story-structure

Story Structure

A percentage-anchored landmark-beat skeleton (K.M. Weiland's 5 Secrets of Story Structure / Structuring Your Novel) overlaid with James Scott Bell's 14-signpost catalog (Super Structure) — plus two modes for using them: mapping a new story's structure before drafting, and auditing an existing manuscript against it.

Weiland's beats answer where a turning point should fall; Bell's signposts answer what psychological or emotional work that turning point needs to do. Together they give a placement skeleton with content diagnostics at each joint, not just a percentage ladder.

When to Use

This skill is for:

• ✅ Fiction manuscripts — novels, novellas, short stories
• ✅ Placing landmark beats (Inciting Event, Plot Points, Pinch Points, Midpoint, Climax) into a new outline before drafting
• ✅ Checking where beats actually land in an existing draft, by approximate percentage
• ✅ Checking whether a beat that's present is doing the psychological work it needs to (via Bell's signposts)
• ✅ Catching two specific, commonly-missed failure modes: Inciting Event/Key Event/First Plot Point confusion, and the Faux Climax trap

When NOT to Use

This skill is NOT for:

• ❌ Scene-level micro-structure (Goal/Conflict/Outcome, Scene/Sequel) — use fiction-workshop's references/developmental-editing.md Scene-Level section instead.
• ❌ Character-arc mechanics (Want, Need, Wound, Lie) — use fiction-workshop's references/character-work.md Core Four instead. This skill only notes which structural beat is where the Lie is tested (Third Plot Point) and resolved (Climax).
• ❌ Narrative nonfiction structure — use narrative-nonfiction's transformation-arc guidance instead; this skill's beats assume a plotted fiction conflict.
• ❌ Prose-level pacing (sentence rhythm, word choice) — use prose-mechanics.

Session Continuity

Structure placement is meant to persist in the project's Story Bible, not be re-derived each session.

• At session start: If a Story Bible exists, check its "Plot Foundation" section for an existing Structure Profile block (see assets/structure-profile-template.md). Don't re-run Map on a story that already has one unless the author asks for a re-check.
• When a beat is newly placed or moved: Hand the profile block back to the author to paste into the Story Bible yourself — this skill does not write to the Story Bible directly (see each mode's stop condition below).

The Landmark Beat Skeleton

Full skeleton, percentages, and the two named failure-mode diagnostics (Inciting/Key/First-Plot-Point confusion, Faux Climax): references/landmark-beats.md.

Bell's 14 Signposts

Full catalog, in Bell's own order, cross-referenced to the landmarks above where they overlay one: references/signposts.md.

The Two Modes

Mode	Invocation	Question	Reference file
Map	"Map the structure for this story"	Where should each beat and signpost land, for a story not yet fully drafted?	references/structure-map.md
Audit	"Audit this manuscript's structure"	Where do beats actually land, and is each doing its job?	references/structure-audit.md

Ordering guidance: Map is for pre-draft planning; Audit is for anything already written. They are not sequential stages of one session — run whichever mode matches the story's current stage.

Load only the reference file matching the currently invoked mode, plus landmark-beats.md and signposts.md (both modes need both). Do not preload mode files you're not running.

Workflow

1. Identify the mode the author is invoking (see table above). If unclear, ask.
2. Load references/landmark-beats.md and references/signposts.md, plus the mode file for the identified mode.
3. Run the mode's workflow exactly as documented in its reference file.
4. Stop at the mode's documented stop condition (see Stopping Points below). Hand results back to the author.
5. If a new or changed Structure Profile results, offer the assets/structure-profile-template.md block for the author to paste into their Story Bible's Plot Foundation section — do not write it there yourself.

Integration with fiction-workshop

• fiction-workshop/references/developmental-editing.md's Act-Level section links here for the deeper percentage-anchored skeleton and signpost content-checks.
• fiction-workshop/references/character-work.md's Arc Milestones section links here, noting Third Plot Point and Climax as the beats where the Lie is tested and resolved.
• assets/structure-profile-template.md is designed to paste directly into the Story Bible's existing "Plot Foundation → Three-Act Structure" section (see fiction-workshop/assets/story-bible-template.md), adding finer beat percentages and signpost notes on top of the existing Act I/Midpoint/Act II-B/Act III placeholders.
• This skill never restructures fiction-workshop/assets/story-bible-template.md — it only adds an optional block.

Stopping Points

Each mode has a defined end. Stop at it. Do not auto-advance to the other mode, do not silently expand scope, do not write to the Story Bible without being asked.

Mode	Stops when...	Then
Map	Structure Map block completed for all 11 landmarks	Hand back for author confirmation. Do not auto-write to Story Bible.
Audit	Flagged-beat report delivered (missing/mistimed/thin beats, Faux Climax check)	Stop. No auto-rewrite — author decides which flags to act on.

Finding Format

Audit-mode output (missing/misplaced landmark beats, signpost gaps) conforms to ../../references/finding-schema.json: audit = "story-structure-audit", technique = the specific landmark or signpost involved (e.g. "Weiland Midpoint" or "Bell Pinch Point 1"), severity, location (chapter-level if no single line applies — use line 1 of the chapter and describe the gap in issue), confidence: "judgment", exemplar optional. Map-building mode (not diagnostic) is NOT in scope.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Treating the percentages as exact page counts	Weiland's own framing: aim for rough quarters, not surgical precision — a beat within a few points of its mark is fine
Conflating Inciting Event, Key Event, and First Plot Point into one beat	They can be three distinct scenes with three distinct jobs — see landmark-beats.md's callout
Declaring an early goal-achieved scene "the climax"	Check for Faux Climax — is there a bigger obstacle still standing between the protagonist and the true goal?
Running Audit on a story with no draft yet	Audit needs actual manuscript text to locate beats in — use Map instead for pre-draft planning
Checking only placement, not content	A beat can land at the right percentage and still be hollow — always run the matching Bell signpost content-check too

Quick Reference Commands

Need	Command
Plan a new story's structure	"Map the structure for this story"
Check an existing draft	"Audit this manuscript's structure"
Check one beat's placement	"Where does the Midpoint land in this draft?"
Check for a specific trap	"Check this manuscript for a Faux Climax"

Files

• references/landmark-beats.md - The 11-beat percentage skeleton, diagnostics, two failure-mode callouts
• references/signposts.md - Bell's full 14-signpost catalog, cross-referenced to the landmarks
• references/structure-map.md - Map mode workflow
• references/structure-audit.md - Audit mode workflow
• assets/structure-profile-template.md - Story Bible block for a story's structure profile