Super Story Structure

Super Story Structure is a method devised by James Scott Bell, and it is the first story structure that actually made sense to me when I started writing. Everyone talked about outlines and plot, and I had the hardest time following their methods. Once I read Bell’s Super Structure, something clicked in my mind and then I understood what everyone was trying to tell me. For me, Super Story Structure had the perfect blend of planning and pantsing that helped me make a successful story. If none of the story methods we’ve discussed have worked for you so far, this may be the game-changer.

Super Story Structure

Bell’s method is divided into fourteen steps that take place across three acts. It’s a lot like the Hero’s Journey, but I think it’s more versatile. You don’t need to have a hero on a quest to make this method work easily for your book.

The best part of Super Story Structure is that you can keep all the steps or simplify it to just five sections. I will put a * by the points which you must have included in your story structure. The rest you can add if it makes it easier or leave out, but the most impactful story will usually have all fourteen steps. That being said, you can always plan out the five main sections, write your story with those in mind, and then go back and edit it to add in the other sections if you missed them.

Act I

The first Act is about the protagonist having a problem. It usually takes up no more than 20% of the book.

1. Disturbance*

This is your initial conflict hook for your story. Usually, it needs to be hinted at in the first line. There needs to be a challenge or trial threatening the protagonist because that is what makes a story. As it is said, “The cat sat on the mat” is not a story, but “The cat sat on the dog’s mat” has great potential. Create a disturbance in the protagonist’s life and show the promise of conflict. 

Please note, this is NOT the inciting incident that changes the protagonist’s ordinary world. The Disturbance is simply showing the conflict the protagonist already has in his life. Often, it will be a conflict stemming from his character wound and will also carry into the main conflict of the story.

2. Care Package

The Care Package is when a protagonist shows care and concern for someone else, humanizing him for the reader. Most characters will grow into better people by the end; therefore, they often start out with a major flaw. Allowing the reader to see the protagonist care for someone else will give the readers hope that he can change into someone better.

The secondary character in the Care Package will be someone the protagonist already knew before the story started. The character can move on in the story with the protagonist or be left in Act I, but she needs to be there in the beginning to help set up the protagonist’s personality and make him likable.

3. Argument Against Transformation

This is when you set up the story theme. What lesson will the protagonist learn (or refuse to learn) by the end? In order to make it the most impactful, you need to hint at it in the beginning. James Scott Bell recommends having a supporting character state the theme to the protagonist, and then have the protagonist argue against it. This way, your theme is clearly stated as part of the story and the protagonist shows just how much he has to learn.

4. Trouble Brewing

About halfway through Act I, you need to show a hint of the main conflict. This isn’t interpersonal conflicts or small disturbances like at the beginning. This is something bigger that hints at the main story conflict. Think of this trouble as a result of something the antagonist does off-page. Some part of the villain’s plan creeps into the protagonist’s life and causes waves, though we know nothing of that plan yet (or even the main conflict).

5. Doorway Of No Return 1*

This is the inciting incident. A big event occurs that will push the protagonist out of his normal life and into the story. It’s called the Doorway of No Return because once he crosses the threshold, he will enter Act II and not be able to go back to his ordinary world.

Sometimes this event is a result of the protagonist’s actions, and sometimes it is something that just happens to him. Regardless, he can’t back out. There are now high stakes that make him move ahead. These stakes will be associated with a form of death: physical, professional, or psychological (see my earlier post for more information). The protagonist must now proceed toward his objective or risk death.

Act II

The second Act is about the protagonist analyzing the problem and forming a plan to fix it. This section will be at least 50% of the book.

6. Kick In The Shins

Here is when the protagonist comes across the first obstacle in the way of achieving his objective. The Kick in the Shins should happen soon after the Doorway of No Return 1. The protagonist will try to overcome it and fail. This shows the urgency of the main conflict and just how difficult it will be for the protagonist to achieve his goal.

Bell suggests brainstorming a list of all the obstacles that could block the protagonist from achieving his objective. Then, pick the three best ideas for your story. Label them bad, worse, and worst. Use the bad one for the Kick in the Shins moment, and save the other two for later.

7. Mirror Moment*

This is the midpoint of the story, and Bell argues it is the most important point. He even wrote a whole book about it called Write Your Novel From the Middle. He found midpoints to be described so vaguely that he conducted his own research to better understand a successful midpoint. Here is what he discovered.

The midpoint is when the character looks in a figurative mirror at himself and is confronted with an ultimatum: change or die. It’s an internal debate scene when the protagonist must choose, and the result will dictate if he achieves his objective or not. There are two types of Mirror Moments.

1. Who am I? What Have I become? What do I have to do to change?

• This is when the protagonist has to grow into a better person (or end in tragedy).

2. I can’t possibly win this battle. I’m going to die.

• This moment dictates that the protagonist grows stronger in order to survive. 

Essentially, this is the section where your protagonist chooses to change and refuses to give up. It’s when we see his drive to achieve his goal, and he starts actively moving toward it with a fierce determination.

8. Pet The Dog

This is another moment when you show the protagonist has a heart. Make him stop in the middle of his own troubles to help someone else. It can be rescuing a dog, helping a comrade through some emotional crisis, or helping a stranger in the street. It needs to show he is embracing goodness, and his selflessness will make the reader like him even more.

9. Doorway Of No Return 2*

Here is another point of no return. The second Act is full of obstacles to overcome, and they will just keep coming until the protagonist does something to end what is causing them all. This doorway cannot be a coincidence. Unlike Doorway of No Return 1, this second doorway has to be a choice. It can’t happen to the protagonist but must happen because of the protagonist. Due to his own decisions and actions, he now steps through a new door into the final battle. There is no going back. He will either conquer or die.

