How I structure a narrative podcast series

In a previous post I wrote that when I'm editing in Descript I dump audio into each episode according to the narrative framework I've done for the series. So I thought I'd tell you how I work out the narrative framework / plot points for a series. This is the skeleton that you're going to build your meaty story around.

The Metaplot

The first thing I do when I start working on a series is work out what kind of story it is. To do this I refer to the fantastic book The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker. In this book he argues that pretty much every story from all time can be split into seven basic plots:

• Overcoming the Monster
• Rags to Riches
• Quest
• Voyage and Return
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Rebirth

Now, inevitably there's a bit of a backlash to his thesis. And it definitely is a bit oversimplistic and some stories are awkwardly shoehorned to fit his categories. But I find it incredibly useful tool to try and work out what kind of metaplot your story has. If it's an individual seeking justice you're probably looking at an Overcoming the Monster plot. If it's someone hunting for something, it's likely a Quest plot.

The Seven Basic Plots is well worth the read, but it is quite long so when I'm working I tend to refer to an amazing article by Glen Strathy which outlines nine basic plots.

He very helpfully summarises each metaplot and puts a handy five act structure next to each description.

Five Act Structure

Once I've decided which metaplot best fits my series I look at the five act structure for that metaplot. You want to identify the parts of your story which correlate with the plot points of that five act structure.

So, let's imagine I've decided that my narrative podcast fits a Quest plot:

Act 1 - Story begins with life intolerable or oppressive.

The Driver - The hero gets a 'call' saying that the key to making things better is to go get something from far away.

Act 2 - The hero travels to her goal, having adventures on the way, gaining helpers and encountering dangers and temptations.

Act 3 - Within sight of her goal, the hero finds another terrible set of obstacles to overcome.

Act 4 - The hero faces their final set of tests and their final fight yet.

Act 5 - The hero survives and gets the prize.

I'll want to make sure that my series hits all of those important plot points. I'll want to make sure I have tape of the main character finding life insufferable. They'll have a call to action (I have to admit that in one series I had this as them literally getting a phone call). I know I'll want to include some of the people that helped her on her way, and the temptations she faced. I'll identify what the final fight is (will the bad guy get arrested but we still need that final courtroom fight of getting the conviction?) and exactly what the prize is. Sometimes the prize isn't what they initially thought they were looking for.

That's not to say that these are the only things I'll include in the series, but I just want to make sure that I have these plot posts in the series. And when you have these plot points, the stories work. These metaplots create stories that feel satisfying.

Splitting Acts into Episodes

Now I've identified my main Acts I split these across the episodes. Now, this isn't an even split. So if you have a 10 episode series you're not going to necessarily want two episodes an act. What you probably want is to get to The Driver by the end of Ep1. And Act 5 will probably come in the last episode. But then you split your other acts across the episodes. Acts 2 & 3 will likely be the ones that have the most episodes as they're the exciting action parts of the story.

So how do you know where to end an episode if you're not at the end of an Act? To work this out I've recently started a new method, from the advice of Jamie Bartlett . Considering that in narrative podcasts what you really want is for people to immediately click 'play' on the next episode, what I now do is look for the...

Cliffhangers

What are the juciest, most exciting parts of your story? Write those down in chronological order. See if you can put one of these at the end of each of your episodes. You're looking for moments where your hero:

• is in danger
• has a choice
• discovers something that alters their perception/action

If your story is an investigation, your cliffhanger could be around what you've discovered e.g.

• Finally going to hear from the person you've been trying to track down
• New bit of data/research

These are going to be the ends of your episodes. So now work backwards. What needs to happen in the episode before this cliffhanger to build up to this point. What does the audience need to know.

This might mean that you have to mess around with the chronology. Perhaps you might need to miss out some details in earlier episodes and then add them into later episodes as a flashback.

And just a note on cliffhangers. Supposedly the biggest drop off of listeners to narrative podcasts is between Episodes 2 and 3. So you want your absolutely best cliffhanger at the end of Episode 2. If you get your audience into Episode 3 they're likely to stay with you for the rest of the series.

Writing scenes

Now you have your main acts and your cliffhangers. Next you're going to think about breaking each episode into scenes. I have lots of tips and tricks on doing this, but I'll save that for another article...

Is this how you approach a narrative series? I'd love to hear how you do it. Or if you have any thoughts on how I can improve this approach.