How to Construct a Story
by Mary Kole | Former literary agent, now a freelance editor, writing teacher, and IP/story developer for major publishers and creators.
Figuring out how to construct a story is a tricky task, and one of the best ways to tackle it is to learn how to end a chapter with a bang. Stories are constructed from acts or parts, then chapters, then scenes, then beats. If you don't give readers a reason to turn the page, they can easily lose interest and move on to their next source of entertainment or distraction. Your grip on their attention is more precarious than ever, with all of these distractions battling it out for people’s attention.
When thinking about how to construct a story, writers should consider their chapter endings. You don't want your reader to feel at ease (except when the story is over, and even then, you might want to leave a few threads unresolved). If readers ever stop in the middle of your plot and think, “Ah, finally everything is all right,” they will likely put your book aside … never to pick it up again.
Strategies for How to Construct a Story
While outlines are wonderful tools (more here on how to outline a novel) for learning how to construct a story, there’s a secret trick to pulling readers along for the ride: chapter endings. Here are some ideas for how to construct a story where readers always want to turn the page:
• Leave readers hanging: send them off on a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter so they definitely will stay with you. You can’t only use cliffhangers when you’re learning how to construct a story, but they can help.
• Introduce a new element: bring in an unanticipated character, plot point, or idea.
• Reinforce your theme: refer back to the main message of the story with a relevant image. If you’re working on how to construct a story, keeping a strong throughline will keep you on track.
• When nothing else works: if you must include a calmer moment, get into your point of view character’s interiority and demonstrate inner turmoil with anxiety or worry about something that just happened or what the character believes might be coming next.
How to Construct a Story With a Mix of Low- and High-Grade Tension
Incorporating too many cliffhangers (unless you are writing an action thriller) can be exhausting. It can make your writing predictable and, consequently, have a negative effect on your readers, who will be tossed along on the waves of your plot with no soft place to land. How to construct a story involves giving readers much-earned rests every once in a while.
Try to break up the plot tension with some low-grade tension using interiority and reaction beats as a way to keep your readers engaged. Remember, it's important to use high-level tension every so often to really grab the attention of your audience. When thinking about how to construct a story, look for tension of all different levels. Low-grade tension is totally fine in between plot points. Then don’t forget the balance of action and information needed in describing actions, and mixing things up again.
There’s no end-all, be-all formula for how to construct a story, but those chapter endings are key for maintaining forward momentum, and once you have that, you can do anything.
Elevate Your Storytelling
Wherever you are in your writing journey—from an initial outline to a draft to pitching your project—the experienced team at Good Story Editing can take your work to the next level.