How Aristotle Nailed the Art of Story

Aristotle’s writings have made waves and defined Western thought ever since the third century, B.C. As an astute philosopher interested in many fields of study, Aristotle had a lot to say about the art of writing in Poetics.[1] The principles he wrote about endure, and they form the foundation for solid story structure.

Three Rules for Story

Rule #1: Clearly Define Your Beginning, Middle, and End
A logician at heart, Aristotle believed firmly in well-structured stories. Story culture had shifted from oral tradition and epic poetry to favor plays and encapsulated stories. He championed a more defined structure where a beginning, middle, and end all created a whole, unified action. In modern writing, we refer to these parts as the Exposition, Confrontation, and Resolution. Haphazard beginnings, muddled middles, and arbitrary endings won’t cut it in Aristotle’s book.

How to Check Your Work
Outline the events of your story in bullet points and take a close look at them. Is there a clear reason for why the conflict starts (inciting incident), how the rising action ties together as a confrontation that forces the climax, and how that climax brings about the resolution?

Rule #2: Cut out the Superfluous
Aristotle approached unity in storytelling with something of an obsession. A significant portion of Poetics argues against traditions of epic poetry that aim to tell every anecdote associated with an event or personage. Aristotle instead points his readers to the example of Homer, who left out known stories about Odysseus when he wrote the Odyssey because otherwise, “It would have been too vast a theme and not easily embraced in a single view” (XXIII).

His ideal structure had one unifying theme or idea that tied it all together. “[A poet] should first sketch its general outline, and then fill in the episodes and amplify in detail” (XVII).[2] Aristotle fixated so strongly on achieving a central purpose that he advocated throwing out anything that has no clear connection to the main idea: “For a thing whose presence or absence makes no visible difference, is not an organic part of the whole” (VIII).

How to Check Your Work
Go back to your story outline and look for any events that you could remove without hindering clarity. Then go chapter by chapter and paragraph by paragraph. Find the extraneous and delete it.

Rule #3: Embrace Freedom
Aristotle firmly proclaimed that the storyteller should not merely relate facts. After quipping, “If you want facts, get a history book,” he asserts, “It is not the function of the poet to relate what has happened, but what may happen” (IX). He promotes story based on “how a person of a certain type will on occasion speak or act, according to the law of probability or necessity” (IX).

Shakespeare demonstrated this principle in his dramatic histories. He didn’t try to write The New History of Great Britain; he used history to make his point. For instance, the lowliest of persons, when put in situations of greatness, may themselves achieve greatness (Henry V). Or, when a great man is reduced to insignificance, he may resort to ghastly means to regain authority (Richard III). Shakespeare was more concerned with the overriding theme than knowing whether Richard actually had someone drowned in a butt of wine.

How to Check Your Work
Based on your revised outline, write a summary sentence of what your story communicates. Is that the message you want to convey? What details might need to shift away from the “cold hard truth” to better convey your intent?

[1] For ease of referencing due to the multiplicity of variations of the work, I will be citing quotes based on their section number.

[2] Kudos to all the teachers who made us outline our writing, because yes, it does matter.