How to Structure the Third Quarter 

I'm so glad you're back! Please stock up on vitamin C, D, NAC (found in fresh garlic), protein, etc... The writing world needs you!

Hi Ellen! Can you think of any stories where you said, "Wow. How was that a good story? It didn't follow any standard structure, no three act, no midpoint, maybe no real inciting incident or no resolution."? I was wondering if something doesn't have enough structure if it would just be like real life, or like a documentary, or how-to, but not a story.

really glad you are doing better, your last video had me worried!

Could be -- I think a story with *astounding* levels of characterization and emotion, or an amazing premise, or excellence in one or more of the other aspects of a story -- *could* work, could be entertaining etc without a good structure... But it could still be so *much better* if it did provide the emotional and intellectual benefits yielded by story structure.

@@LeviathantheMighty I'm not Ellen, but Memento was a great movie.

I can get tons of inspiration from children's books and films. Disney and Pixar are masters at storytelling. All all those Penguin classics I used to read as a kid are baked into my writer DNA.

@@xensonar9652 I'm writing a horror novel and I'm still inspired by children's stuff

@@MadailinBurnhope A lot of the old fairytales are basically horror stories to scare kids into behaving. Some of them are a wild read. Still, there must be something there, because Hollywood still pillages them to this day.

I've watched over 20 different youru e novel writers videos for help and you're the only one that I feel explains it simply . The cut away to bullet points help tremendously because it allows me to write down the point and refer to them as needed. Please do not change that format Einstein said if you can't explain it simply enough for a child to understand then you do not understand it yourself. Can you please make a video on writing scifi novels in regards to the aliens point of view. I get confused about is it okay to use earth words for example. Door and chair or kingdom etc I get confused if that makes the alien civilization seem unrealistic or should I make up terms or be extra and instead of ayih door I should say entrance or entrance way.. do you get what I'm saying? Thanks

​@sweettea6309 Your comment is two years old, so I hope you've solved it by now, but for anyone reading your question and wondering about the same, here's some thoughts: You should write as if the whole book has been translated to modern English. This is true whether your story takes place in medieval times or on a completely alien world. A good example of this is how Tolkien handled this in the Lord of the Rings. None of the characters are actually speaking English, most of them speak Westron. Which in Tolkien lore is the predecessor to English. Yet the book is presented as if translated for modern audiences (well 1950's audiences). Ofc, you want your world and your aliens to feel alien, so you add in a little flavour. Like Tolkien does with names of characters and locations. Sprinkle in the occasional concept/expression or alien spice that just isn't easily translated or doesn't have an equivalent on Earth. We do this with translations from other cultures on earth as well, so it feels natural. It should however always be clear from context what the word is referring to and you should restrain yourself. You don't want to turn your novel into the Jabberwocky. While that nonsense poem was designed to be obscure yet still comprehensible, your readers will run away screaming if you try to write an entire novel like that. Though it has been done, people often complain about that being a reason they hate hard fantasy for instance. So your pool of potential readers will shrink fast. You should therefore try to reserve your alien terms for things that matter a lot to your story. If your alien doors function much the same like earth doors (hole in wall with covering that is easily replaced) you should just call them doors. If they're high tech teleportation devices between rooms, portals will suffice. If you have many different kinds of portals you can call these ones room or house portals. Only as a last resort should they be Brillig Portals. Unless the story leads to the fabled Brillig Portal. The downside is that this will likely paint a picture of bipedal hominids. If this offends your 16 legged chitinous floating squids, you have to work a bit harder to describe their differences. A description of a chair as some type of tall cradle with resting holes for all 16 legs in some bizarre shape could help. But afterwards the thing is still a chair. Names present a slightly different challenge. Tolkien had it easy there because he was delving from our own history. But while your aliens are probably called things like xhchztd-ibbrlld-pblrb and his gorgeous six eyed wife xhchztd-ibbrjld-pblrb, your human readers will no doubt get a bit confused. The names also don't hold the same meaning to us as it does to the aliens. While you could go for the native American stereotype of man-that-hunts-bears, we normally don't translate names. Sometimes the ideas the names conjure, are important. That's why the character names in Harry Potter have been translated to many different languages. Though not all have been well received by everyone speaking those languages. But Harry Potter also started out as a series aimed at children. A compromise is giving your aliens nicknames that stick better with us humans, but sound exotic enough. You could make your characters do this on their own, which usually works for fantasy. Kaluthaedigror becoming kal to friends. Or with sci-fi it's not unreasonable to have the whole thing be intercepted and parced by some universal translator or a dedicated researcher. Nicknaming our alien Bral and his wife Rajel.

Thank you so much! I am much better now!

I'm so glad you found that video helpful! Also congrats on your success in video games!

@@EllenBrock Thank you! I've worked with some of the best creative minds on Earth and I always recommend YOU to everyone who wants to write or learn about story structure or writing in general. You're the best.

@@Poisonedblade Wow, thank you so much!

​@@EllenBrock My pleasure!

Me too! Thank you!

Yes, I am almost back to normal! Thank you! And I'm very glad you found the video helpful.

Thank you! I hope you find it helpful!

I'm so glad the video helped! Thank you!

That is so great to hear!

Yes, in the previous video I called it "Disney's The Kid," but I totally forgot to do that in this one. Sorry to hear you and your wife were sick, but I'm glad you've recovered. It is no fun at all! I'm glad you found the video helpful and that you already checked all the boxes!

That's a good idea, thank you!

Thank you so much for your kind words and well wishes. I'm really glad you're finding the videos helpful!

I would really like to do that, but I'm a little unsure about copyright strikes on RU-vid.

Awww, thank you!

That's awesome!

(That is to say that I enjoyed the video! Thanks.)