Fairy tales, fables, and folk tales are some of the most enduring stories of all time. They are the original bestsellers in fiction.
Want to know why?
They all have story structure built into their very core. And if you know anything about Fictionary, you know we love story structure around here.
The correct order and placement of these key story beats (which we like to call The Fictionary Story Arc) are essential if you want to tell engaging stories readers love:
- Inciting Incident: Something happens to the protagonist that upsets their everyday world (Placement: within the first 15% of your story)
- Plot Point 1: The protagonist decides to engage in the central conflict of the story (Placement: 20% – 30% of the way through your story)
- Midpoint: The protagonist shifts from a reactive to proactive state, and the stakes are raised (Placement: 45% – 55% of the way through your story)
- Plot Point 2: An event that causes the protagonist’s lowest moment, which makes the protagonist and the reader doubt their ability to achieve their story goal (Placement: 70% – 80% of the way through your story)
- Climax: The protagonist succeeds or fails to achieve their story goal, so they win or lose (Placement: 95% – 98% of the way through your story)
If you nail these plot points, like all the fairy tales, fables and folktales in this article do, readers will love your books.
Let’s look at how it’s done, shall we?
Classic Fairy Tales
Cinderella
Brief Description: Cinderella is a classic fairy tale about a young girl who is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters but ultimately finds happiness with the help of her fairy godmother.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: Cinderella’s father dies, leaving her at the mercy of her cruel stepmother and stepsisters (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: The invitation to the royal ball arrives, and Cinderella dreams of attending (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: The fairy godmother transforms Cinderella and she attends the ball, capturing the prince’s attention (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: Cinderella loses her glass slipper while fleeing the ball, leading to despair as the prince searches for the slipper’s owner (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: The prince finds Cinderella, and the slipper fits, leading to their marriage and her escape from her stepmother’s cruelty (Placement: 95% – 98%).
Sleeping Beauty
Brief Description: Sleeping Beauty tells the story of a princess cursed to sleep for 100 years until awakened by a prince’s kiss.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: An evil fairy curses the princess at her christening (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: The princess pricks her finger on a spindle and falls into a deep sleep (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: The kingdom falls into slumber, waiting for the curse to be broken (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: A prince discovers the sleeping princess but doubts whether he can break the curse (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: The prince kisses the princess, breaking the curse and awakening the kingdom (Placement: 95% – 98%).
Hansel and Gretel
Brief Description: Hansel and Gretel is a classic fairy tale about two siblings who are abandoned in the forest by their parents and must outwit a witch who lives in a house made of candy to survive.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
Inciting Incident: Their impoverished parents abandon Hansel and Gretel in the forest, setting them on a path of danger and adventure (Placement: within the first 15%).
Plot Point 1: The siblings discover the witch’s house made of candy and eat it, unaware of the danger inside (Placement: 20% – 30%).
Midpoint: The witch captures Hansel and locks him in a cage to fatten him up, while forcing Gretel to do housework (Placement: 45% – 55%).
Plot Point 2: Gretel’s cleverness shines as she outsmarts the witch by pushing her into the oven, leading to their escape (Placement: 70% – 80%).
Climax: Hansel and Gretel find their way back home with the witch’s treasure, ensuring a prosperous future for their family (Placement: 95% – 98%).
Common Fairy Tales
Little Red Riding Hood
Brief Description: Little Red Riding Hood is the story of a young girl who encounters a cunning wolf on her way to visit her grandmother.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: Little Red Riding Hood sets off through the forest to visit her grandmother (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: She meets the wolf, who tricks her into revealing her destination (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: The wolf arrives at the grandmother’s house first, devours her, and disguises himself as the grandmother (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: Little Red Riding Hood arrives and notices something strange about her “grandmother” (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: A woodsman rescues Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother by killing the wolf (Placement: 95% – 98%).
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Brief Description: Goldilocks and the Three Bears is the tale of a curious girl named Goldilocks, who enters the house of three bears while they are away and tries out their porridge, chairs, and beds.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: Goldilocks wanders into the forest and finds the house of the three bears (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: She enters the house and explores, trying the porridge, chairs, and beds, each time finding one that is “just right” (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: The three bears return home and discover that someone has been in their house, leading to tension and suspense (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: The bears find Goldilocks asleep in Baby Bear’s bed, and she wakes up to their presence (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: Goldilocks panics and escapes from the house, running back into the forest (Placement: 95% – 98%).
Rumpelstiltskin
Brief Description: Rumpelstiltskin is a fairy tale about a miller’s daughter, who is forced to spin straw into gold for the king. With the help of a mysterious imp, she fulfills the task, but she must guess his name to save her child.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: The miller boasts to the king that his daughter can spin straw into gold, leading the king to summon her to perform the task (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: The mysterious imp appears and offers to spin the straw into gold in exchange for the girl’s jewelry (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: The girl has nothing left to give the imp, so she promises her first-born child in exchange for the gold-spinning service (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: After the girl becomes queen and has a child, the imp returns to claim the baby, throwing her into despair (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: The queen learns the imp’s name is Rumpelstiltskin, thus saving her child when she correctly guesses his name (Placement: 95% – 98%).
