Story structure comes in many variations with just as many ways to classify it. One of the leading voices on story structure is Orson Scott Card and his MICE Quotient. He divides all stories into four categories based on what element the author values the most when writing the story. These four elements are: Milieu, Idea, Character, and Event.
Milieu
Milieu refers to the world of the story. If your favorite part of writing a story is the worldbuilding, you probably want to write a milieu story. These tales start when a character enters a strange world and ends when they leave or decide to never return home. The main character is always a stranger in the world who will see things like the readers and be able to walk them through the world experience.
Example
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is the perfect example of a milieu story. The book begins with Alice entering Wonderland, and it ends when she returns home. Alice is a stranger to the world and finds it “curiouser and curiouser” just like the readers.
Idea
By idea stories, Orson Scott Card meant stories that center around discovering new information. If you’re writing a story for the reveal at the end, then you may be writing an idea story. The book starts when a question is raised and it ends when the question is answered. Most mysteries follow this pattern. The main character is often the person who uncovers the truth in the end, and the readers follow the character on the journey of discovery.
Example
One idea story is They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie. When Miss Marple first arrives at the mansion, she knows something is off. Soon someone ends up dead, and she investigates until she can explain who committed the murder and why. Our main character solves the crime, and the book ends.
Character
Characters are important in every story, but only character stories are centered on the transformation of the characters. If character development is what excites you most about your story, then you have a character story. The tale starts when the main character realizes she is unsatisfied with her life and starts to change. It ends when the character either finds a new position in society or chooses to stay in the old position. The main character is whoever has the biggest transformation journey and triggers other side characters to change as well.
Example
Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb is a character novel. It starts with an introduction to the main character, Fitz, and follows his struggle to find his place in the world. He starts as an unwanted child and turns into an educated royal assassin’s apprentice. Fitz has to make decisions that affect the trajectory of his life and the people close to him, and the reader sticks around because they want to see what happens to him.
Event
In the MICE Quotient, event stories are when something goes wrong in the world and it has to be fixed. If you’re most excited about taking a world in disarray and putting heros in that world to save it, then an event story is for you. The book doesn’t start when the golden age ends and the world descends into madness, but rather it begins at the end of the downfall when the character who is pivotal to creating the new order decides to act. This person will be your main character, and the reader will follow him as he strives to create the new order. The book ends once the new order is established or the old order in put back into place.
Example
An example of an event story is Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series (really, any epic fantasy usually has an event story structure). The protagonist, Vin, discovers her magical abilities and learns she is the one destined to topple and rebuild the empire. Once she has achieved that, the story ends.
Final Thoughts
Milieu, Idea, Character and Event make up the four elements of the MICE Quotient. These story types help you realize the main plot line needed to be satisfying in the end. If you start the story with a question and don’t answer it, your readers will hate the book. Likewise, if you start a story building up a character and kill him half way through, no one will finish the book. Take a look at the story you’re writing, and ask yourself which element of the book excites you the most. Then use that answer to pick the best starting point, ending point, and main character for your book.
Thanks for reading!
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