TQ&EGtWGF: Chapter 5…Plot

The plot of your story is often the most important part of the story, but this is not always true. Comedy, for example, relies on laughs and not necessarily on plot. If you’ve ever seen a B-horror movie, then you know that plot is not always the main point. However, a good plot never hurts, and good plots always bring your readers back for more.

So, what is a plot? A plot is the narrative of the story in which one event leads to another, each event working toward a resolution. The traditional plot structure is as follows: exposition and conflict in the beginning, rising action and climax in the middle, and falling action and resolution at the end.

5a: The Beginning:

The beginning sets up the story with exposition and conflict. Exposition has its own chapter in this book, so I won’t bother going into detail about it here, but I will give you a reminder.

5a1: Exposition:

As previously mentioned, exposition sets up the backstory and background for your plot. You have your main character’s daily life and perhaps a prologue before that, but the main point of exposition is to familiarize your readers with your main character and story world.

5a2: Conflict:

The conflict is the hook that reels people into your story. The conflict represents the central struggle of your main character, whatever that struggle may be.

Here are some examples of conflict:

Aria, age thirty-two, learns she has cancer (the conflict is cancer and dealing with it both emotionally and medically).

Jack Bradford, a hardened detective, is alerted to a string of seemingly connected, bizarre murders (the conflict is the new case he’s working on).

Diva Hart, a famous pop star, is fascinated by a regular guy named Ben, who wants nothing to do with her (the conflict is her romantic interest in someone who is not interested).

As you can see, the conflict of the story encourages your readers to read on, driving within them a psychological need to see how the conflict is resolved. Your conflicts should be clever, interesting, and geared toward your target demographic.

5a3: Multiple Conflicts:

Obviously, you can set up multiple conflicts at the beginning of your story.

Here are some examples of multiple conflicts:

Deshawn witnesses a murder at the hospital. Unfortunately, he also learns that he is in a coma on life support when he sees himself in intensive care (the conflicts are: the murder and the condition of being a “pseudo-ghost”).

Bhavna, age twenty-two, invents a computer program that can predict future events over the course of a year. Her father, Advik, wants her to stay in the family business instead of working on her current project. During the trial run of her program, Bhavna learns that her father might die of a heart attack (the conflicts are: her father’s demands and her father’s health).

Joet’s village is starving. The merpeople have flooded one half of her people’s island home while ruthless barbarians in ocean ships have been raiding other islands (the conflicts are: lack of food, flooding of the island, hostile raiders, and possibly hostile merpeople).

Multiple conflicts should obviously be resolved by the end of your story. Don’t get overwhelmed by adding in too many conflicts at once, but if you do, make sure your story is as long as it needs to be in order to resolve everything.

5b: The Middle:

The middle is where rising action and climax take place. The middle is the exciting “page-turner” portion of your book or story, the most likely spot where your readers won’t be able to stop reading.

5b1: Rising Action:

Rising action is one of the two most exciting parts of your story. This part of your story heightens the suspense and conflict that lead toward the climax. When writing this portion of the story, make sure you keep your readers interested by leading them forward with each step of the rising action.

Here are some examples of rising action:

Aria must decide whether to take an experimental treatment for cancer, but doing so may leave her with permanent neurological damage. Otherwise, she’ll have to endure the long, slow method of chemotherapy. Aria chooses to take the risky new treatment (the rising action is: Aria signs on with the experimental treatment).

Jack tracks down the serial killer to an abandoned warehouse, but he is ambushed, and his backup, Anna, is mortally wounded in the process. Jack discovers that the killer is actually his old police partner, Joe (the rising action is: the ambush, Anna’s mortal wound, and the discovery of the killer’s identity).

Diva learns that the man she has fallen in love with, Ben, is actually her childhood friend. He disappeared before middle school because of a car accident, and he doesn’t remember their past together at all. She also learns that a wealthy businesswoman was responsible for the accident, and this woman bought her way out of a lawsuit, meaning Ben hates the wealthy in general, especially rich women (the rising action is: the discovery of Ben’s identity, his amnesia about their history, and his hatred for the rich and famous).

The hooks in these examples create a psychological need for the reader to keep reading in order to reach the climax of the story. The rising action part of your story must pull your readers forward.

5b2: The Climax:

The climax should be the most exciting part of your story, and it should be where the main character faces and resolves the conflict in the story. Make sure your climax is everything you want it to be, because a disappointing climax will drive off readers like nothing else.

Here are some examples of a climax:

Aria pulls through her experimental treatment after officially being declared dead during a seizure that temporarily stops all brain activity (the climax is: Aria’s seizure during the treatment and her miraculous recovery).

Jack and Joe fight it out on the roof of the abandoned warehouse during a storm. Joe is about to kill Jack, but Anna, mortally wounded but not yet dead, saves Jack by shooting Joe at the last second. Jack throws a wounded Joe off the roof, and Joe falls to his death (the climax is: Anna saves Jack by shooting Joe. Jack defeats Joe).

Diva convinces her love interest, Ben, to look at the photo album she has filled with pictures of their time together as kids. Diva tells him she’s willing to give up her career for him just so they can be together. Ben decides to give Diva a chance by becoming her boyfriend (the climax is: Diva proves who she is and what she is willing to do to get the man she loves. She convinces Ben to give her a chance).

The climax should resolve the conflicts of the plot and then lead the reader toward the falling action portion of the book. As stated before, your climax is the central turning point of your story. Make it count.

5c: The End:

The end slows down the story in order to tie up all loose ends. Here is where you will find falling action and resolution.

