Freytag's Pyramid
German novelist Gustav Freytag studied Greek and Shakespearean tragedy and drew its shape as a pyramid: tension climbs to a turning point in the middle, then falls to a catastrophe. Modern teachers usually place the climax later, which is how the diagram below draws it. It is the shape most people mean by "plot pyramid" or "plot diagram".
Step through the 6 beats
Click a point, use the buttons, or focus the diagram and press ← →. Drag the length slider to turn percentages into word positions.
Introduce the character, setting and the normal situation.
In flash fiction: One or two sentences. Open inside a scene, not with backstory.
Example beatMara polishes the lens she has polished every night for thirty years.
Freytag's Pyramid beats in a 500-word story
| # | Beat | What happens | Starts near word | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Exposition | Introduce the character, setting and the normal situation. | 0 | Mara polishes the lens she has polished every night for thirty years. |
| 2 | Inciting incident | Something disrupts the normal situation and creates the conflict. | 60 | A letter: the lighthouse goes fully automatic at midnight. Her job ends. |
| 3 | Rising action | Complications build; the character tries and meets resistance. | 175 | The storm arrives early. The automatic lamp flickers. A radio crackles: a boat is lost. |
| 4 | Climax | The point of highest tension where the conflict turns. | 360 | The power fails. Mara climbs the stairs with the old oil lamp against orders. |
| 5 | Falling action | Consequences of the climax play out. | 430 | At dawn the boat limps into harbour, its crew counting her flashes. |
| 6 | Dénouement | A new normal; loose ends tied or deliberately left open. | 500 | She leaves the oil lamp on the sill, filled, just in case. |
Freytag's Pyramid: common questions
What are the 5 parts of Freytag's Pyramid?
Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and dénouement (or catastrophe, in tragedy). Many diagrams also mark the inciting incident as the start of the rising action.
Is Freytag's Pyramid the same as a plot diagram?
Mostly. The classroom plot diagram is a simplified Freytag's Pyramid. Freytag placed the climax at the centre of a five-act play; school diagrams often move it later to match modern novels and films.
Does Freytag's Pyramid work for flash fiction?
Yes, if you compress it. In 500 words the exposition and inciting incident can share a paragraph, and the falling action is often a single closing image.