Act III

The last Act is when the protagonist implements the solution to the problem. This section will be the remainder of the book, usually about 25%-30%.

10. Mounting Forces

Now the dam bursts and the river turns into a waterfall. The antagonist knows the end is coming so he will throw everything he has at the protagonist. Conflict after conflict. Obstacle after obstacle. Remember back at the Kick in the Shins section when we made a list of things that could hinder the protagonist achieving his goal? Well, now we return to it. The conflict that you labeled as worse should be inserted in this section. 

11. Lights Out

This is rock bottom. The darkest moment when all seems lost. Use the worst obstacle from your list earlier, and bring your protagonist to his all-time low. He needs to be reborn, shedding the old version of himself from the beginning and becoming the hero needed to achieve his goal.

12. Q Factor

This section was named after a character from James Bond. Bond visits Q to get his cool gadgets before he goes on a mission. Then, inevitably, at the end when Bond is stuck and hopeless, he pulls out one of Q’s tools and wins. You can do the same thing for your stories.

Start by selecting a Q factor. It can be a bit of knowledge, a token, or an actual gadget. Regardless of what you choose, the Q factor must be an emotional drive that inspires the protagonist to keep fighting in his darkest moment. Set up the Q factor in Act I so your character can pull it out at the end for the extra push he needs to win. If you don’t set it up, the readers will feel cheated when something miraculously shows up to save your protagonist. There needs to be a foundation for the saving information or trick that gets him out of the Lights Out moment. So, pick a Q factor, introduce it in Act I, mention it as a throwaway detail in Act II (don’t make it too obvious that it gives away the ending), and then let the protagonist draw emotional strength from it in Act III.

13. Final Battle*

This climax can be external, internal, or both. External battles are when the antagonist mounts all his forces against the protagonist in a physical altercation. An internal battle is the protagonist warring with himself on whether he will change into the person needed to win or not.

If you aren’t sure what kind of battle you need, look at your Mirror Moment type. If it is type one that requires change, you will need an internal final battle. If the moment is the second type that requires strength to survive, you will have an external battle. I feel like most good stories have both, but either an external or an internal battle will be the main focus.

14. Transformation

In this last section, you must show how the protagonist changed. Is he different (having a type one Mirror Moment) or stronger (having a type two Mirror Moment)? What lessons has he learned? How does that change his life going forward? Have the character do something that shows us how he has transformed.

The Chronicles Of Narnia Example

Let’s apply Super Story Structure to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I will reference the movie plot, and there are spoilers included below so feel free to skip this section if you haven’t read or watched it yet.

1. Disturbance—There is a war going on at the beginning of the story with bombs falling and people running. On top of that, the family immediately falls into an argument once they are in a safe place. So, we have both external and internal conflict right off the bat.
2. Care Package—Despite the family tension, we see them caring for each other. The older siblings get the younger ones to safety, the mother worries over them all, and even Edmund, who is the most unlikeable character, risks his life to save a picture of his absent father.
3. Argument Against Transformation—There are several themes in this story, but selflessness and courage are two of them. In the bunker, Peter yells at Edmund to not be so selfish, and his mother hushes him. Then they all have to put on a brave face to leave home for the countryside. This all sets the stage for the lessons they will learn by the end.
4. Trouble Brewing—Lucy discovers Narnia, but her siblings don’t believe her.
5. Doorway Of No Return 1—The four siblings enter Narnia.
6. Kick In The Shins—Lucy’s friend from Narnia was taken, and Edmund falls into the White Witch’s trap.
7. Mirror Moment—The Mirror Moment belongs to Peter in this movie. The movie’s exact middle is when Peter is standing on the frozen river with his sisters, and the wolves have cornered him. He has to take a good look at himself and decide who he wants to be: use the sword and kill the wolf like the beaver is telling him, drop the sword and surrender to the wolf like Susan is saying, or…he can look within himself and decide to stab the sword into the ice and save his sisters from drowning. Obviously, he picks the last option, and he takes the path to being a hero (not a murderer or a coward).
8. Pet The Dog—This scene belongs to Edmund, who has a redemption arc. He tries to stop the White Witch from freezing the fox. He doesn’t succeed, but you can see him trying to be a better person.
9. Doorway Of No Return 2—The siblings are reunited and have a talk around the fire. They decide to help win the war against the White Witch.
10. Mounting Forces—This comes in twofold. First, Aslan is killed. Second, the brothers go to war only to find the odds are not in their favor.
11. Lights Out—The brothers are having to retreat, and Peter sends his little brother to safety. However, Edmund has learned his lesson and refuses to abandon his family. He charges the White Witch, breaking her scepter, but he is stabbed in return.
12. Q Factor—Earlier in the movie, the three siblings ran into Santa Clause who gave them each a gift. Peter uses his sword and shield to run to Edmund’s aid and stop the White Witch from killing him. Susan uses her bow to shoot down a dwarf who tries to kill Edmund. And lastly, Lucy uses her potion to heal Edmund. All their gifts were Q factors set up for this moment.
13. Final Battle—The siblings rally with Aslan, finishing off the White Witch’s army. Lucy and Aslan go around reviving their friends who were hurt in the battle.
14. Transformation—The siblings are crowned the rulers of Narnia and usher in an age of peace. They are seen happy and getting along, which is the opposite of the opening scene.

Final Thoughts

I hope this has been as enlightening for you as it was for me (if not, maybe check out James Scott Bell’s book on Super Structure. He probably explains it better than me). As I said earlier, you don’t have to include all fourteen steps in your story. You must have: Disturbance, Doorway of No Return 1, Mirror Moment, Doorway of No Return 2, and Final Battle. Beyond that, do what works for you. These are steps to a successful story, but there is more than one way to write a good tale. Next week, we will cover the last type of story structure method (for now).

Thanks for reading!

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