In Defense of the Standard.

Character. Plot. Setting.

Plot. Setting. Character.

Structure in a book is important. And don't be mistaken by structure as something rigid. Like it's a threat to experimentation and expressionism. You can write a story without a character or without a coherent plot. Or with a setting so crazy even the writer doesn't understand it. You can do all these things.

Just don't be surprised when people don't like it.

Because structure isn't something to be afraid of or to have some contemptuous views towards. Writing without structure is like painting an abstract painting. And that argument as to whether the painting of two flaky lines of black on white took more creative ingenuity than the Girl with the Pearl Earrings is one that probably won't ever end.

Art is opinion driven. So where does that leave the writer? Where ever the hell they want, to be honest. Structure itself is something however you should know first before you even try to dismiss. Because the real joy of abstract art is realizing that the artist behind the work was somebody who felt like any traditional forms just wasn't enough to capture their message (At least I hope that's the reason they sprayed the canvas with toothbrush dabbed in the rainbow. Because otherwise it's just ugly shit).

There's a lot of experimentation out there in writing. But a lot of it is just rubbish, because the people who wrote it didn't understand that there's a reason so much work is written in a way we do now. The three act structure, no matter how overused it is, is and always will be a crucial part of how stories are told.

And in my opinion, structure at it's heart, is always born from the disorganized. It's inevitable. When you want to write something new in a style without traditional standards of structure, just you wait, because before you know it, you're gonna find there's still structure in there. And all it takes it two more stories in a similar style for that structure start to have some merit.

So I guess the message of this really is just write whatever you want. Just don't be a jackass about it.