storytelling

The story is the way the story is told.

I make my own stories and I'm very obsessed with not being nostalgic, because I think that 90 percent of the world is too nostalgic. They don't have the courage to face the present and make stories that are relevant today, about life today...

– Guillermo del Toro

Sendak understood that stories can be scary. He believed that we should all—kids and adults alike—experience stories that deliver encounters with all the emotions available to us; that scary stories are how we become prepared for any eventuality. Indeed, this is the very reason we need stories. We don’t do well with uncertainty, and so we seek out

Stories are a calm anchor amid the storm of uncertainty. And in uncertain in-between times, the stories we tell ourselves are powerful frameworks that help us work out who we are in the present moment and what we value. They lure us into becoming our aspirational selves.

Work backwards from the emotion you're trying to create in the reader. Then let the structure follow.