The Freytag’s Pyramid Structure

By Emma M. Foster

So you want to write a short story. At first glance, it doesn’t seem that hard. It’s all about expressing the perfect mixture of description and setting, plot, and character just like a novel, albeit in a smaller form. 

But say long form doesn’t interest you. You want to write a short story with a basic but gripping ascent to the climax before the action falls, everything resolves, and everyone lives happily ever after (or not). What is a structure you could follow? What are the terms you need to know to create a proper plot? 

I submit Freytag’s Pyramid, the most common variation of the short story and longer forms of creative work. If you know anything about short stories, you might have seen graphs or pictures making a rudimentary pyramid, with the climax being the very top point and the rising and falling of the action making up its sides. This is Freytag’s Pyramid, even if you didn’t know it was called that. 

This type of structure, or “dramatic structure,” was developed by the German novelist and playwright Gustav Freytag in the mid nineteenth century. The main elements to the graph include the exposition, the inciting incident, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. 

The Exposition

Exposition sometimes comes across as a dirty word to writers. We treat it as if exposition shouldn’t be used at all because we need to “show; not tell.” It’s true authors need to show, but exposition needs to be implemented to a degree. It should be used insofar as setting, characters, and background are introduced, then the showing takes over. Readers need that initial information because, while it may not necessarily move the scene forward, it allows the plot to move forward by showing the reader what’s going and what’s about to come next. You’re laying the foundations of your story in concise terms before the “Inciting Incident”. The key with using exposition in a short story, however, is that it takes up as little space as possible. 

The Inciting Incident

The inciting incident is what kicks the plot into high gear. Also called “the complication” by Freytag, “the hook,” and a host of other names. The inciting incident causes problems. Not for the writer, however; for the characters. Something happens that disrupts the scene you’ve set up, and it’s up to your protagonist to do something about it. In Katherine Mansfield’s short story “The Garden Party,” the exposition comes in the form of brief portrait of a family, the Sheridan’s, and what they are doing (setting up a garden party) before the inciting incident occurs: Mr. Scott, their lower-class neighbor, has abruptly died. Laura, the main character, must now grapple with the conflict of whether to continue with preparations. 

The Rising Action 

Freytag refers to this next part as “rising movement,” that is, the plot moves forward, but it is also building up to the climax. More information is being introduced and dealt with as the main character goes along. Here, scenes develop in a cohesive fashion and character development, whether positive or negative, becomes more apparent. Your character might run into complications while trying to resolve what initially caused the inciting incident, or they will face challenges that affect their decision (and the course of the plot) later. Looking back at Mansfield’s “The Garden Party,” Laura struggles with the decision to call the party off or continue preparing for it, highlighting her lack of self-awareness also characteristic of her family. She decides to forget about the mourning down the road after seeing herself in her new hat, a decision that contrasts with her empathy and awareness at the end. This also leads to what’s arguably the most important aspect to any type of story. 

The Climax

This is the moment your story has been building toward. The big confrontation, the big battle, the major event that determines how your story ends. Hopefully, it has your readers excited to find out what happens to your characters and if the decisions they made were the right ones. For Freytag, the climax reveals the main character either at their strongest or weakest, and the character’s principles change from what they once were. This can either lead to a tragic end or a happy one, depending on the initial ideals the character possessed and the fact they’re now reversed. 

In “The Garden Party,” the climax occurs when Laura enters the Scott’s home, noticing the peaceful look of death on the man’s face. Her ideals are reversed, as what she witnesses now instills a sense of recognition of joy for living, contrasting her refusal to empathize with her neighbors so she could enjoy the party. The scenes before have all worked together to get to this point in her development. When writing your own story, you must make sure that everything you have built up pays off, just as Mansfield organized the rising action only to reverse Laura’s character development in the climax. The ethos swells up at this point, and, as Freytag puts it, the protagonist is at their fullest whether emotionally, mentally, or otherwise. 

Short stories use the climax in different ways. Often, these stories end on an unexpected note, leaving us thinking rather than appreciating the happy ending. Freytag’s Pyramid works in a similar way, as Freytag primarily focused on tragedy or comedy, with the climax acting as the point where things either improve or dissolve. Unlike a modern climax which determines the fate of the protagonist and the plot, Freytag asserts that a protagonist reaches a certain point before the climax determines whether things go well or ill. 

The Falling Action 

This particular part of Freytag’s Pyramid isn’t often used in modern stories. Today, a climax determines how the story might end. Freytag explained how the following scenes after the climax ultimately determine how the story ends. To Freytag, the climax might be the most important scene, but the falling action leading to the very end exhibits the opposite of the rising action. A character, for example, influenced by the events of the climax, exhibits the opposite traits earlier attributed to them, leading to the final scenes. 

The Resolution

Also called “denouement” (or “catastrophe” if the story isn’t meant to have a happy ending), this part of the story structure ties up loose ends in a satisfying way. In short stories, characters can either get a happy or not-so-happy ending, but events and action must be resolved, leaving readers interpreting themes and analyzing the work without being confused as to what happened. The result establishes a sense of completeness by the time you reach the end.

While there’s no one way to write a short story, it’s important to recognize the various short story forms and what makes them effective. But the beauty of short stories lies in their possibilities. Don’t be afraid to get creative with this form. Examine some short stories out there and recognize the qualities of Freytag’s Pyramid, then decide if you want to follow that course or not. Start experimenting as many others have done. Let your characters make mistakes and experience setbacks. Make sure that nothing goes right. Manipulating language and literary devices to create your own unique take on a prevalent theme. No matter what type of writing you choose, it’s up to you as a writer to grow in your creativity. 

Emma Foster goes by E. M. Sherwood Foster in her work. She reads for Farside Review, Abandon Journal, and Sepia Journal. She also writes for Coffee House Writers. Her work can be found in Aurora Journal, Ariel Chart, Sour Cherry Mag, and others. Her first major work Plato Is Better at Metaphor than I Am is forthcoming from Yavanika Press. She is a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, St. Edmund’s. You can find her blog at fosteryourwriting.com.