Plot (narrative)

For other uses, see Plot (disambiguation).
Plot is the cause‐and‐effect sequence of main events in a story.[1] Story events are numbered chronologically while red plot events are a subset connected logically by "so".

In a literary work, film, or other narrative, the plot is the sequence of events in which each event affects the next one through the principle of cause-and-effect. The causal events of a plot can be thought of as a series of events linked by the connector "and so". Plots can vary from the simple—such as in a traditional ballad—to forming complex interwoven structures, with each part sometimes referred to as a subplot or imbroglio.

Plot is similar in meaning to the term storyline.[2][3] In the narrative sense, the term highlights important points which have consequences within the story, according to American science fiction writer Ansen Dibell.[1] The term plot can also serve as a verb, referring to either the writer's crafting of a plot (devising and ordering story events), or else to a character's planning of future actions in the story.

The term plot, however, in common usage (for example, a "film plot") can mean a narrative summary or story synopsis, rather than a specific cause-and-effect sequence. It can even refer to the whole narrative broadly.

  1. ^ a b Ansen Dibell, Ph.D. (1999-07-15). Plot. Elements of Fiction Writing. Writer's Digest Books. pp. 5 f. ISBN 978-0-89879-946-0. Plot is built of significant events in a given story – significant because they have important consequences. Taking a shower isn't necessarily plot... Let's call them incidents ... Plot is the things characters do, feel, think or say, that make a difference to what comes afterward.
  2. ^ "Definition of plot". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
  3. ^ "Definition of storyline". Oxford Dictionaries. 2014-08-09. Archived from the original on 2014-08-09. Retrieved 2023-01-25.