Understanding what a plot is creates a foundation for an ability to create one. Unfortunately for most writers, they are consumed with the idea of creating the effect of what a plot does without first understanding what a plot is. What a plot does is raise dramatic questions a reader or viewer will follow a story to its conclusion to get answers. What a plot is is the process of generating questions around the outcome of a story's dramatic purpose that gives a story a dramatic shape and outcome fulfilling to an audience.
Romeo and Juliet is an example of a well-crafted plot. By loving each other in spite of the mutual hatred of their families, Romeo and Juliet set the story in motion. But it is the story's plot that makes the story's movement toward its fulfillment dramatic. By raising up the obstacles that block the love of Romeo and Juliet fulfilling itself, the story's plot makes the lover's plight more dramatic. Even knowing the story's outcome, the action of its plot -- moment by moment -- generates for the story's audience a dramatic experience of the power of a love that will not be denied.
In any story, as characters act to achieve goals, the actions of such characters should advance the story toward its resolution and fulfillment. Because other characters are driven to shape a story's dramatic purpose to their design, they are naturally in opposition. As different characters act and block each other, they generate new obstacles to each others progress. This escalates the drama over character goals, scenes and the story's outcome. A plot operates around the effect of making a story's movement toward resolution and fulfillment dramatic. The catch is that it's only when a story is in motion that it has a movement to block. Without this quality of dramatic tension generated by a plot around a story's movement, a story appears to be a collection of incidents. The incidents may be dramatic individually, but collectively they fail to engage the interest of an audience. They fail because they lack a discernible purpose that arises out of resolving a story's dramatic purpose.
The key here is to understand that to describe a story about love is not to describe its plot. A story is about an issue of human need. A plot is what makes that issue acted out to resolution and fulfillment dramatic. To create a great plot about love is to turn what might appear to be a worn story idea, two teenagers in love, into Romeo and Juliet.
To illustrate how a plot grows from a story's premise, consider the novel The Hunt For Red October. On the surface, it appears to be a plot-driven thriller about a Lithuanian-descended commander of a Russian nuclear submarine attempting to flee to America and freedom. On a story level, however, it is about a battle between freedom and authoritarianism. This is laid out in the story's premise, The courage to battle oppression leads to freedom. Because readers desire to experience that state where the values of freedom win out over oppression, they readily internalize this story's movement. Because the story in its every action proved its premise, it drew in readers. Its highly praised plot succeeded because it made the underlying conflict of the story, freedom battling oppression, clear and dramatic.
It moved its audience.
Its plot operated to make that movement dramatic.
When every character's actions revolve around a story's core dramatic issue, the actions of each character affect every other character. A well-designed plot ensures those premise-generated actions increase the drama around the story's course and outcome. That makes the story's journey to its ultimate destination more potent.
Tom Clancy succeeded in creating a great plot because he understood how to create a plot that manifested the movement of his story. Every character, situation, and action grew out of his story's promise and existed in the world it created. Since the story of The Hunt For Red October concerns freedom battling oppression, the story's plot made visible and concrete the playing out of that deeper level of story. To the extent a reader feels emotionally or thoughtfully connected to this story, they are engaged by its plot.
As the story of Hunt is clearly and powerfully presented, the readers sees/feels/experiences how the freedom they identify with battles the oppression they dislike/hate/want to see vanquished. That is why so many people had to read to the end of the book to get that story question answered: Will Ramius make it to America and freedom?
They had been hooked on a deeper, emotional level. They had been led to care about the outcome. It was important to their own state of emotions, their own sense of what was right and just, their own sense of mattering.
Engaging the interest of an audience around an issue of human need invests them in the story's outcome. They want to know how it will turn out. They have to know how it will turn out.
When someone has to finish your story to see how it turns out, your plot has fulfilled its purpose.
The writer who doesn't see the connection between a story, its characters, and plot risks introducing characters or plot devices that confuse what's at stake in the story. That confuses a reader's emotional response/desire to pursue the story's journey of feelings, thoughts and sense impressions.
The answer for the struggling writer is to see that a plot is generated by a strong, well-realized story. It is not a substitute for a story. Setting up a situation common to action films, "Who's going to get out of here alive," is plot-like. Lacking a story issue, however, such films struggle to engage a wide audience.
To create a great plot, start with your story promise. Understand how what's at stake in your story raises questions to which your audience desires answers. Understand that your plot should make the journey to get those answers potent and dramatic. When you start to write, be clear about the obstacles that block the movement of your story. How those obstacles force your characters to act with ever greater determination if they would shape the outcome of your story's outcome.
That's when you'll be told, "Wow! Loved your plot! How did you think of it?"
2007-02-28 10:53:22
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answer #1
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answered by tinklover637 2
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Be more specific. What kind of plots? You have burial plots..they are about 6 feet under. You have story plots, that is what a story is about. You have line plots, which is a type of graph that displays information. ...Not sure what you are looking for.
2007-02-28 10:51:47
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answer #2
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answered by andybugg2000 3
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You have a plot in the cemetery to be buried in, a piece of ground you bought just for that purpose.
Another kind of plot is a plan, usually to inflict harm or damage to someone or something.
Also you might be plotting a course to reach a certain destination or goal in your life.
2007-02-28 11:04:58
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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No character progression. The vampires weren't rather vampires by skill of the unique standards. by skill of the top of the sequence, the vampires are not even vampires by skill of S. Meyer's standards. Sparkly vampires? Sparkly straight away vampires? You waste the 1st a million/2 of the e book waiting for Bella to confirm what S. Meyer basically writes on the back. it fairly is horribly written. Bella's a Mary Sue. it fairly is not love, it rather is a lustful obsession. Edward's too ideal. Bella's put in too plenty peril and Edward is, of direction, consistently there to maintain her it rather is uninteresting. She describes how warm Edward is on each and every internet site. it fairly is predictable. the full conflict has no consequence on absolutely everyone different than Bella. true love isn't adult men looking at you mutually as you sleep and you may desire to no longer oil your domicile windows so as that they could sneak in silently. Bella's existence revolves around Edward. a great sort of the persons who examine it and bypass gaga over it are on no account the comparable back. to no longer point out lots of the readers would be unable to sort a marvelous sentence or spell properly. Bella has no character. Bella gadgets feminism back a century or 2 by skill of exhibiting women it fairly is completely fantastic to permit the adult men do each and everything. Vampire baseball? Please. The forbidden love plot has been performed many circumstances in the previous and plenty greater advantageous. Bella Swan = perfect swan = lame and cheesy. They 'love' one yet another because of the fact she smells good and he's warm. i would be unable to assert twilight without thinking related to the main terrible e book I ever took the time to envision, that factor of day is now formally nightfall in my thoughts. additionally, it basically undeniable sucks.
2016-09-30 00:54:48
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answer #4
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answered by ? 4
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They're dug typically 6 feet deep
People are burried in them
They can be costly
2007-02-28 10:51:02
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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exposition:background info.
rising action: self explanatory
climax: when the story reaches its turning point
falling action: self explanatory
resolution: self explanatory
2007-02-28 10:54:31
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answer #6
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answered by d3adbc 2
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there is a beginning,middle and a end
2007-02-28 10:52:03
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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