A really good way to think about NARRATIVE STRUCTURE is to recognise that most stories can be easily broken down into a BEGINNING / MIDDLE / END. The Bulgarian structuralist theorist Tztevan Todorov presents this idea as:
- Equilibrium
- Disruption
- New equilibrium
- the stage of equilibrium
- the conflict that disrupts this initial equilibrium
- the way / ways in which the disruption looks to find new equilibrium
- the denouement and/or resolution that brings about a new equilibrium
Vladimir Propp
You do not need to recognise all of these characters, but it is a good way to understand the way in which CHARACTERS FUNCTION TO PROVIDE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE:
- Hero
- Helper
- Princess
- Villain
- Victim
- Dispatcher
- Father
- False Hero