Star Wars is a great example of all of the elements of story structure working together. The story is relatively simplistic, so it’s easy to identify all of the parts.
In order to make best use of the following diagrams, take the time to learn the Novel Matrix system.
One Universe
Three-Act Structure
Five Conflicts
Seven Characters
Star Wars Notes
Star Wars is a classic example of the three-act structure. The storytelling may be simplistic, but for generations now, the story just works.
One of the most notable aspects of Star Wars is the use of combination characters. Two of the secondary characters have a tag-along buddy that makes the character more fun. What’s even more interesting is that in each of these combinations, one of the characters is effectively mute!
While R2D2 is the sidekick, his buddy C3PO is never far away. R2D2 does all of the things the sidekick needs to do, but he can’t talk. C3PO provides comic relief and acts as a mouthpiece for R2D2.
Conversely, Han Solo is our frenemy. He’s joined by Chewbacca, who does not talk.
Importantly, neither Chewbacca nor C3PO take any real action apart from their functional character. This prevents the character list from becoming unnecessarily bloated. These two tag-along characters only exist as an extension of the functionary character.
While you can write an incredibly complex story using the Novel Matrix method, Star Wars is proof that simple stories can do the trick!
Star Wars was written by George Lucas.
Learn more about the fundamental elements of story structure and decipher this plan with The Novel Matrix book, now available on Amazon.
