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Plot and Structure

The document discusses plot and structure in creative writing. It defines plot as the series of events in a story and structure as how those events are organized. Effective plots involve characters overcoming issues through reversals, discoveries, and complications that ultimately lead to resolution. While plot templates can be helpful, they shouldn't be followed too rigidly and don't capture a story's full complexity. The document also discusses common plot devices and emphasizes that structure gives plot purpose by logically connecting events. It concludes by suggesting an activity of writing a story using the Freytag Pyramid plot structure.

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83 views9 pages

Plot and Structure

The document discusses plot and structure in creative writing. It defines plot as the series of events in a story and structure as how those events are organized. Effective plots involve characters overcoming issues through reversals, discoveries, and complications that ultimately lead to resolution. While plot templates can be helpful, they shouldn't be followed too rigidly and don't capture a story's full complexity. The document also discusses common plot devices and emphasizes that structure gives plot purpose by logically connecting events. It concludes by suggesting an activity of writing a story using the Freytag Pyramid plot structure.

Uploaded by

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Creative Writing Plot and

Structure
By Kayla Walk
Design
-All stories conform to some sort of design

-The type of design depends on the type of story

-Stories typically have the main character(s) overcome an issue


Design Organization
-Design is organized through plot and structure

-Usually manifested in scenes

-Plot consists of a series of events, usually related through cause and effect, that
holds the reader's interest or in some way provokes a reaction.(What happens)

-Structure is the organization of the story to form a pleasing shape and one that
does not seem random or arbitrary.(How it happens)
Plot
-All elements in a plot relate to each other and lead to a cumulative effect

-Reversals: When characters experience setbacks

-Discoveries: When characters find out new things

-Complications: Central problem(s) become more complicated

-Resolution: Story reaches a conclusion that satisfies the reader’s interest in the
characters and the problems posed
Plot Templates
Plot Templates are not perfect
-Often don’t include characters personality traits

-If a plot structure is followed too exact it can make the story feel very mechanical

-Plot templates often emphasise the climax and conflict of a story, and don’t show
that every aspect of a story is important

-Not all stories can by mapped out in a plot template


Plot Devices
-Deus Ex Machina: When a character is in an impossible position but is suddenly
taken out of it by some new character, event, or object

-Red Herring: An answer that seems important but turns on to be meaningless or


misleading

-Damsel in Distress: A female character that is put in danger and must be saved
by a male character
Structure
-Plot is nothing without structure

-Structure explains how things happen, without proper structure things just occur
randomly

-The words “therefore” and “but” should connect every piece of a plot

-Structure can have an infinite number of variations, while plot does not
Activity
Try writing a short story that follows the traditional Freytag Pyramid

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