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This week: Plot Points Edited by: Joy  
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"My stories run up and bite me on the leg - I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off."
Ray Bradbury
"There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily."
Anthony Trollope
"What a blessed thing it is, that Nature, when she invented, manufactured, and patented her authors, contrived to make critics out of the chips that were left!"
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jnr
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. In this issue, we are going to focus on plot points. |
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
On July 11, Sunday, while we watched the final match of the World Cup Soccer games, our neighbor's granddaughter made this comment. "They should give a yellow card to God." I just froze, not knowing what to say. The little girl was mourning her grandmother who had passed on a couple of weeks ago.
This incident, I thought, would make a good plot point; so, I decided to tackle plot points in this issue.
What is a plot point? A plot point is an occurrence or sometimes a hint of it that gives direction to the story arc, as it highlights something specific inside the story or in one of the characters' thoughts or actions that will determine where the story or the protagonist is headed. One thing to keep in mind is, turning points and complications can be plot points, but not all plot points are turning points and complications.
To illustrate what plot points are, let's take a look at a few of the plot points in three dramatic works. First is Hamlet, a tragedy full of twists and plot points.
 Hamlet returns home for his father's funeral.
Horatio tells Hamlet that he has seen his father's ghost.
Hamlet sees the ghost of his father.
Hamlet stages a play to prove Claudius's guilt.
Ophelia drowns in a river.
Hamlet and Laertes duel.
Second is the movie, In Cold Mountain.
Ada is incapable of working the farm.
Ruby comes to the farm to help Ada.
Inman is disgusted with the violence he witnesses.
Because of the disgust he feels, Inman escapes from the hospital to go back to Ada.
Inman meets a corrupt preacher.
Together they meet Junior who reports them.
The Confederate Home Guard arrests and chains them.
Inman escapes though wounded.
Ruby and Ada put the farm in working order.
Inman meets several people and adventures on his journey back.
As deserters, Ruby's violinist father, the banjo player Pangle, and the mandolin player Georgia enter Ruby and Ada's life.
Pangle unintentionally lets it slip to the Home Guardsman Teague that they are a bunch of deserters.
Inman reaches Cold Mountain.
Inman and Ada spend a night together.
Home Guardsmen shoot Inman. He dies in Ada's arms.
Ada has Inman's child, Grace Inman.
Third is another movie, Casablanca.
City of Casablanca, the importance of it, and the music of La Marseillaise.
The importance of Rick's Café Américain
The importance of the piano in Rick's Café
Rick's cynicism and neutrality, which changes at the end
Ugarte arriving at Rick's Café
French Police announcing the murder of two German officers on the radio
Rick hiding the letters of the murdered German officers inside the piano
Ugarte dying in police custody
Ilsa's arrival with Victor, the fugitive leader of the Czech Resistance who escaped from a German concentration camp
Ilsa's asking for the letters
Rick's inability to shoot Ilsa who was his lover before, but now, is married to Victor
Victor and Rick's conversation about Ilsa and the importance of the letters to her life
Victor's arrest on a fake charge
Rick's convincing captain Renault to let Victor go
The last fog scene with Ilsa, Rick, and Victor in which Rick makes Ilsa escape with Victor
Renault and Victor deciding to leave Casablanca and join the French Resistance.
As you see, there are more plot points in a story than there are twists, turning points, reversals, or complications. The plot points in the three stories above are by no means complete. As such, some plot points are strong; others are weaker. All plot points, however, serve to advance the story.
A strong plot point complicates the previous action. A weaker one prepares the readers for the events in the future. Generally but not always, the inciting incident is the first plot point.
Locating the plot points exactly is important in preparing an outline or a synopsis for a story. A plot outline is less detailed than a synopsis, but a good synopsis has to contain all the major plot points to show what propels the story forward.
A plot point is the link in the chain that ties the story together; therefore, each plot point has to mean something important for the success of a story and has to keep the action moving.
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Drama: July 28, 2010 Issue [#3862]
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