Writer's Workshop: Building Up/Building Down

Today, I'm gonna teach you about a famous storytelling model called "Freytag's Pyramid." And then I'm going to tell you why I don't like it and propose a completely different model instead!

So to start with, what is Freytag's pyramid? Well, it looks like this:

It's a very simple model of story structure, but it captures a certain feel. We start with exposition for act 1, setting up the world and the characters. Then, tension starts to rise as the story piles on the action and adventure. About midway through, the characters hit the climax, realizing their true potential. Finally, as the action falls, we reach the final resolution, and the story closes with a simple denouement.

You see this in a lot of story-writing classes. I'm going to call it a "building up" model. Every step in the story is meant to build up towards the climax; by the time we reach the final boss, we've collected new skills and new experiences, and the end of the story has a complete character facing up against the final boss.

So... why don't I like this model? Well... I guess it just seems to me like, once you hit the climax, the story's effectively over. Notice how, in that picture, the climax is right in the middle. When's the last time you read a story where the main character's realization and change occurred right in the middle of the story? No, it's always at the end! I mean, look at this graph:

This is a chart demonstrating the intensity of a story over time. Notice a difference? The peak section of the story is at the very end, not in the middle. You'll notice there's basically no falling action in this one, and only a very short denouement, if any. More importantly, you'll notice there are occasional peaks corresponding to bursts in intensity, followed by a short relaxation.

So I'm gonna use this as the basis for a slightly different model, which I'm calling "building down." (Should it be "tearing down?" Whatever. I'm calling it "building down.") In this model, rather than focus on the things the characters learn, the ways they grow and develop, we're going to focus on what they're losing. With each second, each chapter, each page, we feel the intensity raise as opportunities, powers, and resources decrease, not increase. As you might guess, this ties into a bunch of my previous lessons: the Limit, Act Turns, How Characters Are Blind, and such the like.

This model is vastly superior to Freytag's, as it tells the reader exactly what to do if they want to make the story more tense, if they want to go up on that intensity chart. For example, suppose I'm writing a story where the characters only have three days before an asteroid crashes into the earth. If I want the story to feel tense, I just have to show how time is creeping closer. Maybe the asteroid's presence causes some wonkiness with electronics (it's a magic asteroid, shut up). Or maybe a piece of the shuttle breaks, and the characters have to spend more time fixing it. In either case, I'm showing that time is running out, forcing the characters to get more desperate with their actions.

One of my favorite episodes is a great example of this: "Sweet and Elite." If you try to match it to Freytag's, you'll find it doesn't really match. What does Rarity learn at the halfway point that helps her achieve her goal? Well, nothing. Her big choice happens at the end, when she chooses her friends over the Canterlot nobles. There's no falling action; the story builds and builds to the very end. But if we look at this as a "building down" story, it makes more sense. Rarity is always struggling with time. She only has so many days until Twilight's birthday; later, she only has so much time to split between the garden party and Twilight's birthday. At every step in the story, Rarity spends her time one way or another, and her ability to solve the story problem weakens with each passing second.

We can also see how the passing time forces her to change her approach every so often. In the first act, she is able to work on becoming a better Canterlot noble at the same time as she tries to fulfill her responsibilities with her friends. But when she bumps into Fancy Pants, suddenly they're in conflict. She loses the ability to do both simultaneously. She spends most of her time with the nobles, but that means she isn't working on Twilight's dress. This isn't a problem until they show up at her room. Now she's lost the ability to push Twilight to the side. Now she can't ignore Twilight, but she can't ignore her new noble "friends" either. So she runs back and forth, until finally she loses even that, too. Her friends figure her out and invade the garden party. Now she can't spend time with either. She's finally run out of time; she must make her choice about which side she'll stick with.

Do you see how the "building down" model makes more sense for this story? Rarity isn't learning and growing like in Freytag's model; instead, she's constantly fighting a losing battle. You can map just about every modern story like this. The bomb ticks down to the last second, or the detective slowly runs out of leads. But truth be told, the "building up" model isn't wrong, per se. It is, at its core, an empowerment model. We see a character grow to become someone great. On the other hand, the "building down" model is disempowering. The characters always feel like they're one step behind, always trying to catch up. There's always a sense of urgency to each action, each choice. Personally, I think this model is more interesting, but in the end, it's up to you. Which do you prefer: a story about a character who grows to reach their full potential, or a story about a character who fights to stay on top, and ultimately overcomes?