Writing | Storytelling

Freytag’s Pyramid

Illustrating Classical Dramatic Structure

Drawing The Story Arc

Storytelling sometimes feels like drawing a picture. What starts out as a simple doodle transforms into a distinct pattern with shape and form. Soon enough you have a map of the work.

From the blueprint, a well defined sketch is nursed into a full rendering of the thoughts, emotions, and messages living in a finished image. Art always mirrors reality with all of its distorted clarity. It’s the artist who blazes the path through the smoke and mirrors.

Drawing a face usually requires you to place the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and every other facial feature within the outline of the person’s head. The placement of each characteristic it up to the illustrator, no single piece belongs in a certain spot, but each have a general area it resides in relative to the components around it. Identifying and drawing these connections along the way is a part of the creative act a storyteller partakes in.

Weaving a strand of inspiration through carefully placed loops in scenes scattered about in a far corner of your mind is a journey alone. Arranging the pieces of the puzzle in a compelling fashion, that’s the job of the storyteller. Using a universal structure, like a sketch, provides the ground work an author needs in order to succeed in building a capitvating narrative.

Most students are taught the basic outline for a story: opening, rising action(s), climax, falling action(s), and resolution. Disney has been using a similar structure to write their stories for the last hundred years. Have you ever wondered where it came from? or what it’s even called?

Freytag’s Pyramid, also known as Freytag’s Dramatic Structure, is a model that describes a typical five-act outline of a dramatic or literary work. This model was first presented by German playwright Gustav Freytag in his book Die Technik des Dramas in 1863. It is often used to analyze, understand, and write classical and modern plots of/for plays, novels, and films.

Exposition

This is where the story begins. Characters, setting, and the general dynamic is introduced. The audience gets to know the main characters and the world they live in.

An exposition should end with an inciting incident. This is the moment that thrusts the character(s) into action. It’s an event or decision that serves as a catalyst for the story.

The arc is dependent on this crucial step. Think of a group of musicians from a small town deciding to go on tour and accomplish their dreams of becoming rockstars. It’s the beginning of a once in a life time adventure.

Rising Action

In this phase, the central conflict of the story is presented. A series of events unfold that build tension and suspense. As characters face obstacles and challenges, the plot becomes more and more complicated.

This where the reader might meet the main antagonist(s) and their relationship with the characters is defined. It could be an arch nemesis or rival, but sometimes the reader is the only one who knows who the antagonist is. It provides the opportunity to shake things up and build on the foundation laid earlier.

I can imagine the up and coming band runs into problems on the road like a flat tire or a christian rock band that labels our protagonists as satanic devil worshippers. Through these obstacles, the characters are tested and the reader finds out how they solve problems. Do any of them know how to change a tire? Maybe one or all of them have a relationship with God as well.

Climax

Next comes the turning point of the story. It’s where the conflict reaches its highest point. The most intense and crucial moment of the story explodes in everyone’s face.

The main character must confront the central problem and make a critical decision. Depending on how the character responds, the story can go in many different directions. The storyteller needs to create a situation where the character must face the challenge head on.

Say the band gets noticed by a music producer. But the christian rock band is competing for the label’s attention and one the band members has spiritual awakening. It’s time for the the band’s faith and tenacity to be tested, but they ultimately fail and the band decides to break up.

Falling Action

Following the climax, the narrative enters the falling action phase. The tension decreases and the dust starts to settle. Loose ends are tied up and the story starts to move towards a conclusion.

Falling actions can be minor obstacles or checkpoints reached as the characters move away from the chaos unraveling as a result of the story’s climax. It’s meant to tone down the excitement and safely lead the reader to the final act. If the turning point is advantageous to the characters, the falling actions might be those final obstacles.

After the nasty breakup, each band member finds their own way back home. Along the way, they each grieve for their own loss of camaraderie and face ripping licks. The catch is they all live in the same small town and they can’t avoid each other forever.

Resolution

The resolution is the final outcome of the story. It provides closure and answers any lingering questions. It allows the audience to witness the consequences of the characters’ actions.

It also provides the room for the reader to understand how the story concludes. This poses the reasoning behind whatever fate is in store for the characters. As the story winds down, you get to find out where they all are now.

The record store is a local hot spot and was once a favorite hangout of the band. When they all find themselves flipping through records in the same space, they remember what originally brought them together. Each bandmate might be different, but they all have a passion for music that extends far beyond any of their personal beliefs and they decide to get back together.

From The Sketchbook to Canvas

Freytag’s Pyramid is a valuable tool for understanding, analyzing, and creating an outline for a narrative. While it’s a classical model, many modern stories deviate from this structure. There are many variations and alternative storytelling techniques that can be used in all kinds of ways.

This frame work might remind you of Joseph Campbell’s more involved Hero’s Journey. He was obviously inlfuenced by Freytag’s work. Additionally, in my many years of dungeon delving, I have found that the five-pronged adventure has been adapted into a five-encounter session by D&D nerds.

Just like a doodle produces many different images, this writing template can yield many type of stories. There are several different iterations of a picture along its journey from the sketchbook to the canvas. It’s up to the illustrator, or the storyteller, to scribble connections joining the dots of a chronicle into a full scale piece of art.