Plot (narrative)

In a literary work, film, or other narrative, the plot is the mapping of events in which each one (except the final) affects at least one other through the principle of cause-and-effect.

[2][3] In the narrative sense, the term highlights important points which have consequences within the story, according to American science fiction writer Ansen Dibell.

The term plot can also serve as a verb, as part of the craft of writing, referring to the writer devising and ordering story events.

"[7] [failed verification] For example, in the 1997 film Titanic, when Rose climbs on the railing at the front of the ship and spreads her hands as if she's flying, this scene is memorable but does not directly influence other events, so it may not be considered as part of the plot.

Another example of a memorable scene that is not part of the plot occurs in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back, when Han Solo is frozen in carbonite.

[1] The literary theory of Russian Formalism in the early 20th century divided a narrative into two elements: the fabula (фа́була) and the syuzhet (сюже́т).

[9] Sterne uses temporal displacements, digressions, and causal disruptions (for example, placing the effects before their causes) to slow down the reader's ability to reassemble the (familiar) story.

Philosophers/critics who have discussed story structure include Aristotle, Horace, Aelius Donatus, Gustav Freytag, Kenneth Thorpe Rowe, Lajos Egri, Syd Field, and others.

In his Poetics, a theory about tragedies, the Greek philosopher Aristotle put forth the idea the play should imitate a single whole action.

Two types of scenes are of special interest: the reversal, which throws the action in a new direction, and the recognition, meaning the protagonist has an important revelation.

[16] He held that discovery should be the high point of the play and that the action should teach a moral that is reenforced by pity, fear and suffering.

[18] The stage should also be split into “Prologue, Episode, Exode, and a choral portion, distinguished into Parode and Stasimon...“[19] Unlike later, he held that the morality was the center of the play and what made it great.

This can be contrasted with moving a story forward with dramatic technique; that is, by making things happen because characters take action for well-developed reasons.

In contrast, an adversarial character who has been struggling with himself and saves the day due to a change of heart would be considered dramatic technique.

Familiar types of plot devices include the deus ex machina, the MacGuffin, the red herring, and Chekhov's gun.

The plot outline is a rough sketch of this cause and effect made by the scenes to lay out a "solid backbone and structure" to show why and how things happened as they did.

In a plot summary, the author and title of the book should be referred to and it is usually no more than a paragraph long while summarizing the main points of the story.