PaulEberhardt at 5:18AM, March 17, 2023

I think it's a good thing to have a simple, basic concept like this up your sleeve for doing a quick check every now and then. All the other things to flesh out the story, as mentioned by marcorossi and DylanTale Comics are of course fundamental for making it great, and I also tend to think that a really good story is one that can't be summarised in a single sentence once it's done, BUT a basic guideline like this in the back of your mind is an extremely handy safeguard against getting lost in these details during the writing process. Think of it as the two basic anchoring threads of a spider web; Boris the Spider will always start with a straight one to hold the thing in place and then create a Y with another to define the shape of the intricate web that comes afterwards, the cool thing glittering in the morning sun. The original two threads are hard to spot in that glorious view, but cut one and the whole thing will collapse. Cut any other and you get only relatively minor damage.

DylanTale Comics at 9:23AM, March 16, 2023

For me, I view this approach as "Great start, but then what?" What happens after the climax, after the problem is solved? Does the adventure end there, or does an even bigger situation (or antagonist) rise up? If the latter happens, what happens then? And if it is a cycle of "solve problem, bigger one is formed", what would the true ending ultimate climax look like? For me and my comic, each set usually focuses on that usual-sized problem and solution as this template describes. But, I already have in mind a much bigger situation that, in the final Set 4, will be explored and result in that epic climax.

marcorossi at 5:09AM, March 16, 2023

IMO it is better to reserve the concept of "story structure" for more detailed stuff like the "beats". This kind of very simplified formula is really too few to be described as structure, like, there is a PROTAGONIST who struggle against an ANTAGONIST for an OBJECIVE. I mean, yeah, but this isn't something new, you can describe e.g. LOTR like this but this formula will not actually help you write LOTR.

dpat57 at 3:48AM, March 16, 2023

Cool beans, these are much like the thoughts I have when kicking something off, with "inciting incident" and "call to arms" and other labels stuck on.