Unit 4

Creating a Structure

In the essay What is Real? (Unit Two) Alice Munro compares the structure of a story to that of a house. “Everybody knows what a house does, how it encloses space and makes connections between one enclosed space and another. . . .” For Munro, what is important in the organization of a story is not narrative time but narrative space and the relationship between the sections. Meanwhile, Burroway calls the structure of a novel or story a “pattern of conflict and connection.” The protagonist desires, and characters and events obstruct that desire. In the section on character, the need for the opposition to be equal in strength was mentioned, as well as the importance of inner and outer conflict. Characters without inner conflict lead to sentimental or melodramatic scenes. Both equality of opposition and necessity of conflict are concerns of structure, as well as character.

The structure you give to your story or novel is the pattern, the organization, and the meaning you are imposing on your material. Spending some time working out the appropriate structure will help keep you and your work focused on its purpose. This is particularly important when you are writing a longer work. It is easy to get lost, to forget where you are, and where you must go next. The structure is your blueprint or map. You may revise it; in fact, you probably will revise it, but it is an invaluable guide.