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Shawn Coyne’s Five Elements of a Story

By Jared Dees

Every writer should read Shawn Coyne’s The Story Grid.

Of the many things I gained from the book, the one take-away that stands out a few years later is his five elements of a story. I have used these five elements to write articles, tell stories in keynote speeches, and plan out short stories. Once you get to know these elements, you start to look for them in TV shows and movies as well as books.

Here is a simple practice that has helped me. Before you write or plan anything you will share with an audience, write down these five elements:

  1. Inciting Incident:
  2. Progressive Complication:
  3. Crisis:
  4. Climax:
  5. Resolution:

Or, I sometimes shorten it to:

  1. II:
  2. PC:
  3. Cr:
  4. Cl:
  5. R:

The book goes into each element in detail, but Shawn and Tim Grahl go into great detail about each one with examples from well-known stories in this podcast. Or read this summary of the five elements in “Writing Scenes that Work.”

February 20, 2018 Filed Under: Author Tips, My Fiction Journey, On Writing

About Jared Dees

Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, To Heal, Proclaim, and Teach, Praying the Angelus, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children.

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Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, To Heal, Proclaim, and Teach, Praying the Angelus, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children. See all of Jared's Books →

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