5c1: Falling Action:

Falling action occurs directly after the climax. Falling action portrays what your characters do as they move toward the resolution of the book.

Here are some examples of falling action:

Aria’s parents and her two sisters are overjoyed and in tears that Aria didn’t die, and they’re even happier that her cancer is in remission. Aria is also overjoyed that she has a new lease on life (the falling action is: her family immediately comes to Aria’s side after her close call with death. Aria feels joy and relief at her recovery).

Jack holds Anna as she dies in his arms. She tells him that she’s worried about what will happen to her fourteen-year-old brother. She was taking care of her brother, and she relays her fears for his future just before she passes (the falling action is: Jack is with Anna when she dies, and he hears about her younger brother).

Diva and Ben go out on a simple date at a diner. Diva eludes the paparazzi in order to do this. Diva learns that Ben has always liked her in spite of his own biases (the falling action is: Diva and Ben’s date and his confession to her).

The falling action should always lead to the resolution of the story. You can tie in a minor conflict with falling action, but it must be solved immediately in the resolution. Remember to make your story interesting, and if you’re unsure of what comes next, we’ll discuss inspiration in Chapter 17 of this book.

5c2: The Resolution:

The resolution of the story ties up all loose ends and finishes the story. You may also include an epilogue for further depth to your tale.

Here are some examples of a resolution:

Aria decides to travel the world and visit different religious sites along the way in order to gain a better understanding of her place in the universe (the resolution is: Aria travels the world looking to understand her own mortality).

Jack takes Anna’s little brother under his wing and starts teaching him the trade of being a future police officer and detective (the resolution is: Jack looks after Anna’s little brother. The case is closed, and Jack moves on to another case).

Diva and Ben get married, though Diva settles down a lot at Ben’s request (the resolution is: Diva and Ben get together and compromise with each other on how their lives should be lived).

Your resolution should end your story unless you intend to write a sequel or you’re writing a book in a series. Your epilogue, if you include one, is a great place to plant the seed of a sequel or the next book in a series.

5d: The Five Act Structure:

The traditional plot structure has a beginning, a middle, and an end, also known as the Three Act Structure. The Five Act Structure is a little different. The Five Act Structure consists of the introduction, rising movement, climax, falling action, and catastrophe or celebration. You will often see the Five Act Structure in classic works of literature, such as William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

As someone delving into the writing world for the first time, you should start with the Three Act Structure and go from there, so I will only briefly touch upon the Five Act Structure.

5d1: The Introduction:

The introduction contains the exposition and leads toward the rising movement. This works exactly like exposition in the traditional Three Act Structure.

5d2: Rising Movement:

The rising movement is akin to rising action, but it does not contain the climax. This segment leads toward the climax of the story and sets it up. Any characters you may want to introduce are introduced now so that they become part of the story. Rising movement will usually be the main body of the story in the Five Act Structure.

5d3: Climax:

The climax in the Five Act Structure is slightly different from that of the Three Act Structure. Rather than being the culmination of a peak of excitement, the climax in the Five Act Structure is a point of reflection, a mirror as to how things went during the rising movement. This climactic point will either lead to catastrophe or celebration. Either things went well, or they’ll fall apart. It depends upon your plot.

5d4: Falling Action:

The falling action segment works toward the catastrophe or celebration. Depending upon the climax, anything that can go wrong will go wrong if you’re writing toward a catastrophe. It’s the Murphy’s Law of plot development. If you’re writing toward a celebration, anything that might have gone wrong begins to correct itself.

5d5: The Catastrophe/Celebration:

This is where everything is tied together to make an ending. If it’s a catastrophe, everybody dies or is ruined. If it’s a celebration, everyone rejoices, has a big wedding, the villain is finally defeated, etc.

As a beginner, I would seriously suggest not writing in the five-act format unless this is what you truly wish to do. If you do, I suggest reading classic comedies and tragedies to get a feel for the Five Act Structure. Shakespeare is a good start.

5e: Nontraditional Plots:

You don’t have to stick with the formula above when writing a story. You can delve into the world of artistic literature, but be warned: it may not work out the way you want it to. A nontraditional plot does not follow the structures listed above.

An example of a nontraditional plot would be:

Darren, Perri, and Jose walk into a room where there are three buttons: one blue, one red, and one yellow. All three of them hit their buttons at the same time. Darren becomes Perri, Perri becomes Jose, and Jose becomes Darren. The three go back to their factory positions and do their jobs for the day. The next day, all three come back to the room, line up in the same positions, and hit their buttons again. Darren becomes Jose, Perri becomes Darren, and Jose becomes Perri. The three go back to work at their factory jobs. Nothing changes.

The example above is a plot based heavily upon theme, one in which the theme is mindless work makes mindless people without individuality. The point of this story isn’t the plot but the message behind it.

I’ve only given one small example of a nontraditional plot. There are many, many ways to write a story, so feel free to experiment. Embrace your artistic side.

5f: Genre and Plot:

Remember, though genre and plot can be closely connected, they don’t have to be. For example, a plot will be closely connected to the mystery genre when you’re writing a mystery, but for other genres, such as historical fiction or fantasy, the plot is more malleable while the genre becomes a backdrop in the setting.

5g: In Closing:

Your plot is one of the most important things to focus on when writing your story. As I’ve mentioned before, unless you’re looking to write in the Five Act Structure, such as writing a classic play, or you’re looking to write something with a nontraditional plot, good luck with that, then you should stick with the Three Act Structure and go from there.

The image for Chapter 5 of TQ&EGtWGF was generated by artificial intelligence courtesy of OpenAI.