Morphology of the Folktale
Recurring actions in Russian wonder tales, from a warning to a return.
A warning, a test, a gift, or a false claim can perform a recognizable job in a tale. Propp’s functions describe recurring actions in the Russian wonder tales he studied. They offer a vocabulary for examining how a tale moves and for imagining the next action in a new one.
How it works
A warning, a test, a gift, or a false claim can perform a recognizable job in a tale. Propp’s functions describe recurring actions in the Russian wonder tales he studied. They offer a vocabulary for examining how a tale moves and for imagining the next action in a new one.
A function names an action by the part it plays in the tale: a prohibition is given, a test is faced, help is received, or a false claim is exposed. Different characters can perform the same function.
Propp identified thirty-one functions in the Russian wonder tales he studied. A particular tale can omit functions. Use the vocabulary to examine actions and their order without trying to fill every slot.
These functions describe a studied body of tales. The evenly distributed positions on this chart are a visual reference and do not describe prescribed pacing.
The framework, part by part
Positions are illustrative comparison references, not universal timing rules.
- Absentation (0%–2%, Ordinary world): A family member leaves home.
- Interdiction (2%–4%, Ordinary world): The hero is warned against something.
- Violation (4%–6%, Ordinary world): The warning is ignored.
- Reconnaissance (6%–8%, Ordinary world): The villain gathers information.
- Delivery (8%–10%, Ordinary world): The villain learns something about the victim.
- Trickery (10%–12%, Ordinary world): The villain tries to deceive the victim.
- Complicity (12%–14%, Ordinary world): The victim is fooled and unwittingly helps the villain.
- Villainy or Lack (14%–17%, Inciting incident): The villain harms a family member, or someone lacks something they need.
- Mediation (17%–20%, Hesitation): The misfortune becomes known, and the hero is sent or allowed to go.
- Beginning Counteraction (20%–23%, Commitment): The hero agrees to act.
- Departure (23%–26%, Commitment): The hero leaves home.
- Testing by the Donor (26%–30%, New world): The hero is tested, which prepares the way for a magical agent or helper.
- The Hero’s Reaction (30%–33%, New world): The hero responds to the donor’s test.
- Receipt of a Magical Agent (33%–37%, New world): The hero acquires the agent or helper.
- Guidance (37%–41%, New world): The hero is led to the object of the search.
- Struggle (41%–45%, Midpoint): Hero and villain fight.
- Branding (45%–49%, Midpoint): The hero is marked or wounded.
- Victory (49%–53%, Midpoint): The villain is defeated.
- Liquidation (53%–57%, Pressure mounts): The initial misfortune or lack is resolved.
- Return (57%–61%, Pressure mounts): The hero heads home.
- Pursuit (61%–65%, Pressure mounts): The hero is pursued.
- Rescue (65%–69%, Pressure mounts): The hero is rescued from pursuit.
- Unrecognized Arrival (69%–72%, Lowest point): The hero arrives home or elsewhere, unrecognized.
- Unfounded Claims (72%–75%, Lowest point): A false hero claims the credit.
- Difficult Task (75%–79%, Final push): A difficult task is set for the hero.
- Solution (79%–83%, Climax): The task is accomplished.
- Recognition (83%–86%, Climax): The hero is recognized.
- Exposure (86%–89%, Climax): The false hero or villain is exposed.
- Transfiguration (89%–92%, New normal): The hero is given a new appearance.
- Punishment (92%–96%, New normal): The villain is punished.
- Wedding (96%–100%, New normal): The hero marries and ascends the throne.
Use it for
Fairy tales, fantasy and games, and for generating plot from a menu of moves.
Watch for
The order is fixed in Propp’s Russian corpus; other traditions shuffle it.
See how your story works.
Explore 30 approaches to story structure through short films and illustrated guides. Bring an idea or a draft, build your outline, and compare how different frameworks organize its events.
Free to use. No account needed to write. Save a backup to keep your work.
A short film on every structure
Each of the 30 structures has a 90-second animation that draws its shape beat by beat, and a page with every beat, how its parts work, questions to try, and when it can help. Start with one you’ve heard of.
All 30 structures on one timeline
Each row is one structure. The story runs left to right, from the first page (0%) to the last (100%). Bars are beats that last a while; diamonds are single moments. Drag the red line to any point, and the list below shows the nearby beats in each structure.
- Bar: a beat that lasts a while
- Diamond: a beat at one moment
- Red line: the point you’re reading
- A blank stretch: that structure names no beat there
- Act II-A and II-B are the two halves of Act Two, split at the midpoint.
Rows 1 to 13 follow Robert Carlson’s Ultimate Story Structure Chart (2015). Rows 14 to 21 are the structures readers of that thread asked him to add, and rows 22 to 30 are nine more we added. Positions combine source conventions and editorial estimates. Use them to compare approaches; they are not universal timing rules.
† Credited on Carlson’s chart. We found no primary source; the tree line is also credited to George Abbott and George M. Cohan.
Outline your story in any structure
Choose a framework and give its prompts a few sentences. Compare suggested placements in other frameworks to find a useful question or a different way to develop an event.
Pick a structure you know
Not sure? Try one of these, or any of the 30.
Write a sentence for each beat
A beat is one turn in the story, like the Catalyst that knocks your hero’s life off course. Each beat comes with a question to help you answer it.
Compare another framework
The comparison suggests where your notes could fit. Review each match. You decide which prompts matter to your story.
We wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a Save the Cat! outline. These excerpts from our outline of Baum’s 1900 novel show how suggested placements change between frameworks. Unmapped prompts describe this partial outline, not a flaw in Oz. Pick any structure you know and try it with your own story.
Sketch your story’s ups and downs
Kurt Vonnegut drew stories as a line that rises when things go well for the main character and falls when they go badly. Draw yours from left to right and we’ll name the classic shape it’s closest to.
Take it to the page
The free 91-page guide has the full chart, a chapter on each structure, printable worksheets and beat calculators for films, episodes and novels.