a good chance for character development -- how does he react to being beaten? The conflict suddenly seems more serious, and the pressure is on to stop Hydro. We get insight into the character and maybe a few scenes showing what Hydro is capable of.
Now, Nathaniel must turn to something else. He goes back to the lab and gets in the machine once more, by the power of plot convience, and develops ice powers! Now, he trains by himself, and develops the ability to cause an "ice explosion", in which everything in the radius freezes. Now Nathaniel is properly equipped. We have the last step before the climax, so usually, this scene has a sense of heroism and triumph to it.
The Climax[]
Everyone knows what happens here. Nathaniel goes into the city, finds Hydro, and they fight for a while, then Nathaniel uses his ice explosion and takes out Hydro for good. Hooray, the city is saved!
That's great an all, it's a decent story, but what's the problem?
It's cliche. Unbearably cliche. It's a typical three-act story. How many movies have you seen like this? It doesn't even have to be about a superhero, this method of telling a story is so rehashed and overused that it's boring! You know what's going to happen. Now, it's okay to start off using this, but as you keep writing, eventually you'll want to tackle something else. Now, I'll present two far more interesting ways to tell a story.
Drop-in, Drop-out Method[]
Alright, so instead of a superhero, let's focus on a regular person. Joseph is a devout Priest who spends his time studying the Bible and fundraising for charities. However, after his son dies, someone strange comes into his life to help him cope.
Take a look at that synopsis. You can't explain it in one simple, short sentence. This is a low concept script. Essentially what happens here, is we drop into Joseph's life after the major event, watch it play out, and when it's no longer intersting, we leave. This type of story has very loosely defined acts, and sometimes the acts don't exist at all.
Before I break down how to tell this story, let's take a look at Annabelle -- I use this movie as an example a lot, I know, but bear with me. We go into Annabelle's life right as she finished moving, then she gets thrown straight into school. There isn't a huge, defined conflict as you would find in the Starter's Method. We're just watching her go through her life. In the Starter's Method, we can clearly say "here's the main conflict, here's the rising action, climax, and falling action". With this type of story, that's not as defined.
Another good example is Birdman. There is a climax, there's a beginning, and an ending. However, we drop-in when his life is picking up pace, and leave right after it's done. It has an open ending (that I won't say) and leaves you on the note that the story continues elsewhere. As with Annabelle, it has an open ending, and a new chapter of her life is ahead of her, but we don't get to see it.
Again, there is a start, middle, and end, but it is not clearly defined. This leaves you, the writer, with the ability to send the story in any direction.
This type of story largely focuses on the characters. So let's go back to our example with Joseph: the story starts off when him preaching a church service. He's preaching about the Death of Jesus (symbolism! his son also died) and he gets a little teary-eyed. After the sermon, someone comes up to him and he talks about the death of his son -- now the audience knows his predicament. He goes home and visits his son's now empty room, and gets emotional.
What's the difference here? In the Starter's Method, it's all about point A to point B; Nathaniel deals with this problem. Then that one. Then this one. Here, there is no Point B to go to. We're just witnessing a rather depressing part of Joseph's life, yet it's still interesting.
The most important part is to remember that we're watching someone's life play out, so we have to care about this character. Give us a reason to feel bad that this man is suffering. Develop him! If you're a newer writer, base him off an archetype and build off of it. If you're not, make up a completely new person. Make him unique, a person you want to feel bad for. I expand on how to do that in the character's blog.
Now, if he's developed, and we care about him, then go wild. Let him experience this part of his life, but keep it interesting and dramatic. It's important to note that this style of story-telling is most useful for dramas and other low-concept scripts. If you want to see a real movie that does this well, watch Birdman. If you want a ROBLOX movie, watch Annabelle.
The Oyster Method[]
Ever heard the phrase the "the world is your oyster?" That's what that title comes from.
Let's say a character gets the ability to travel between multiverses. Sick, right? Think of all the power he has -- everything he can witness! That'd be really awesome to see. So show it.
In this story, a character has a vast expanse to explore, metaphorically or literally, and the story revolves around them going through it. This is a neat way to show the audience what you think something would be like. Take Dream Clouds for example. In the movie, Rick explores the concept of what dreams might mean. There is a somewhat define Point B (who is that girl in his dreams?) but there's no set stages to get to that Point B, like in the Starter's Method. He has to go with what he has and find/fight his way there.
So let's go back to this multiverse character. Let's say his name is Juan. Juan wants to find a way to touch time -- he wants to be able to measure it in definites, not just with a watch. With his ability, he travels to several different universes, each giving him a different perspective. In one universe, Earth is a moon of Jupiter (which doesn't make any sense, I know). In another, he meets himself, but the Alt-Juan is killing people for no reason. In another, Earth has experienced a Nuclear Fallout, and all is lost.
Do any of these points get him closer to Point B? Maybe.
That's up to the writer to decide. This type of story offers a lot of freedom, and can be twisted into being a far more interesting version fo the Starter's Method, or a variation of the Drop-in, Drop-out Method. It's up to the writer.
Ultimately, the biggest thing to remember is that there are no absolutes in film or writing. Nothing is defined, and nothing about a story has to be this or has to be that. These methods are suggestions, and it's up to you to make variations of them to make them interesting.
Concept Levels[]
High Concept[]
A high concept story is a story that revolves around a single plot concept, and focuses on that concept rather than the characters. Anyone can do a high concept story. For example: Enoch becomes an archangel. High concept; one sentence, and an entire story can be built around that. In the Books of Enoch, Enoch goes through the different Heavenly realms, meets angels, fallen angels, and eventually becomes Mattatron the Archangel. While you should still develop your characters here, the characters serve to progress the story and the concept, making the characters less important than the concept itself.
Take Dream Clouds. We don't need a ton of development on the characters, because the idea is what draws your audience in. A man grows interested in his dreams, and finds a way to force himself into them. There, one sentence. High concept.
Low Concept[]
Annabelle is a young girl with cluster headaches and an abusive mother. After she moves to Maryland, she meets three other friends and grows fond of them, eventually becoming romantically interested in Wyden.
Woah! That's two sentences, and the second is long. If you have to explain more than a little bit of it (i.e. Archangel fights his infernal counterpart) then it's a low concept story. In low concept stories, the story serves to develop the characters. These are where you need to flex your character development skills, because otherwise, your story will be boring and stale. This is where you have to make your characters relatable, lovable, and fun. In a high concept script, the plot itself has to be to pushing point. Here, it's the characters.
Let's say you want to make a low concept story about a police officer. The officer notices the disdain in his community, so he decides to make a movie. He goes through his community and helps as many people as possible, hoping to regain the trust in the department.
Look at all that sweet, sweet freedom. You can go in any direction you want! Not only that, but it's not a big, bombastic story, it's simple, but still has the possibility to be entertaining. It's up to you to flesh it out and make it heartwarming, or, as I would like it, extremely depressing.
In Conclusion[]
There are many ways to write a story. The main purpose of this blog was to propose a different method than the first, as a huge amount of ROBLOXiwood films are still being made in the Starter's Method! Branch out. Make your movies unique. Play around with low-concept stories! Not every story has to have the same formula as the Starter's, so get to work.
That's it for today. Leave any questions in the comments.