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This is the „storymeter” because this letter/A4 size chart is a great tool to measure where you are in a story when reading (or writing) a book or when watching (or writing) a movie. A practical reference guide for writers of scripts and novels. |
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Who should get this chart? |
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Anyone who wants to write a good movie script or novel and has been left confused by the different models out there on how to craft a great story. Anyone who needs a general overview over the important story models before deciding on which to follow. This chart wants to help you decide. (Also check out the  moviemeter or  novelmeter which are the next logical step on your way to a great story and show what page range of a novel o a script a story element should occur.) |
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What's on this chart? |
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The story structure models of:
 Campbell / Vogler
John Truby
Viki King
Syd Field
Linda Seger
Blake Snyder
Barry Pearson
Michael Hauge
Richard Michaels
Robert McKee
John Vorhaus
Umberto Eco
and the Zodiac model on a timeline axis where all methods can be easily compared with one another. You’ve probably read up on these models but wondered where they match and where they differ and where all of this lays down in an Act 1-3 (or even an Act 1-4) model. So here it is: the big comparison. 10 models plus 3 and 4 act structure on one single page. |
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Should I know the story models? |
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Yes. You can read a lot out of this chart right from the start, but not everything can be understood without background knowledge about the models. You need to be familiar with them before this chart really makes sense. Most of the experts have written books available on Amazon and other major bookstores, so once you’ve isolated the model that fits to your style, it would probably be a good idea to get the book or take a class. |
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How accurate is this? |
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As accurate as the models are which you can see on the chart. The chart makes it easy to compare movies and books to all of the models in one session. Movies and books are still works of art, so there can never be a precise formula as to how to construct the perfect story, but it is fascinating how the successful movies and books share a surprising amount of the same structural elements. Truby’s „The Anatomy of Story” and Vogler’s „The Writer’s Journey”, seem to be most accurate, but all models share a high degree of similarity. Compare for yourself. |
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What are these color bars? |
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If you’re familiar with the models, you’ve probably wondered why some experts place story element on specific pages of books or scripts. For example: Blake Snyder suggest the „Catalyst” for page 12 of a script while others call this element the „Inciting Incident” and place it on page 15, and even others say it’s an event somewhere past 10%. Even though there is a lot of variation when it comes to pinning down the exact location of a story element, there is little variation about the element itself and its general place in the structure. So basically this charts simply assigns a color bar to those story elements that occur in all models and then places them in the most logical spot in the structure. And, you might have guessed it: there is a corresponding charts showing what page range of your novel or script the event should occur in. Check out the moviemeter or novelmeter. |
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Is this your opinion? |
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No. There is some generalization in closing logical gaps or pinning down the position of elements. But the chart is free of any personal or cartafina opinion on storytelling. It is just the result of connecting the dots. An insane amount of hours was spent creating this overview and trying to make it as general as possible and it should be fairly accurate as a general reference on story structure. |
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Who created this? |
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Petra from cartafina. Petra is an Information Architect and Interaction Designer who helps large companies create valuable customer experiences on the web. With this chart her goal is to make complex information accessible and understandable for creative people so they can make fast, informed decisions. This chart wants to take some of the planning difficulty out of people's writing projects so they can focus more on the creation and less on the organisation of information. |
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Can I print this chart? |
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Yes. It fits on „Letter” (US) or „A4” (Europe) size paper where it is readable with regular eyesight. It is created in vector format, which means you can scale it up (or down) to any other paper size without loss of quality. That is if you find it hard to read or want to hang it on the wall, for example. You could print it two times for example: once in larger format (Ledger or A3 for example, or even larger if you want) for best viewing and the second time in comfortable Letter or A4 to hold while watching a movie (you’ve stopped watching movies just for pleasure, right?) For the greatest aha effect use this chart together with the moviemeter or novelmeter by simply taping it to the top end. The lines will continue and you will have one gigantic chart showing you the plot points of all relevant models and in what section they should happen in the script or book. |
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Can I view this chart on digital devises? |
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Yes. The chart comes in PDF format so you can carry it around on and open it with any digital device that can display PDFs. It handles just like any regular PDF and can be zoomed in an out without loss of detail or quality so all type is always readable. |
