# Breaking Down Story Units for Novels **URL:** \ **Category:** Writing\ **Created:** [April 29, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/breaking-down-story-units-for-novels/1718 "2018-04-29T21:10:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 15
**Author:** ![jhull](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/discuss.dramatica.com/jhull/32/3_2.png) [@jhull](https://discuss.dramatica.com/u/jhull)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 6:42pm UTC](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/breaking-down-story-units-for-novels/1718/15 "2018-04-30T18:42:50Z")
When it comes to structuring your story, I would first start with the four signposts from each Throughline, and then the Story Drivers. So you might have: OS: Past - Progress - Future - Present MC: Doing - Learning - Obtaining - Understanding IC: Conceptualizing - Being - Becoming - Conceiving RS: Subconscious - Preconscious - Conscious - Memory With Five Story Drivers, weaved together it might look something like this: 1. Initial Story Driver 2. Past 3. Doing 4. Conceptualizing 5. Subconscious 6. Second Story Driver 7. Learning 8. Progress 9. Being 10. Preconscious 11. Third Story Driver (Midpoint) 12. Future 13. Conscious 14. Becoming 15. Obtaining 16. Fourth Story Driver 17. Memory 18. Understanding 19. Conceiving 20. Present 21. Concluding Story Driver Right there you have an awesome story. But it might be a tad anemic when it comes to fleshing out a two-hour screenplay (and even moreso if you’re writing a novel). So you’ll want to break down those individual Signposts into the Sequences that lie underneath. For screenplays, and most stories, I suggest only doing the Overall Story Sequences. These are the sequences found in the Plot Sequence Report. The other Throughlines I only look at if I need to “cheat” and I can’t come up with something on the spot that feels right. If you’re nearing a deadline, the Sequences become your best friend. 🙂 So, if we take the PSR for the Overall Story Sequences we get: - Past: Approach, Self Interest-\>Morality, and Attitude - Progress: Prerequisites, Strategy-\>Analysis, and Preconditions - Future: Senses, Conditioning-\>Instinct, and Interpretation - Present: Wisdom, Skill-\>Experience, and Enlightenment What you do is you REPLACE the instances of the Overall Story Signposts with these Sequences. In the first Structural Act you will now have THREE beats of Past: Past in terms of Approach, Past in terms of Self-interest to Morality, and Past in terms of Attitude. Your structure might now look something like this: 1. Initial Story Driver 2. Past in terms of Approach 3. Doing 4. Past in terms of Self-interest to Morality 5. Conceptualizing 6. Subconscious 7. Past in terms of Attitude 8. Second Story Driver 9. Learning 10. Progress in terms of Prerequisites 11. Being 12. Progress in terms of Strategy to Analysis 13. Preconscious 14. Progress in terms of Preconditions 15. Third Story Driver (Midpoint) 16. Future in terms of Senses 17. Conscious 18. Future in terms of Conditioning to Instinct 19. Becoming 20. Future in terms of Interpretation 21. Obtaining 22. Fourth Story Driver 23. Present in terms of Wisdom 24. Memory 25. Present in terms of Skill to Experience 26. Understanding 27. Conceiving 28. Present in terms of Enlightenment 29. Concluding Story Driver From there you might add an extra beat or two from the Main Character Throughline or the Relationship Story Throughline - whatever feels right for your story. I’ve also found that as you get closer and closer to the end - these beats tend to weave tighter and tighter with each other, especially in comparison to where they began in the first Signpost. With this approach you end up with 28-32 STRUCTURAL story beats from which you can start to write a treatment/master outline or even the story itself. You’ve kept the perspective of Author consistent throughout the structuring process. Plus, it’s a ton of fun. --- _[View the full topic](https://discuss.dramatica.com/t/breaking-down-story-units-for-novels/1718)._