The Boy Who Cried, "Wolf!" (Lessons on Creative Writing)

Chapter 2: Plot, Conflict, and Theme

Chapter 2: Plot, Conflict, and Theme

PLOT -- The plot is the order of events in a story. The author carefully plans the plot of the story by giving it a logical series of events having a beginning, middle, and end. Did you notice that the adjective used to describe a plot is "logical" and not "chronological"? Let's take a quick look at the definition of these terms:

chron·o·log·i·cal

1. /kränlˈäjikəl/ [adjective] - (of a record of events) starting with the earliest and following the order in which they occurred (first, second, and so forth).

log·i·cal

2. /läjikəl/ [adjective] - agreeing with the rules of logic : sensible or reasonable.

In other words, a plot doesn't always have to start with the very first sequence of the story; as a writer, you can be creative in opening it up at the middle of the event, and then you can provide back stories to show what happened prior to that, then proceed with the conlusion. The point is, the thread of events has to make sense regardless if you open the story from the end back to the beginning, or from the start down to the ending.

Now, a short story usually has one plot so it can be read in one sitting, while longer stories will have more than one plot. Normally, however, these plots will all lead to one final event. Please do not mistake Plot from Theme as these are two different elements of a story. There will be a short discussion of Theme at the end of this chapter to help you better understand this element.

Going back, there are five essential parts of plot, and these are:

a)  Introduction - This is where your story begins and where the characters and the setting is revealed.

b)  Rising Action - You now reveal the conflict that makes the story complicated. There will also be a dedicated section in this chapter to discuss "conflict" further. 

c)  Climax - This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the story.

Let me add here that the climax is a three-fold event:  1) the main character receives new information  2)  accepts this information (realizes it but does not necessarily agree with it) 3)  acts on this information (makes a choice that will determine whether or not he/she gains his objective).

d)  Falling action - Right after the climax, things start to settle down and the readers will find out whether the conflict has been resolved or not. This is the event between climax and denouement.

e)  Denouement - the final part of a narrative which explains how the conflict was or was not resolved.

For example, in the movie The Ring (You know, where Sadako got really popular?); Although the main character was able to resolve her conflict because she got to live at the end of the story, she was still not able to stop Sadako from killing other people, and the denouement explained it all: as long as people see the movie, they will die unless they are able to create a copy of the video and have someone watch it to pass the curse to that next person. Fortunately, somewhere in the story, the main character was able to create a copy of the video and her son got to watch it. Now for her son to survive, they need to create another copy of the video and have someone else watch it, so the cycle of death continues.

~~~~

CONFLICT--   Conflict is essential to plot.  Without conflict there is no plot.  In literature, the literary element conflict is an inherent incompatibility between the objectives of two or more characters or forces. Conflict creates tension and interest in a story by adding doubt as to the outcome. A narrative is not limited to a single conflict. While conflicts may not always be resolved in narrative, the resolution of a conflict creates closure, which may or may not occur at a story's end.

There are two types of conflict: 

1)  External - A struggle with a force outside one's self.

2)  Internal - A struggle within one's self; a person must make some decision, overcome pain, quiet their temper, resist an urge, etc.

There are four kinds of conflict: 

1)  Man vs. Man (physical) - The leading character struggles with his physical strength against other men, forces of nature, or animals.

2)  Man vs. Circumstances (classical) - The leading character struggles against fate, or the circumstances of life facing him/her.

3)  Man vs. Society (social) - The leading character struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of other people.

4)  Man vs. Himself/Herself (psychological) -  The leading character struggles with himself/herself; with his/her own soul, ideas of right or wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc. 

~~~~

As promised, we will also deal with Themes very quickly. So here it goes:

THEME -- The theme in a piece of fiction is its its central idea. This usually answers the question: "what is the story all about?".  It is the author's underlying meaning or main idea that he is trying to convey. The theme may be the author's thoughts about a topic or view of human nature. 

Some simple examples of common themes from literature, TV, and film are: 

- things are not always as they appear to be 

- Love is blind 

- Believe in yourself 

- People are afraid of change

- Don't judge a book by its cover

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow/ Comments/ Votes are always appreciated!