Plot Summary: The Story Arc

Universal to both fiction and nonfiction, the narrative arc (also called the “story arc”) refers to the structure and shape of a story. This arc is made up of the events in your story — the sequence of occurrences in the plot — and determines the peaks and plateaus that set the pace. A good arc is vital if you want to engage your readers from start to finish, and deliver a satisfying conclusion.

In the broadest terms, the narrative arc is shaped by the beginning, middle, and end of a story.

What’s the difference between a narrative arc and a plot?

If the plot is the skeleton of your story, the narrative arc is the spine. It’s the central through-line marking the plot’s progress from beginning to end.

How about the character arc?

The narrative arc is to the story what the character arc is to a character. It involves the plot on a grand scale, and a character arc charts the inner journey of a character over the course of the plot.

Another straightforward distinction: while the story arc is external, the character arc is internal, and each main (and sometimes secondary) character will go through an individual arc.

Still, narrative and character arcs are part of a symbiotic relationship. Each plot point in the story arc should bring the characters closer to, or further from, their goals and desires. The circumstances and conflicts the characters face are part of the arc, but the way characters meet challenges and change as a result is “character arc” territory. 

Freytag’s Pyramid

In 1863, Gustav Freytag, a 19th-century German novelist, used a pyramid to study common patterns in stories’ plots. He put forward the idea that every arc goes through five dramatic stages: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Exposition

In the exposition or introduction, the author is setting the table in the exposition: starting the story, bringing out the characters, setting up the seeds of conflict, and imparting just enough background information to keep the reader clued in on what’s occurring in the story.

Here’s a brief overview of what else the reader should be able to extract from the exposition:

Rising Action

Usually, the rising action is prompted by a key trigger (also known as the inciting incident). Whatever the circumstances, the key trigger is the event that rolls the dice and causes a series of events to escalate, setting the rest of the story in motion.

Climax

A good climax will build upon everything earlier — the story lines, motives, character arcs — and package it all together. It’s both the moment of truth for the protagonist (the peak of the character arc) and the event to which the plot’s built up (the peak of the arc).

Falling Action

This is the stage where authors start resolving any remaining subplots and mini-conflicts. In Shakespeare’s comedies, this is the stage where everyone merrily pairs off with the right partner.

Denouement or Resolution

And after all that? Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy are engaged. Bilbo returns to Bag End. Huck Finn settles down with Aunt Sally to be “civilized.” Ishmael is rescued from the sea. Everywhere, readers breathe a collective sigh of relief. Also called the resolution, the denouement is just a fancy way of saying that the story has concluded.