Elements of Plot
by Saladin Akara on June 17, 2009
in General Writing, Plot
We all know what a plot is, it’s the development of a story. Its progression from start to finish. But, what parts make up a plot? What themes are present in all stories if you look closely enough? That’s what the next few posts will be looking at; but for this introductory post to the theme of plot, I’m going to be giving an overview.
Dramatic Structure
While originally designed as an analysis of dramatic works like plays and screenplays, Gustav Freytag’s study of ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama is probably the most readily noticeable structure for plots - both for plays and ’standard’ literature.
It incorporates five acts: Exposition (introduction), Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Conclusion (listed as ‘denouement’). Each of these ’sections’ will be looked at in more detail over the next couple of weeks, but I’ll be giving a brief overview now.
Introduction
This is the beginning of the story, where characters and the world are introduced, background information is offered, and your readers are made ready for the next sections. Your introduction gives the setting and reasons for the upcoming conflict.
Rising Action
The build-up to the climax, the Rising Action ‘phase’ takes all the information from the Introduction and moves it forward towards the Climax. Other side-plots are generally introduced here and add to the final conflict.
Climax
This is the point at which the story has thus far been reaching towards - the key point in the story where there is a turning point in the situation.
Falling Action
This shows the immediate effects of the Climax, and generally finalises the victory - or loss - of the protagonist against the antagonist.
Conclusion
The final, closing section of a plot, the Conclusion ends all ‘loose ends’ and shows the changes from the start of the story. “And they lived happily ever after…”
Obviously, these are only scant offerings of explanations, but all will be explained in more detail as we continue on. I’ll be making reference to Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ when writing my more detailed articles on plot. Hopefully a lot of you would have either read the books or seen the movies, so will have at least a rough knowledge of the general plot involved.
Feedback?
Do you know of this structure already? If so, what are your thoughts? If not, what structures do you use, or notice, when looking at plots? Your thoughts, methodologies and ideas are all welcome, and part of my own writer’s journey. So, give your input!
This basic strucutre works well when looking at short stories, but novels tend to get more complex (admittedly the complexities are built on top of this basic structure). Even non-linear stories have these elements, though they are harder to identify.
I think what is missing from this, is a closer look at side plots and interwoven stories. They are an essential part of a good novel, and to lump them in as part of the rising action seems an injustice. The rising action would seem to me, the parts that lead us along the main story line, but those other sidequests are an addition to that. Just my view.
Looking forward to reading the next couple of posts.
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Heya Cassandra, thanks for the comment.
I definitely agree with you, and it’s something that I will be discussing over the course of this theme. However, in summation, side-plots will often reach their pinnacle around the same point as the main plot, or if not, they will follow the same ‘five act’ structure, just wrapped inside the main plot.
So, within the rising action, you would have various five staged side-plots occurring.
But, like I said, I’ll be discussing this in later posts.
Again, thank you.
I think you got the parts correct. I’ve never given much thought to picking stories apart to see what makes them tick (though I have done so for TV and movies). Stories have always been kind of intuitive for me, and I’ve not given them as much thought (from this type of analysis, anyway).
I’d say the longer the rising action continues, the more interesting the book. I like to keep the rising action throughout an entire story if I can, spending very little time on the climax, falling action or the conclusion. Personally, I enjoy when the latter parts of the fiction are used to set up some future installment or to let the reader wonder what happens next.
As goes life, good fiction rarely has a final scene that tidily wraps everything up.
I agree with Dave, I like it best when there isn’t a tidy ending. As far as laying it all out, what you have seems spot on. However, I’ve never outlined a thing in my life. It totally doesn’t work for me. I much prefer to just start writing, lay out the bones, and then go back to the beginning and add the skin. For me, intuition takes the story in the right direction.
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