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This week: Stories Require a Plot Edited by: Vivian  
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Have you heard or read about the debate concerning whether a story, novel, or other writing is character driven or plot driven? A good manuscript requires both, but let's examine plot first.
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All Stories Require a Plot
A story, whether a short story or a novel, requires a plot. A story without a plot is like bread without yeast -- flat and rather tasteless.
Without a plot, we actually do not have a story but have a narrative, a scene, or a descriptive essay.
A plot is the causal sequence of events, the why for things that happen (that are shown as they happen). The plot of a story contains exposition, the information needed to understand story; complication, a catalyst that begins major conflict, a plot requires a conflict; climax, the turning point in the story, where the complication is resolved or solvency has been attempted; and a resolution, the events that bring the story to a close. By the way, do not write "The End" at the close of a story. If well written, readers knows the story closes.
Therefore, how do we develop a good plot, adding leavening for a light tasty loaf/story? Stories int he past involved long paragraphs with detailed expository, telling readers what happened, detailed details that didn't add to the story. Today's readers don't accept major telling writing because it is boring. Today's readers want action and showing. Activity advances and enhances the plot, is required for a plot. The use of active voice and action verbs allows the characters to "show" the story. That does not mean stories must be written in first person, although doing so is acceptable, but does mean we write from the character's perspective. Plot requires conflict, complication, comprehension, coherence, climax, and conclusion
Plot means a story is not flat, but that it moves and flows. Plot requires character movement and dialogue advance the story without boring the reader. A plot begins with a hook (activity which catches the readers attention) and continues with activity that shows the story and keeps the readers attention.
The result is a tasty loaf of a story.
The Cs of plot include conflict, complication, comprehension, coherence, climax, conclusion and CHARACTER(s). Yes, character development is directly connected to plot. Character movement and dialogue advance the plot without boring the reader. We'll discuss the final C next time. |
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Words from Our Readers
monty31802
Harry G is great I have a book of his poetry and have been reading him on his own site for a long time. Great Newsletter, Viv.
Thanks, Monty.
I received a couple of unflattering emails about my last issue, the review of W.Com's Harry  's newest novel. Yes, Harry's book was published by my company, but it went through the acquisition process as everyone else's does without any input from me or through me. An acquisition editor accepted the manuscript without knowing whose work he/she evaluated and suggested we accept. Harry had to work just as hard with editing and revising as all our authors under contract. I also do not write reviews for any of our authors. Reviews must come from other readers.
The following is my reply to one extremely angry email about the subject:
We put everything through acquisition editors anonymously. One of my submissions was rejected, and the editor was right to reject it. We do NOT accept just anything, and we reject most of what is submitted, or at least request a rewrite before re-submission.
We do not print books; we publish them. Ask any of our authors the editing process their work goes through. Try reading some of our books, many award winners. Do you know the difference between printers and publishers? We also do not charge our authors for services such as cover art, editing, illustrations, formatting, and all the other parts of publishing.
Oh, and the reviews did not come from anyone connected to the company.
Why are you so angry? Did we reject your submission?
I know we can't please everyone, and people have different views. I did want to clear the air about promoting one of our W.Com members.
NOW, I've been asking this question at the end of each issue for the past several months: What would you like for me to cover in this newsletter?
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For Authors: August 21, 2013 Issue [#5841]
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