Plot - its story

Plot is the plan of a literary work, in our case, short stories. but it suggests more than merely explanation of the sequence of events; there is also causation (cause and effect) a pattern of relationships between events - this happens because of this and so on. Though many use the words "story" and "plot" interchangeably, let us distinguish between the two.


A "story" is a string of events put down in chronological order. A "plot" is a series of events arranged so as to illuminate their dramatic, thematic, emotional experience. If a "story' is concerned with "what" happened, a "plot" is concerned with "what, how and why." That is not to say that a plot doesn't have a beginning middle and an end - it does, which is why we so often use the words story nd plot interchangeably. The beginning is where the conflict happens, the middle ofers us a series of complications, and the end resolves the conflict to a greater or leser degree. Ultimately, it is that sense of causation from one event to another that drives the plot. "The Queen dies and then the King dies" is not a plot - "The Queen dies and then the King dies . . . of grief" is.

Suspense is also a vital aspect of the entertaiing or satisfying plot; we should want to know what happens next, and be surprised by the incidents, but also know that each new evetn grows logically out of the earlier.

It needs to be mentioned that "plot" is artificial. Discerning a pattern in the muddle of huamn life is a willed creaive act. A story with a beginning, middle, and end, with its various events bound together by cause and effect, exhibiting some view of morality or universality (typical experience) is an artifice, albeit one that has the ability to entertain and even teach.