Todorov' s Narrative theory

Todorov had a theory that most narratives were divided into three sections.
He called these three sections;

• The Equilibrium
• 
  
• The Disruption
• 
  
• The New Equilibrium

The Equilibrium at the start is the way in which the characters are presented to begin with. That means how things are - this can be a good or bad situation, it just shows the audience the status quo (how things are for the characters).

The Disruption can come quite soon into the story. It is the moment when something changes - it is the catalyst that kicks off the main narrative of the story. All of the subsequent action/story line stems from this event or moment.

The New Equilibrium is how the story ends. It is called the "New" because the characters have changed and things have happened. This new equilibrium is not necessarily just a happy ending - although in some narratives of course it is.