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Anybody who enjoys some form of music, and nearly all of us do,
shows appreciation of structure. Many pop songs, for example, are based
on a structure in which the melody is repeated over and over again in
successive verses. When we talk about structure we are referring to the
relationship between the elements of the text, and the kind of pattern they
form. One of the important aspects of a structure is that it can bring
together separate chunks of text, so that they resonate with each other and
belong to an overall design. These blocks may remain as sections, or may
be fused together into a new whole.
Structures normally originate with one or more structuring principles
or methods of organisation. For example, the basis of a structure may be
repetition: this could be its structuring principle, though most large-scale
works would be based on several such principles. The advantage for
the writer in thinking in terms of structural principles is that such an
approach enhances control and flexibility. It allows you to organise your
material in suggestive ways, and create complexity by combining principles.
Once you become used to experimenting with structures, you can start to
invent your own by juggling the elements of the text and bending them in
every direction.
Structures are very important because they help you to design your work
in unusual or unexpected ways. This will mean that your texts will be more
stimulating to read and more original. More significantly, how you organise
your material impacts on what you have to say. The same words may create
quite a different impression if they are arranged in another fashion. A