Popular Fairy Tales
The Three Little Pigs
Brief Description: The Three Little Pigs is a story of three pigs who build houses of different materials and face the threat of a wolf.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: The three pigs leave home to build their own houses (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: The wolf blows down the houses of straw and sticks, driving the pigs to seek shelter with their brother in the brick house (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: The wolf can’t blow down the brick house, forcing him to get creative, raising the stakes (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: The wolf tries to enter through the chimney, causing fear and doubt (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: The pigs outsmart the wolf by lighting a fire in the fireplace, defeating him (Placement: 95% – 98%).
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Brief Description: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs tells the tale of a princess who, after being targeted by her jealous stepmother, finds refuge with seven dwarfs and eventually finds true love.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: Snow White’s stepmother, the Queen, becomes jealous of her beauty and orders a huntsman to kill her (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: Snow White escapes and finds refuge in the home of the seven dwarfs (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: The Queen discovers Snow White is still alive and devises a plan to kill her with a poisoned apple (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: Snow White falls into a deep sleep after eating the poisoned apple, leading to the dwarfs mourning her and placing her in a glass coffin (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: A prince finds Snow White, and his kiss breaks the spell, reviving her and leading to their marriage (Placement: 95% – 98%).
Rapunzel
Brief Description: Rapunzel is the story of a young girl with long hair who a witch imprisons in a tower, but Rapunzel ultimately finds freedom and love with the help of a prince.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: The witch kidnaps Rapunzel and locks her in a tower with no door or stairs (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: A prince hears Rapunzel singing and discovers how to climb the tower using her long hair (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: The prince and Rapunzel form a plan to escape, but the witch discovers their meetings and punishes them (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: The witch casts Rapunzel into the wilderness and blinds the prince, leading to their lowest moment (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: The prince and Rapunzel reunite in the wilderness, and her tears heal his blindness, allowing them to live happily ever after (Placement: 95% – 98%).
Modern Fairy Tale Examples
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Brief Description: “Cinder” is a sci-fi retelling of Cinderella set in a futuristic world where humans and androids coexist. Cinder, a cyborg mechanic, uncovers secrets about her past and becomes embroiled in a struggle that could change the fate of the world.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: Cinder must fix Prince Kai’s android, setting off a chain of events that will change her life (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: Cinder agrees to attend the royal ball despite her stepmother’s objections and her status as a cyborg (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: Cinder discovers her true identity and her connection to the Lunar Queen, raising the stakes (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: Cinder is imprisoned and faces execution, causing her to doubt her ability to change her fate (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: Cinder escapes from prison and fights against the Lunar Queen, embracing her destiny (Placement: 95% – 98%).
The Girl in Red by Christina Henry
Brief Description: “The Girl in Red” is a post-apocalyptic retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Red, a resourceful young woman, must navigate a dangerous world filled with threats both human and monstrous as she tries to reach her grandmother’s house.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: A deadly pandemic sweeps through the world, forcing Red to survive on her own (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: Red embarks on a perilous journey to her grandmother’s house, despite the dangers (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: Red encounters and escapes a group of dangerous men, proving her resilience and resourcefulness (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: A hostile group captures Red, leading to her lowest moment and doubts about her mission (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: Red overcomes her captors and reaches her grandmother’s house, finding safety and hope (Placement: 95% – 98%).
Queen of Snow by Laura Burton and Jessie Cal
Brief Description: “Queen of Snow” is a modern retelling of The Snow Queen set in a fantastical world where queens wield elemental powers. The story follows a young queen with the power of snow, navigating political intrigue and magical threats to protect her kingdom.
Fictionary Story Arc Breakdown:
- Inciting Incident: The young queen discovers a plot against her life, orchestrated by a rival queen wielding fire (Placement: within the first 15%).
- Plot Point 1: She leaves her castle to seek allies and uncover the truth about her elemental powers (Placement: 20% – 30%).
- Midpoint: The queen gains mastery over her snow powers and discovers a hidden truth about her lineage, raising the stakes in her quest (Placement: 45% – 55%).
- Plot Point 2: The rival queen’s forces capture the young queen’s closest ally, causing her to doubt her ability to succeed (Placement: 70% – 80%).
- Climax: The young queen confronts the rival queen in a last battle, using her snow powers to save her kingdom and defeat her enemy (Placement: 95% – 98%).
How to Use Fairy Tales in Your Novel
Fairy tales can be a rich source of inspiration for your novel. You can use their familiar structures to craft engaging narratives, develop characters, and explore themes.
As a reminder, here’s how you can use the Fictionary Story Arc (which you’ll find in every great fairy tale) to build a bestselling structure into your books.
Using the Fictionary Story Arc:
- Inciting Incident: Create an event that disrupts your protagonist’s ordinary world (Placement: within the first 15%)
- Plot Point 1: Make your protagonist decide to engage in the major conflict (Placement: 20% – 30%)
- Midpoint: Raise the stakes and shift your protagonist from reactive to proactive (Placement: 45% – 55%)
- Plot Point 2: Introduce a low point that makes both your protagonist and readers doubt their success (Placement: 70% – 80%)
- Climax: Conclude with a decisive win or loss (Placement: 95% – 98%)
Fairy tales provide a timeless blueprint for storytelling. By incorporating their structures into your novel, you can craft interesting and memorable stories that resonate with readers.
And finally, always remember that story comes first. Focus on:
- Creating engaging characters
- Penning interesting plots
- Structuring solid settings
A tool like Fictionary helps you turn your draft into an interesting story readers love. So, with the right story structure and a strong narrative foundation, your writing can truly shine.
