A bit late to reply to this post, but I’m still working my way through the thread. I relate to this a lot—it’s definitely taken some of the magic out of reading for me. It’s like peeking behind the curtain at a theater and watching the crew scramble to keep the show going. Ever since I read K.M. Weiland’s book on plotting, I can’t unsee story structure. Now it’s less “oh no, the prince’s parents were killed, that’s tragic,” and more “ah, there’s the Inciting Incident.” I kinda miss being blissfully unaware.
