story structure

How does this novel work?

story structure

The trade-offs of a heavy B-plot in Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Apr 30, 2026

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14 min read

The trade-offs of a heavy B-plot in Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

What Emily Henry gives up—and what she gains—by giving her family saga more page time than her romance

Kristen Tate

story structure

How SA Cosby balances internal and external tension in King of Ashes

Apr 11, 2026

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19 min read

How SA Cosby balances internal and external tension in King of Ashes

How 'frontstory' action and backstory mystery work together to control tension across three acts

Kristen Tate

story structure

Keeping readers invested across 500 pages and 500 years in V.E. Schwab's Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Mar 24, 2026

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22 min read

Keeping readers invested across 500 pages and 500 years in V.E. Schwab's Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

How to use chronology, world-building, and POV shifts to establish themes and sustain tension

Kristen Tate

story structure

The confessional structure of What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

Jan 11, 2026

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15 min read

The confessional structure of What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

How McEwan uses narrative reversal to question what we can know about the past

Kristen Tate

story structure

How timeline compression works in Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Jun 1, 2025

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14 min read

How timeline compression works in Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

What happens when you shift your starting point forward to trap high-stakes events in backstory

Kristen Tate

story structure

The narrative architecture of Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

May 3, 2025

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13 min read

The narrative architecture of Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

How three narrative strands create different intensity patterns and reader expectations

Kristen Tate

story structure

Using story questions to control tension and pacing

Feb 22, 2025

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8 min read

Using story questions to control tension and pacing

How tracking plot mysteries reveals the architecture of a thriller

Kristen Tate

story structure

The trade-offs of a heavy B-plot in Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

How SA Cosby balances internal and external tension in King of Ashes

Keeping readers invested across 500 pages and 500 years in V.E. Schwab's Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

The confessional structure of What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

How timeline compression works in Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

The narrative architecture of Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

Using story questions to control tension and pacing

The Blue Garret