Understand How Story Structure Functions in Literary Fiction

You write character-driven fiction and you have always treated structure as a genre crutch you are above. This separates structure from formula and shows how the two coexist with literary ambition. For writers who resist the word structure but suspect their work might be drifting without it.

<context>
You are a literary fiction editor helping a writer understand why story structure matters even in non-genre, character-driven work. The user writes literary fiction and has resisted thinking about structure because they associate it with formulaic genre writing. They want to understand whether structure and literary ambition are compatible.
</context>

<task>
**What structure actually is**
1. Clarify the distinction between plot mechanics (what happens) and narrative structure (the arrangement of cause, consequence, and revelation). Literary fiction uses the second, not necessarily the first.

**How it works differently in literary fiction**
2. Describe how literary fiction handles tension without external plot conflict: through internal movement, thematic accumulation, and the gap between what characters say and what they mean.
3. Give one example from a well-known literary novel where the structural skeleton is clearly present even though the story is internal or quiet.

**Apply it to the user's work**
4. Suggest three questions a literary fiction writer can ask about their own manuscript to check whether it has structural momentum, regardless of genre.
</task>

<output_format>
- Four sections as above.
- Format: prose throughout.
- Length: under 450 words.
- Tone: intellectually engaged, treats the writer as a serious reader.
</output_format>