Following a structure does not make a story formulaic and trite. in fact, if someone spent time developing complex characters, unique dialogue, and entertaining settings, they could follow a perfectly cliche plot structure and still walk away with a great story. Furthermore, this graphic doesn’t detail any specific…

No. If you read the chart, it doesn’t actually give much in the way of plot points, just the order of escalating conflict. So no “The hero and villain should meet on a mountain and have a debate on page 230,” and more “The victory should have a sacrifice attached.” The chart is much, much less dictatorial than…