I'm catching up on my podcasts since getting my new Philips 1GB media player. One of my favourites is Will Write for Wine hosted by Samantha Graves and Lani Diane-Rich who write varying sub-genres of romance.

Episode 33 is On Structure. In summary the structure goes something like this:

Act I

  • the ordinary world
  • the call to adventure
  • refusal of the call
  • the meeting with the mentor
  • acceptance of the challenge
Act II
  • tests, allies and enemies
  • approach to the inmost cave
  • the supreme ordeal
  • the reward
Act III
  • the road back
  • resurrection
  • return with elixir
If this has sparked your interest check out the C Block of Episode 33, 30 minutes in. They use four popular movies as examples to show how widely this structure is applied: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Romancing the Stone and Happy Gilmore.