Chapter 3-Plot

Everyone knows what the plot is, right?  It’s what happens in the story. Exactly.  But why does it matter?

Sometimes we can get so caught up in a story, we forget that the author chose to arrange the incidents in that story in a certain way.  It’s not like real life in that things just happen so that’s how they have to be written down.  Authors are making choices about these things.  They are choosing how to organize the story so that they can control how and when the events are revealed to you, the reader.

An author can arrange the plot in a number of different ways.  The most common way to organize a plot is chronologically.  Start at the beginning and go to the end.  That feels the most natural to us because that is how we live our lives. The plot may be arranged in a non-chronological style.  “A Rose for Emily” is the first story that comes to mind when I think of non-chronological works. A story can be in media res which is Latin for “in the middle of things.”  This is when a story begins in the middle somewhere with no introduction or exposition to let you know what’s going on.  You have to glean information as the story progresses. When a story is begins in media res, the necessary information may be told in flashbacks to earlier incidents.  Flashbacks are also used in stories that are chronological.

Authors choose the order of events so that you will respond to their works in the way they want you to.  Sometimes not learning a critical piece of information about a character until after you’ve come to know and have an impression of them can create quite an emotional response in the reader or seeing events out of order gives the reader more knowledge of what’s really happening than the characters in the story have.

One of the differences between most “pop” fiction and serious literary fiction is what is driving the plot.  Lighter works are often driven by “what happens next.”  More serious works are often driven by “why things happen.”  Rather than just wanting to move from point A to point B in a story, literary works want to know the motivations and circumstances behind the move from point A to point B.

“Pop” fiction, such as Tarzan of the Apes, John Carter of Mars, or Jurassic Park are strongly based on the physical actions of the characters. These are usually quick and fun to read. They are great for relaxing and leisure time. Mysteries and westerns fall into this category many times.

Literary fiction, such as Hamlet or Pride and Prejudice, are more concerned with the psychology behind the actions and may take more focus as you read.

Usual Steps in a Plot Line

No matter what form the plot takes, these elements will be present somewhere.

• Exposition​​-Exposition is the giving of information to the audience.  At some point in the story, and usually toward the beginning, we have to know where we are, what time period we are in, who these characters are, and how they relate to one another.  The author has to present all that information in some way to the reader.
• Rising action​​-This will be all the events that lead introduce and explain the major conflict of the story
• Climax​-Where the major conflict comes to a head and something happens to resolve it one way or the other
• Resolution (dénouement)​-Where we see the results of the climax and the story comes to an end.

A chronological plot is usually represented as Freytag’s Pyramid.

The plot will always be driven by the conflict in the story.  There are a number of types of conflict and they can be internal or external for the protagonist.

Plot can be one of the noticeable differences between casual or pop fiction and serious literature.

Pop fiction

•Written to a proven format

•Doesn’t expect much from the reader

•Fun, escapism, relaxing

Serious literature

•Expects more thoughtfulness from the reader

•Reflects rather than deflects life

Everyone should have some of both in their library!