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Can I edit this chart? |
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Yes. You can open the file and edit it, write on top of it or copy the text and graphics and use them in your own artwork. The only requirement would be that whatever you do with it adheres to our terms and conditions outlined in the  disclaimer. If you're looking for a quick and easy digital whiteboard for outlining your story, have a look at the  timeliner mini and timeliner maxi. And the  artboarder mini offers the same functionality, but adapted for visual story creators. |
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Can I duplicate and / or distribute this chart? |
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Duplicate yes, distribute no. Make as many digital copies or printouts for your own personal use as you like, but distributing or selling it is not the cartafina way of doing things. The price of each chart is roughly that of a restaurant visit (sometimes even less) but a cartafina charts should have plenty more satisfaction value for years to come. So please encourage your friends to get their own copies. That way they will also become official members of the cartafina clan entitling them to free updates and other member benefits. (Read our disclaimer for more information.) |
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Will this chart be updated from time to time? |
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Yes. The chart started with version 1.0. We are currently at 1.1. which corrects some misspellings. Buyers of this chart will automatically get the latest version. If small corrections or updates are made, cartafina will send an updated charts to all previous buyers of this chart free of charge. (please allow 1-2 weeks for this to happen. There is that day job.) And just as with updates of software, big changes or additions will require a new purchase or an upgrade fee. If you bought this chart at some point in the past, come back to this page from time to time to see the latest version. |
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What do I get when I buy this? |
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You get a PDF document that is about 700 KB large which you can download immediately after your payment. It can be viewed and printed using any computer or digital device that has the free Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, or that can display PDFs with another type of software. It fits on Letter or A4 paper and can be scaled up or down for printout on larger or smaller paper. |
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Got an unanswered question?  Mail it or proceed to yet another add-to-cart opportunity: |
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What makes a good story? |
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Here are a few snippets, the essence, so to speak, of the story structure research around the construction of this chart. |
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The Beginning |
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There is no universally accepted theory on storytelling. A set of first principles of criticism and dramatic construction comes from Aristotle (around 350 BC), the Greek philosopher and natural scientist who also wrote about poetry (which to the Greeks included drama) and applied to it the same methodology as he used in his scientific studies. In his „unity of time, place and action” the main character is a good man who commits a sin or error which causes a tragic change of fortune from happiness to misery which then creates pity and fear, leading to purgation or purification. For several hundred years, his ideas on structure were universally accepted and applied. The introduction of motion pictures still hasn’t changed our western perception on what makes a good story. But there are slight differences in modern day structural models. |
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The Middle |
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In 1940 the anthropologist Joseph Campbell analysed the mythology of various cultures and extracted universal themes (which he didn’t intend as a guide for film makers). In the 1970s, George Lucas used the concept of „a hero’s journey” to write Star wars. In 1993 Christopher Vogler, a story analyst created a method to evaluate screenplays using the 12 steps Campbell described. In the 1980s Syd Field took Aristotle’s three act structure and added turning (or plot) points at the juncture of each act and in the middle of the second. In the 1990s Robert McKee subdivided the three act structure into five parts: 1 inciting incident, 2 progressive complications, 3 crisis, 4 climax and 5 resolution. Also in the 1990s John Truby broke it down into seven basic steps of human action: 1 problem/need or the situation affecting the hero and what’s missing within her/him, 2 desire or what the hero wants in the story, 3 opponent or the character competing for the same goal as the hero, 4 the plan or how the hero will overcome the opponent and succeed, 5 the battle or final conflict that decides who gets the goal, 6 self revelation or the fundamental understanding the hero gains about him/herself which fulfils the need, and 7 the new equilibrium, the world back to normal with the hero at a higher or lower point. Truby then subdivided the 7 basic steps into 22 building blocks. Others have picked up on those ideas and developed their own multi step approaches based on the classic model. |
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The End? |
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The current landscape of storytelling theory leaves room to find one’s own interpretation on the old question on how to create a compelling story that will appeal to a large audience. While we have found a lot of consistency between good books and movies and one or several of the story models, the old saying still applies: Any rule can be broken, if you do it well and whoever manages to create a new format will set a new model to be applied by future writers. |
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cinnamon rolls
storymeter
archetyper
hello@cartafina.com.
moviemeter
adobe.com.
