Kurt Vonnegut on Story Structure

While he was a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Kurt Vonnegut (best known for writing "Slaughterhouse-Five") submitted a thesis proposal that all "stories have shapes which can be drawn on graph paper."  The proposal was rejected as too simplistic, but since I love simple, I love the theory.

In later life, Kurt gave a lecture demonstrating the story graphing theory, which you can view here:

Kurt Vonnegut's Rejected Story Thesis Video (click here)