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Fictional Narrative Basics - Plot
Unit Completion Date: End of Week 5
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Plot is probably the most accessible element of fiction writing, and in my experience the one that many writers--especially those who consider their work to be "literary"--tend to dismiss as least worthy of attention. I suspect this has to do with the fact that plot is a dominant element in many popular genres such as romance, horror, mystery, and thrillers which are held to be less literary. Nonetheless, it's rare that a writer working in any genre is able to pull off a successful story that doesn't have to confront the central question of plot: What happens that is worthy of the reader's attention?
Whatever the situation presented in a story, it must either have something intrinsic that makes the reader want to read more--to see how it all turns out--or other elements of the story must be so compelling that they compensate for lack of forward motion in the story. In most cases this intrinsic something is discussed by writers and critics as either conflict or tension. In either case this generally means some sort of unresolved situation that brings forces into opposition.
In most cases, too, this plays out as a conflict between a main character (the protagonist) and some opposing character or force (the antagonist). Because the main character is generally one of these two forces, most stories support the dramatic conflict of the plot with careful development of the main character, so that the reader will identify with and care about the character and his or her ultimate fate.
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