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Fictional Narrative Basics - Plot
Unit Completion Date: End of Week 5
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There are also a few revision techniques that simplify all of these plot issues into manageable tasks for redrafting. Profluent plots are driven by tension drawn from situations of conflict, but as writers we must always keep in mind that the tension we are trying to generate is not something tense within the story, but tension within the reader's mind. We put our character in peril not for the sake of their being at risk, but because the reader identifies with and worries about that character, and in doing so is driven forward through the story.
This tension in the reader can be thought of as a series of questions raised for the reader. The largest of these is the very general question in the reader's mind of how it all turns out. Traditionally, most stories have one central dramatic question, which is presented to the reader at the beginning of the story and answered at the end. In Michael Cunningham's White Angel, (anthologized in What If?) we learn in the third paragraph that the character Carlton is going to die, setting up the dramatic question in the reader's mind, "How does Carlton die?"
Most stories cannot succeed on one long dramatic question alone, however, and require smaller questions to be raised and answered along the way. I find it useful to think of these questions as threads, and you need to have enough shorter and longer threads woven into the story to bind it together with the level of dramatic tension you are seeking.
For the final exercise of this section, reread the story you selected from Best American and identify all of the dramatic questions you can find, noting where they are raised and where they are answered. At what point in the story is the central or longest dramatic question raised and answered, and how do the other dramatic questions serve to support this central question? This assignment will not be posted to the course site but should be placed in the "Plot" section of your craftbook.
Plot Exercise 6 (Opt.) - Submit Response
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