

Your story has to start somewhere, and in Freytag’s Pyramid, it starts with the exposition. If you’re looking to write your next story or polish one you just wrote, read more on Freytag’s Pyramid and what each element can do for your writing. Stages of a Story: Freytag’s Pyramid Diagram Here is the five-part structure of Freytag’s Pyramid in diagram form. It’s quite famous, so you may have heard it mentioned in an old English class, or maybe more recently in one of our online fiction writing courses.įreytag’s Pyramid describes the five key stages of a story, offering a conceptual framework for writing a story from start to finish. What is Freytag’s Pyramid? Novelist Gustav Freytag developed this narrative pyramid in the 19th century, as a description of a structure fiction writers had used for millennia. Whether you’re writing short stories, screenplays, nonfiction, or even some narrative poetry, the majority of stories follow a fairly simple pattern called Freytag’s Pyramid. Storytelling is one of the oldest human traditions, and although the art of creative writing traverses dozens of genres and thousands of languages, the actual storytelling formula hasn’t changed all that much.

Most stories follow a simple pattern called Freytag’s Pyramid.

Understanding the five steps of Freytag’s Pyramid will give you a clearer sense of what makes a strong, compelling story. What is Freytag’s Pyramid, and how can it help you write better stories? In simple terms, Freytag’s Pyramid is a five-part map of dramatic structure itself.
