Plot (narrative)
Plot in narrative refers to the structured sequence of events that compose a story, deliberately arranged by an author to elicit emotional responses from readers. It serves as a fundamental component across various literary forms, including novels, short fiction, theater, film, and television. The concept of plot has deep historical roots, with Aristotle emphasizing its importance in drama through his analysis in "Poetics," where he outlined key plot elements such as exposition, conflict, climax, and denouement.
Over time, different narrative structures have emerged, including epistolary plots popularized in the 18th century by authors like Samuel Richardson and later adapted by Jane Austen. Gustav Freytag's "pyramid" model and Syd Field's three-act structure for screenwriting further illustrate how plots can be organized to create compelling narratives. In contemporary storytelling, character development is integral to plot creation, with characters' interactions and growth driving the narrative forward. Understanding plot development is essential not only for writers but also for readers seeking to engage critically with stories.
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Plot (narrative)
A literary plot reflects the series of events that constitute the action of a narrative. This structure of interrelated actions is consciously arranged by the author to construct a story. The author stylistically shapes plot to achieve emotional responses from the reader; otherwise, it is just series of episodes with no cohesion. The plot is a key element of numerous forms of literature, including novels and short fiction, graphic novels, and narrative poems, and plays a crucial role in theater, film, and television.
Background
All plots are situational. Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BCE) asserted that all knowledge proceeds directly from observation of the actions and subsequently that all actions can only be explained through understanding of causality. In his Poetics (ca. 335 BCE), an analysis of poetry and tragedy, Aristotle asserts that the plot (mythos), with its beginning, middle, and end, was seminal to drama. For Aristotle, drama centered on the actions of a noble hero or protagonist who meets a fate inherent to the drama’s actions. Poetics systemized tragedy and introduced concepts including anagnorisis (recognition) and catharsis (the purging of emotion).
The novel plot structure emerged during the eighteenth century out of the popularity of epistolary fiction, which is fiction written as a series of letters. Samuel Richardson (1689–1761) developed popular epistolary plots in Pamela (1740) and Clarissa (1748). Henry Fielding (1707–54) satirized Pamela with Shamela (1741) and later wrote a classic coming-of-age picaresque novel (consisting of loosely connected episodes) titled Tom Jones (1749). The novel was later emulated by authors such as Charles Dickens and Mark Twain.
Jane Austen (1775–1817) created sensibilities of disenchantment that ran throughout her narrative plots. Austen wrote the first version of her novel Sense and Sensibility (1811) in an epistolary form but later transposed her plot into a more subversive realistic form that inspired countless later novels, thus demonstrating that the basic structure of a plot can be rendered in numerous formats.
German novelist Gustav Freytag (1816–95), in his Die Technik des Dramas (1863), developed a system for understanding dramatic structure that came to be known as “Freytag’s pyramid.” Freytag recognized several elements essential to a story. These include exposition of the situation that introduces important characters, how they relate to each other, and their motivations; the inciting incident that begins the conflict; the rising action that brings about a conflict between multiple people or groups; the turning point in the middle of the story, where the protagonist makes a powerful decision or action that will define the outcome or climax (the most dramatic point in the story); and the denouement, which occurs when the story’s conflict or mystery is solved and all events lead to an emotional conclusion.
Overview
For those entering writing careers, whether in prose fiction or in a field such as screenwriting, understanding narrative plot (and character) development is an ongoing process. Beyond giving one the ability to analyze storylines critically, understanding narrative plot construction is an information literacy tool that can be applied to real-life situations.
Learning about plot development is similar to developing a musical ear, and it involves understanding pace and the human condition enough to express them in words. The protagonist in a narrative plot is the main character around whom most of the action is centered. In films and television programs that are serialized (as with nineteenth-century novels that were first serialized in periodicals), dramatic situations must engage audiences with realistic and compelling approaches to character development. Characters and their fictional interactions drive plot creation. Characters with a consistent point of view, character flaws, or an attitude from a specific background engage the audience. The dialogue, action, and situation must be constructed to allow characters to grow enough to create story arcs without completing them. For ensemble-driven plot narratives, the group of characters serves as a single unit, with the plot’s location also functioning as a form of character. Individual characters develop with different pacing. Although serialized prose fiction fell out of favor in the twentieth century, writers such as Stephen King have continued to experiment with the serial form and its unique approach to plot development.
Much as Freytag developed his pyramidal plot structure in the nineteenth century, American screenwriter Syd Field (1935–2013) developed a three-act structure paradigm for writing screenplays that considers time formulaically. According to Field, a film’s plot can be divided into three stages, or acts. The first stage establishes the details of the work prior to the protagonist experiencing the plot point that sets the action of the film in motion. In the second act, there is a turning point at which the protagonist experiences a challenging reversal of fortune or further complication of the conflict. This leads to the third act, in which the main character must dig deeper to succeed or fail in attempting to resolve the plot point. In the television industry, which is typically driven by advertising, narrative plot pacing involves a four-act structure based on the placement of commercial breaks.
Creating a plot involves creative recognition of challenges that arise in storytelling and gathering skills to adapt story line, character, and structure to changing societal values. Storytelling is an art form that is learned from reading and studying the stories of others, recognizing potential situations in which compelling plots can be shaped, and creating interesting devices for advancing the story line in order to provide motive for action, create drama, or resolve conflicts.
Bibliography
Alward, Peter. Empty Revelations: An Essay on Talk about, and Attitudes toward Fiction. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 2012. Print.
Ashton, Paul. The Calling Card Script: A Writer’s Toolbox for Stage, Screen, and Radio. London: Black, 2011. Print.
Dancyger, Ken, and Jeff Rush. Alternative Scriptwriting: Beyond the Hollywood Formula. Burlington: Focal, 2013. Print.
Edelstein, Linda N. The Writer’s Guide to Character Traits: Including Profiles of Human Behavior and Personality Types. 2nd ed. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest, 2006. Print.
Field, Syd. The Screenwriter’s Problem Solver: How to Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems. New York: Dell, 2006. Print.
LaPlante, Alice. The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing. New York: Norton, 2007. Print.
Shawver, Brian. The Language of Fiction: A Writer’s Stylebook. Hanover: UP of New England, 2013. Print.
Villa Gillet. The Novelist’s Lexicon: Writers on the Words That Define Their Work. New York: Columbia UP, 2010. Print.