Last week, maybe a week ago, maybe 82 years ago, who knows, we talked about alternative plot structures.
Much of American film and novels is built on what’s considered to be the classic three-act structure, which basically goes beginning-middle-end, and there’s this rising line of the plot.
It ends up looking like a bit of a triangle.
As readers, we can sort of anticipate and feel that structure happening. In a rom-com, we almost always know how far into the book or movie it will be when the couple breaks up and then someone has to chase down a car or airplane or something so they can get back together. There’s a lovely familiarity in that, but us writers don’t always want a lovely familiarity with beats in all the prescribed places and a structure that looks like a triangle.
In an earlier podcast, Shaun, was asking me about the different structures and plots. And this is a pretty big question that people write entire books about, but I’m going to start here.
First, a structure is sort of the diagram of rising and falling and action that links all of the plot points together
The plot is something that connects the moments of the novel in a way that gives a novel its meaning. .
Janet Burroway defines plot as a “series of events deliberately arranged so as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional significance …. Plot’s concern is ‘what, how, and why,’ with scenes ordered to highlight cause-and-effect.”
Plot, according to Ingrid Sundberg, is about patterns, rhythm, and energy. It’s about the movement and feeling your particular arrangement creates. The triangle (often called the Aristotelian story shape) is a visual metaphor for the escalating energy that is meant to come as a result of a classic design arrangement.”
This podcast, we’re talking about all the different types of plots. Next time? We’ll go all structure on you.
Here’s a list of different possibilities when it comes to plot:
• Mini-plot
• Daisy chain plot,
• Cautionary tale plot
• Ensemble plot
• Along for the ride plot
• Symbolic juxtaposition plot
• Repeated event plot
• Repeated action plot
Explanations of the Possibilities
Mini Plot – This is the emotional plot. It’s minimalistic. It might even seem like it does not have a plot, but it does. It’s just that the cause-and-effect is about emotional evolution and growth.
Example: Tender Mercies
Daisy Chain Plot – We have no main protagonist, so we have no main goal. A bunch of characters and situations are here and they are linked via cause-and-effect like a physical object.
Examples: Thirteen Reasons Why (has a protagonist, but it kind of works). Lethal Passage.
Cautionary Tale Plot – Hero? There is no hero! Comfort? There is no comfort! Our main character sucks. And instead the reader is the protagonist.
Examples: Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia. Inexcusable by Chris Lynch.
Ensemble Plot – According to Berg, this happens when you have protagonists grouped in the same place and it is “characterized by the interaction of several voices, consciousnesses, or world views, none of which unifies or is superior to the others.”
Example: Give a Boy a Gun.
Along For The Ride Plot – Ah. Where is our protagonist doing proactive things? Not here. Here we have the secondary character pushing the action and the protagonist is there, zooming along with them. The protagonist has an emotional change anyways, but they aren’t Captain Proactive going after their goals.
Example: Looking for Alaska – John Green
Symbolic Juxtaposition Plot – Why yes, it’s the anti-plot, which some people treat like the anti-christ. This book is an existentialist’s dream. It’s not about the emotion. It’s about having an epiphany, an intellectual epiphany. The plot is about ideas and themes and symbols and that connects everything and gives it meaning. The cause and effect? It’s really not here.
Example: Einstein’s Dreams by Lightman.
Repeated Events Plot – So, the same event? You see it multiple times but through differing perspectives so that we can see the truth from different characters’ points of view.
Repeated Action Plot – You know the movie Groundhog Day? This is it. This is where a character keeps doing the same things over and over until they try to get it right. They have a goal. But the sequence of events isn’t linear but repeating.
Example: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
DOG TIP FOR LIFE
Repeated action plots are the best. Wake up. Snack. Zoomies. Snack. Breakfast. Snack. Pee. Snack.
It’s okay to life your life as a repeated event.
PLACE TO SUBMIT
The Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award
Your novel doesn’t have to be finished. We initially need only 5,000 to 8,000 words and a 300 word synopsis. If you’re long listed we’ll ask for a total of 15,000 words, including your original word count. Shortlisted? Then we need a total 30,000 words, again including your original entry and long listed word count. It all adds up to an incredible opportunity. Click here for all the details!
RANDOM THOUGHT LINK
SHOUT OUT!
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License.
Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Summer Spliff” by Broke For Free.
WE HAVE EXTRA CONTENT ALL ABOUT LIVING HAPPY OVER HERE! It’s pretty awesome.
We have a podcast, LOVING THE STRANGE, which we stream biweekly live on Carrie’s Facebook and Twitter and YouTube on Fridays. Her Facebook and Twitter handles are all carriejonesbooks or carriejonesbook. But she also has extra cool content focused on writing tips here.
Carrie is reading one of her raw poems every once in awhile on CARRIE DOES POEMS. And there you go! Whew! That’s a lot!
RESOURCES OF AWESOME.
Bechard, Margaret. “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Plot.” Faculty Lecture. Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT. Jan 2008.
Burroway, Janet. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narative Craft. 8th Edition. New York: Longman, 2011.
Chea, Stephenson. “What’s the Difference Between Plot and Structure.” Associated Content. 16 Feb. 2010. Web. 7 May 2011.
Fletcher, Susan. “Structure as Genesis.” Faculty Lecture. Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT. July 2012.
• Berg, Charles Ramirez. “A Taxonomy of Alternative Plots in Recent Films: Classifying the ‘Tarantino Effect.’” Film Criticism, Vol. 31, Issue 1-2, 5-57, 22 Sept 2006. Ebsco Host. Web. 6 May 2011.
• Pages 44 -66 in: McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York: IT Books, 1997.
• Pages 165 – 194 in: Gardner, John. The Art of Fiction. New York: Vintage Books, 1983.
https://penandthepad.com/types-narrative-structures-8329065.html
