The Muse & the Marketplace 2016

Do you have so many ideas on the page but struggle with how to arrange them? What does it mean to have a well-structured story or essay? In this class, we will go over the essentials of structure used in fiction and non-fiction. We'll talk about the narrative arc: inciting incident, the climax, the resolution. We'll discuss the importance of the first paragraph and of the last paragraph. We'll talk about what to do with backstory and with subplots, and how to know if they belong in your story/essay or if they should be chopped. We'll also learn a new trick about structure that involves a chicken, a mouse, and a snake -- this trick will help your story or essay stay well-structured while remaining a living, breathing thing.