How to Structure a Book with the Fichtean Curve

If you love studying story structure, the Fichtean curve is one you need to add to your repertoire! This structure works well for non-linear stories or stories with a quick pace. One of the best things about this structure is that rather than plot points, it's based on a series of crises, so you can include as many or as few crises as your plot needs.

RELATED VIDEOS:

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
0:43 - What is the Fichtean curve?
3:16 - The inciting incident
3:36 - 1st crisis
3:58 - 2nd crisis
4:30 - 3rd crisis
4:50 - 4th crisis
5:30 - Climax
6:12 - Falling action
6:28 - Why use this structure?

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RESOURCES:

[gracest.pierre]

I've been writing this way since the beginning, but I never knew it. Now I think I have a better idea of how to structure future novels

[madhugoswami]

I have been writing since eleven years old and I have used this structure in short stories(those stories tend to be longer). But I never knew it. It just happened. Like intuition. Thanks Reedsy for this video! I really needed it because I thought I was not properly executing my story.

[ColineHarmon]

Thanks for making these videos, Shaylen; they are so helpful. Every writer needs to strive for continuous improvement.

[phangkuanhoong]

Oh wow. I'm actually writing a novel with this structure right now. awesome. finally found one that fits! thank you so much!

[orisinalification]

Wow this is so inspiring. I might use the flashback Fichtean curve just like the book explained for my web novel about racism and universal human experiences and connection between humans. Like every POV have their own crisis that made their personality become so sensitive towards each other.

[rachelthompson]

The Da Vinci Code is this except for a short setup intro. This works best for thrillers and James Bond type stories.

[crystalcoasting]

This is so cool! I feel like this is the structure I naturally have used even before I learned about stories having a structure. Also I'm a pantser so I still always start with the inciting incident and I basically use this structure until I see a need or better fit for another structure and then I weave those beats into it.

[Panteni]

Wow, I'm on my first re-write of my novel and I have (unknowingly) streamlined it by changing the plot structure towards a structure as this one. I hope it helps the story as it is set in a fictional setting.

Edit: the overall grand narrative is the classical three-act structure though

[warmflash]

The BEST STRUCTURE VIDEO ever made by Shalin and Reedsy.

WOW.

❤❤❤❤❤ ❤❤❤❤❤❤

Thanks

[christinekaye]

Yay! This is how I write, but I never had a name for it.
An excellent non-linear book that I think is written this way is The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell. It is my all time favorite book.

[letsdiscusslifematters]

Brilliant content Shaylen! Keep up the great work. Very educative and interesting. The examples, the personal reference and tips are very useful!!!

[MadailinBurnhope]

I'm so glad I found this video because I didn't know it had a name, but this is my favourite horror movie structure, a very simple streamlined escalation I called the crescendo or the wave and crash; I am a neurodivergent person who can't deal technically absorbing much more than an A plot, so again, this works so well for me, and I'm trying to employ it for my horror verse novel (which may be YA or new adult, I don't know yet)

[ericvyskocil]

i wrote my entire first book and now looking back, this is how I formed it unknowingly.

[dangerousplaygrounds]

Thank you for this explanation...I'm glad to discover there is actually a structure that fits with how my own Domestic Violence / Family Court Corruption story has been unfolding naturally...Crisis after Crisis after Crisis after Crisis ...Consistent Rising Tension...The only thing is, there are multiple serious Climaxes/Dangerous Plot Twists in my story so I wonder how multiple climaxes will alter this structure by the time my story finishes...I have no idea how it's going to end yet because I'm still living through it...

[AVISIONMUSICTV]

Interesting because I'm actually applying this method to my film without even knowing!

[milestrombley]

The movie, Memento, uses that plot I think. It goes back and forth with flashbacks.

[indviduation]

Write the same story without the flashbacks. It forces the reader to come to their own concludes based on the evidence the writer leaves for the readers. If you are really reading the story you will get it, if you are not, (reading very fast) you will not. The writer has no obligation to hold the readers hand like life, sometimes the journey is painful to many stories movie, shows or other venues hold the viewers hand because they are not trained to find the clues as in life or in fiction.

[wiseauserious]

Brilliant, do you think you could explore ways to achieve dramatic irony in a third person limited with only the protagonists perspective throughout the story?

[joshua]

I feel like videogames would work really well with this structure. And I’m sure some already do.

[telltalesanimation]

Lol, this is the exact structure I'm writing, and I had no idea I was, I just like fast-paced books :D