Introduction
Whether stories succeed or fail depends on a few key elements. These foundations remain the same across different kinds of strong stories, from novels to films to television shows. As a result, it is important to know what these elements are so you can include them in your story. Every story requires these five elements to succeed: character, setting, conflict, plot, and theme.
Let’s start off by delving into character.
Character
Naturally, every story needs strong characters in order to be successful. There are some varying definitions of character. However, the most useful definition in this case is that character is the driving force of every story. As you might know, stories often include a variety of abstract and complex ideas.
Despite this, readers do not connect to a particular story through abstract ideas, generally speaking. Instead, readers connect to a story through its characters. That is why it is essential that a story includes well-written characters that readers can connect or possibly even relate to. Well-written characters help readers immerse themselves in the world of the story and see the world through the characters’ eyes.
Different kinds of characters exist. The protagonist is the main character and usually the one readers are supposed to connect to the most. Supporting characters aid the protagonist and flesh out the world. They should also form compelling interpersonal relationships with the protagonist, each other, and perhaps even the antagonist. The antagonist opposes the protagonist and seeks to prevent the protagonist from achieving their goals.
Goals, growth, and flaws are all key for characters. Characters should have goals, experience personal growth, and struggle with their flaws. Now, let’s discuss setting.
Setting
Setting, in a story context, is the place and time that anchors the story. For example, your story might take place in the United Kingdom during World War 2. Setting provides atmosphere and context that shape events in the story. Additionally, setting is relevant to the decisions of the characters in the story.
Culture is one part of setting that influences character decisions. Characters might attempt to heed or circumvent cultural norms, based on who they are. Another component of setting is how much detail you should provide. It’s important to give readers enough detail to immerse them in the story while not overwhelming them with an excessive amount of details. This delicate balance is vital to writing setting effectively.
Now, let’s move onto the next crucial story element: conflict.
Conflict
Conflict is the central struggle that drives the plot forward in any story. A story needs conflict because otherwise there is no story. Without conflict, you only have description. The two main types of conflict in a story are internal and external conflict.
Internal conflict involves a character in conflict with some part of themselves. This can be a flaw, their past, or even their ideology. External conflict pits a character against the world or other characters. Examples of external conflict include opposing a tyrannical government, battling the elements, or a rift in a friendship between two characters.
Next, it is time to examine what role plot plays in a story.
Plot
Plot is the structured sequence of events in a story. This structure is key to helping readers follow along with the story. Plot is crucial for many reasons, but one of them is that it influences how the story’s conflict unfolds and how the characters resolve said conflict. There are multiple structures you can use for your story’s plot.
The most common structure that you can use is the traditional three-act structure. As you likely know, this structure consists of setup, confrontation, and resolution. Many people refer to these acts as the beginning, middle, and end, but these terms are more vague and less useful. You can also use alternative plot structures such as nonlinear storytelling or multiple POVs if you choose to do so.
These alternative structures can make your story more unique, but they are also more difficult to utilize correctly. As such, it is best to compare the value that they offer to the difficulty of using them. It might not be worth it to use alternative plot structures for your story. For example, detective mysteries heavily rely on tight plotting. This is why detective mystery stories rarely use alternative plot structures.
Last, let’s discuss the fifth crucial story element: theme.
Theme
Theme is the central idea or deeper meaning behind the story. It is important to recognize that theme is the real focus of the story, beyond surface events. There are some universal themes commonly found in all sorts of stories. These universal themes include love, survival, betrayal, and power.
It is best to avoid preaching to your audience about your story’s themes. Instead, clearly present the themes to your readers and let them come to their own conclusions. This is the ideal method of embedding themes into your story without preaching them to your audience. Readers find writers preaching themes to them annoying, so refrain from doing it. 1984, for example, explores the themes of loss of freedom and surveillance.
Now that we’ve covered all five of the crucial story elements, let’s review what we’ve discussed and wrap this up.
Conclusion
You have to get all five elements to work together in order to write a complete story. Doing so can be challenging, but it will allow you to write a compelling, well-crafted story that readers are more likely to enjoy. As a result, mastering all five of these crucial story elements is absolutely worth it. You will not regret the time you spent mastering the five story elements that we discussed above.
It is also important to point out that mastering these fundamentals allows you to adapt them to a variety of mediums. In addition to a more traditional medium like a novel, you can also adapt them to a screenplay, short story, or even short-form creative writing such as flash fiction. Regardless of what medium writers use, they should review their work and ensure that all five of the crucial story elements we discussed in this article are present.
With that said, we hope you learned something. Happy writing!
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