On Narrative Plot

Very Briefly, its way too late and I'm way too tired.

Almost every book I’ve read fits into a certain narrative preestablished pattern. Nothing too deep, just some casual observations while I’m avoiding finishing this story I was working on last year.

Here are the big ones that keep showing up:

1. The Hero’s Journey (The Classic “Leave Home, Get Wrecked, Come Back Better” Arc)

We all know this one. Starts with some regular dude, in a regular location, Something big happens and they’re called to adventure. They freak out and say no at first. Mentor shows up, drags them along. Trials, big boss fight in the middle, they almost die, win the final fight, and come home a changed person.

2. Freytag’s Pyramid (Build Up, Explode, Wind Down)

Exposition → rising action (stuff gets tense) → climax (big confrontation) → falling action (consequences) → resolution (or catastrophe if it’s dark).

Romeo and Juliet crashes hard at the top. Most thrillers do this: slow burn, everything piles up, boom, then wrap it up quick before you get bored.

3. Three-Act Structure (Setup → Mess → Fix)

Act 1: Introduce characters, world, normal life + the thing that screws it up (inciting incident).
Act 2: Everything goes wrong, midpoint twist makes it worse, hero scrambles.
Act 3: Final showdown, resolution, new normal.

Pride and Prejudice, The Hunger Games, most modern novels honestly. It’s clean, it works.

4. In Medias Res (Jump Straight Into the Chaos)

Drops you in the middle of the action. No gentle intro. Then it backfills how you got here with flashbacks or whatever.

The Iliad starts with Achilles pissed off. Handmaid’s Tale throws you into the dystopia day one. Fight Club begins with a gun in your mouth.

Why it’s cool: Life doesn’t give you a prologue. You’re always joining the story halfway through. Makes the reading feel urgent—like you’re catching up on someone else’s emergency. Plus it skips the boring setup and gets to the good stuff faster.

5. Nonlinear / Messed-Up Timelines (Puzzles Instead of Lines)

Events out of order. Multiple timelines. Flashbacks, flash-forwards, unreliable narrators. Cloud Atlas, Slaughterhouse-Five, Pulp Fiction (book version vibes), a ton of literary stuff.

Why people dig it: Memory isn’t linear. Regret, trauma, anticipation—they all jumble time. These stories let you feel how connected (or disconnected) moments really are. It’s like the author saying “life isn’t a straight path, deal with it.” Forces you to piece it together yourself, which makes the payoff hit harder.

So yeah. Most books remix these handful of patterns because they tap into how our brains actually work: we crave journeys, tension/release, agency, chaos that makes sense eventually, and sometimes just straight-up confusion that mirrors real confusion.

What about you? Got a favorite structure that always gets you, or one you’re sick of seeing? Drop it below. I’m probably reading the same Tolkien passage for the 50th time right now anyway.