Story Fractals - The Recursion Loop of Narrative Payoff

Fractal Wire Art Background from publicdomainpictures.net

Okay, boring stuff first: a fractal is a complex geometric pattern that repeats without end. This means that, no matter what magnification you view the shape—be it super zoomed in or super zoomed out—the shape remains the same.

Okay, interesting stuff now: the idea of a fractal can be applied to writing and story structure to give stories a sense of direction and scope, and to give readers a blueprint of understanding without spoiling what’...