“Normally there’s a long time between germination and the writing.” The Guardian STORY STRUCTURE OF THE GRUFFALOįor more on mythic structure, see this post. was in her head for a year before she sat down to write. She needs animals because she has 100 children to feed (all magic results from having wished for them.) (For example, you might squeeze cheese but persuade a formidable opponent that you’re really squeezing buttermilk from a stone.) She’s trying to get rid of the local dragon in return for a gift of animals. This is a familiar device in many folk tales. In the Romanian tale, an underdog hero convinces a dragon of her own considerable might. Julia Donaldson uses the same device of tricking a formidable creature into thinking you’re much stronger than you are. The Gruffalo draws heavily from Alexandra the Rock-eater: An old Rumanian tale, retold by Dorothy Van Woerkom and published in picture book form in 1978. Julia Donaldson is a master at taking old folktales and rewriting them in rhyme for a contemporary audience. The Gruffalo is an example of mythic structure, which has been super successful as a story structure across cultures for the last 3000 years. Today I take a close look at The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson to show how universal structure exists behind all good stories. It works for picture books, songs, commercials, films and novels. This seven-step structure works for all forms of narrative. This month I’m blogging a series aimed at teaching kids how to structure a story.