An Easy Guide To The Frichtean Curve Structure

Reading Time: Approximately 2 minutes

 

The Fichtean Curve is a narrative structure that is comprised of a varying number of crises, which gradually build up to a grand, climactic crisis.

 

The Frichtean Curve is broken down into three parts:

– Rising Action

– Climax

– Falling Action

 

The Frichtean Curve is most commonly used for mysteries and pulp fiction.

 

Essentially, the character has a goal- like solving a murder, for example- and follows a series of obstacles of increasing intensity in order to achieve that goal.

 

While it uses the three-act structure as its basis it differs in pacing method. Instead of a lengthy setup of the protagonist and their world, it instead gets to the crisis as soon as possible.

 

For example, in “The ABC Murders” of the mystery series Poirot, the detective tells his friend of a letter he received forewarning him of murder only five minutes into the story.

 

Two-thirds of the story will encompass the Rising Action- a series of increasingly troubling crises. Any necessary backstory is interwoven as the plot progresses.

 

The story will then reach the Climax in a final, larger crisis. It can be an event that’s either catastrophic or redeeming for the protagonist. It’s an event that drastically changes the course of the story and leads us to the falling action where the resolution occurs.

 

During the Rising Action, each crisis functions as a key plot point. It’s a series of escalating mishaps or triumphs for the protagonist. For example, in Death on the Nile, the closer Hercule Poirot gets to discovering the murderer a new murder takes place- complicating things for the Belgian detective.

 

Typically the final crisis point serves as the turning point that shifts the main character’s course of action. We are then led to the climax of the story.

 

The Climax of the story is when the protagonist reaches the point of no return and must either confront the core conflict head-on or face the consequences of failure. Traditionally, the protagonist will triumph, which then leads to the Falling Action.

 

For instance, in Death on the Nile, the climax comes when Salome Otterbourne is shot in the middle of revealing to detective Poirot that she knows the identity of the murderer.

 

The Falling Action is where we’d see the resolution of the story and all the loose ends are tied. In Death on the Nile after the climax of Salome Otterbourne’s death, the falling action begins and we see Poirot put the pieces of each murder together and ultimately solve the case.

 

In conclusion, The Frichtean Curve is a simple structure applied best in mystery and pulp fiction stories. It’s broken down into three parts consisting of Rising Action, Climax, and Falling Action- with the bulk of the story taking place in the rising action.

 

A few examples of films that use this structure is Mission: Impossible-Falling, World War Z, and To Kill A Mocking Bird.

 

Happy writing!