What makes a plot a plot? I recognize it when I see it, yet I wouldn't know exactly what makes a plot. I know that a story needs two plot turns, two pinch points, a mid point, and a resolution. But can a story concievably have a plot, but be "about nothing." In the sense that there are no big battles, or major world conflcts. But the story has "conflict" in the sense that something happens, its made worse, it tones down, and then it's resolved.
I'm not going to lie, its probably because the story I finished is more like a "slice of life" type of fantasy story. But it's something I've wondered for a long time anyway. Can a story be "about nothing" and still have a plot? And how important is plot?
The plot is the events that take place in a story and the way they're sequenced by the author. So even in a show like Seinfeld which is debatebly "about nothing" it's easy to find the plot in each episode, even if it's as simple as a group of friends sitting in a coffee shop, or apartment having silly conversations. Sometimes that's the plot.
I couldn't help it; this is the first thing I thought of.
I think short stories can work the way you describe, as slices of life (or "biopsies" as I prefer to call them), but if you're talking about something novel-length, then I gotta side with Mssrs. McKee and Cox above.
Love that fucking movie!!!
Me, too. I remember getting ahold of the script about six months before the movie came out and marveling at its metafictional structure (probably still my favorite) but thinking it unfilmable. It's brilliant, the adaptation metaphors, and especially the third act where it all plays out Hollywood style.
Anyway, back on topic. Sometimes conflicts are internal ones. Coming to grips with something. As long as the character has an arc (not necessary in a short, in my opinion), there's mounting tension, and a resolution, the reader will feel like they took a journey. Even Seinfeld was about things. Mainly dissecting the minutiae of social interactions, but in the course of exploring that, stuff happened. The characters never changed (rarely do they in sitcom land), but the structure was there. Curb your Enthusiasm has a more predictable spine in its obsession with karmic butterfly effects, whereby in nearly every episode, someone Larry blithely wrongs at the beginning of the episode will trigger a series of events that end up burning Larry in the end.
how about this- the plot is the reason for anything important happening to happen.
I thought a plot was a piece of land in which to grow turnips.
Yep, that definitely makes plot a lot more understandable.^^ (I am wondering how many drafts this thing is going to need, my typical draft count is around eight.)
I definitely don't do slice of life novels.:/ I have a hard enough of a time keeping everything happening sort of episodically. Well that movie made me feel a little bit better about what I write.
I largely do mostly internal stuff, like coping with poverty and things like that.
"Plot" is an antiquated concept (like "truth"). It is the chief hinderance to personal literary expression and the most persistent obstacle of freedom.
[I'm "stirring the pot".]
^
Tell that to anyone who read Sarah Plain and Tall. Or who watched Hancock.
Turns out, a plot, and one that flows and makes sense, is necessary.
I didn't read that or see the other.
It might be true that some people feel that any book or film which features content without a "plot" is a "waste of their time", but I don't understand that. You're watching a movie / reading a book: how is that time not wasted simply because there is "action" and "resolution" and such stuff? Because it is enjoyable or entertaining? I suppose that would have to be it (unless maybe they "learned" something). Well, some people actually enjoy books and movies which don't have plots, and are entertained by stuff other than "stories", so, turns out, for them, it's, in fact, not necessary.
Actually I consider it a waste of time because it's so boring.
Yea I'm not sure what people mean by waste of time. I mean Saving Mr. Banks was probably the best way I've ever wasted my time.
I can't seem to under the seven point system anyway, as my stories always involve something like eight plot turns, and eight pinch points. With a beginning, middle, and end. And then I might remove a pinch point or so if a character were killed off in the previous scene when I structure the next story.
I used to kill off characters, not so much anymore. Making them part of a computer system for ever and ever constantly recycling their life cycle, maybe.
I wrote some mega weird stories.:/
