In our most recent DIYMFA call, we were challenged to take a short story or children’s book and see if we could identify the parts of story structure within the book.
This fell right into a question that had been pushing around recently in wondering if, when a book is broken into parts (common in Fantasy), each of those parts also follows basic story structure.
So I decided to make the challenge a little harder on myself and see if I could figure out the story structure for Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson, Part One. (I used the paperback version to get the page numbers.)
Here’s what I found:
Opening Image (Part One): Description of Vin’s crew’s safe house. (pg 19-21): Seeing Vin as the main character, I made this decision based on the fact that the first part takes Vin from where she is, to bring a part of Kel’s crew, so her opening image is her little world.
Inciting Incident (Part One): Vin’s crewleader kicks off his plan. (pg 25): This is why the story starts here, because this plan is what leads Vin to being found by Kelsier.
Opening Image (Mistborn): Description of Luthadel by Kelsier. (pg 28-30) The overarching plot of the novel is the caper, so Kel’s description of the city seems a much better “opening image” for that story.
1st Reversal (Part One): Vin decides to use her “luck” on the High Prelan. (pg 39) This is the choice Vin makes that causes everything after to happen.
Inciting Incident (Mistborn): Kelsier and Dockson observe Vin using her “luck” on the High Prelan. (pg 40): This event is what brings Vin into Kelsier’s noticing.
Temporary Triumph (Part One): The crew members saying they’re in after hearing Kelsier’s plan. (pg 79-81): Getting the crew to agree to the plan is a triumph, even if it doesn’t mean things go smoothly.
2nd Reversal (Part One): Kelsier and the crew outline the steps of the plan, everyone really sees what an impossible task this caper is, and Yeden wants to pull out. (pg 122): I had trouble with this because there isn’t a *ton* of conflict considering it’s the beginning of the book.
Dark Night of the Soul: (Part One) Vin doesn’t want to trust Kelsier (or any of the crew for that matter) (pg 156-157) At this point, Vin almost leaves the crew due to her inability to trust.
1st Reversal (Mistborn): Vin actually agrees to be part of Kelsier’s crew (pg 158): Vin makes the decision here. She has an out and chooses to stay anyway.
Crisis/Climax (Part One): Vin has to fill in the role of a noblewoman for the caper to work. (pg 165) Vin finds her role will be larger than she thought.
Closure (Part One): Vin settles into the idea of Kelsier being a good man (trustworthy). (pg 168) Vin has changed just a little bit, in that she’s willing to trust Kelsier.
I’m not sure if people more studied in story structure would think that my interpretation is sufficient, but I feel like all the beats are there. At the same time I could be grasping at straws because I went into this wanting Part One to follow basic story structure. Either way, I think the exercise is helpful and if anyone would like to challenge what’s here, I would love to discuss it.
