Story Arcs: A Big Picture View of Storytelling

Build a Story Arc That Holds From the First Page to the Last

You reach the end of a draft, every scene basically working, and the shape of the whole still feels off. That shape is the story arc—and this session is about building one that holds from the first page to the last, and across a series.

What You'll Learn

• How to build a story arc with an intriguing beginning, a twisty middle that never sags, and a satisfying ending
• Techniques for carrying one story arc across a standalone book or multi-book series
• Methods to let a series protagonist grow and change without becoming someone your readers no longer recognize
• Strategies for structuring a trilogy around a single macro element, so each book stands on its own and still builds toward something larger
• How to end a book on the note that pulls a reader straight into the next one
• Guidelines for tracking characters, plot threads, and small details so a long series stays consistent from book to book
• How to catch a plot contrivance before a reader does, by building causation into every turn

Through this comprehensive approach, you'll stop thinking of a story arc as beginning-middle-end and start seeing it as the through-line that gives a whole book, or a whole series, its meaning. I open with a distinction I use constantly—story versus plot—and then read closely from books and films you can study on your own: the way Chuck Hogan's Prince of Thieves turns a neighborhood into a metaphor, the way Liane Moriarty lands the final image of Nine Perfect Strangers, the five-season design J. Michael Straczynski built into Babylon 5. From there I move into series, where the arc gets more complicated: how Wendy Corsi Staub anchors a trilogy so each book satisfies on its own, how Brad Thor ends a Scot Harvath novel so you have to pick up the next one, and how a series protagonist can change without breaking faith with the reader. Then we get practical about the problem every series writer runs into—keeping track of it all—from the story bible behind the Murder, She Wrote novels to a data project that maps every killer in Agatha Christie.

Perfect for:

• Series writers who worry their protagonist has stopped changing, or has drifted so far that readers no longer recognize the character they signed on for
• Novelists deep in revision who keep losing track of plot threads, timelines, and the small details that have to stay consistent
• Writers planning a trilogy or an ongoing series who need each book to satisfy on its own and still build toward something larger
• Authors whose middles sag or whose plot turns feel convenient, and who want the arc to hold from the first page to the last

This workshop equips you with a way of seeing structure that holds up across genre, length, and format. The examples run from a literary crime novel to a space opera, from a domestic mystery to an espionage series, because the shape of a satisfying story doesn't change with the shelf it sits on. Whether you're outlining a first book, drafting book six, or revising a standalone, you can hold any scene up against the arc and ask what it is doing to move the whole story forward.

This session will change how you see the shape of your story, and how you keep that shape steady from the opening line to the final page. A strong arc is what readers remember, even when they can't name why.

Rent the replay to get my full guidance on building one—including a live Q&A where I answer questions on how much a series protagonist can change, what a plot contrivance really is and how to fix it, whether short stories follow the same shape, keeping a story bible without slowing down, and how to know when a series is finished.