Literary Devices: Plot Development
Plot Development
The plot of a story is the most essential part to good writing. This article is to help you understand what the plot is and how to make it entertaining.
What is the Plot?
The plot of a story is your main storyline. It is the plan, scheme or main story of your work whether it be a poem, play or short story. The plot is why a story happens and why the protagonist learns or grows.
Types of Characters
- Protagonist: The main character the story focuses on. Most stories only have one main protagonist, but it is possible to have more than one.
- Antagonists: The characters that are against the main character(s).
- Flat characters: Extra characters whose purpose is to highlight what the protagonist is experiencing.
- Round characters: These characters are complex; they are included to help the reader understand the scene in a way that advances the action.
- Stock characters: Stock characters are characters who are obvious and predictable similar to a cliche. Stories should not be too full of these characters or else they will be boring.
When writing a story, most characters follow a sequence of events and they are almost always in the same order. You have the Rising Action, Climax/Turning Point, Falling Action and the Resolution/Denouncement.
Sequence of a Story
- Rising Action: The rising action of a story is the events that help lead up to your main climax. For instance, say your climax is finding buried treasure; your rising action would be the steps your main character has taken leading up to finding the treasure chest, such as what places they went to, any clues they found to get to the next destination.
- Climax/Turning Point: This is the part of your story where your protagonist decides to resolve any conflict they were having or finds a resolution to the conflicts. It it the point of your story where the suspense is dropped and you can start unravelling the pieces, it’s the eye opener of your piece.
- Falling Action:The falling action is everything that happens as a result of your climax. Your protagonist could get in trouble after discovering something great, fall in love after revealing their true feelings, the choice is yours.
- Resolution/Denouncement: This is the part of your story that puts all of the pieces together. It sums up and brings conflicts to their solutions. It should be believable, and not a huge surprise because your plot should have been leading up to it.
You can also use elements such as Foreshadowing to help your plot as well.
How Do I Write a Good Climax?
Big words and detail are the last thing you want to use when writing the climax of your story. You want to make your original conflict strong. Then as the story builds, you need two or three good attempts at resolving it.
Remember that a story is a "situation" - you are putting your characters in a situation and then having them work their way out of it. Unless the situation is strong, the climax will be weak. Generally a climax is some kind of a confrontation. Make it strong. Be very careful that it is realistic. Don’t make something like guns suddenly materialize at the right place and right time, make everything flow. Remember to always make it realistic. You want to keep the main focus in tact with as little confusion as possible, best way to do this, with minimal details. You need just enough detail to get the vision and feel right and big words aren’t necessary.
To make your climax interesting you want situations like life or death. Keep the focus as tight as you can on the antagonist and the protagonist. Think of it as a movie if you will. In a movie, at the climax, you don't suddenly have cuts to show you the scenery and stuff like that - the director focuses on the characters-right down to their hands. For instance, if it’s a war scene, they go as in depth as to who is going to shoot first? You want to create that kind of tension. In a good climax, it's like the air is suddenly sucked out of a room and all you can hear is the ticking of a clock. Maybe. Whether it's a dramatic one or a happy one, the idea is the same. Skip the adjectives and descriptions, eliminate the extra big words.
How Do I Write the Rising Action?
Well, the rising action of a story are the events that lead up to your climax, they are your big events that have a huge impact on your story. The first thing you want to do is create a protagonist who is a dynamic character that changes in a significant way(positively or negatively) You want to place events, twists and the connections to your protagonist in a logical order so that your story is clearly understood. Using vivid and descriptive words you help the story flow towards your climax. You also want to make sure that you intensify the rising action as you go along. Have your main character be a part of the main conflicts and/or struggles occurring. It could be a struggle with loss, insecurity,insanity,love, etc. Also, put in literary elements that reflect your characters and conflicts within your story, drawing your reader into your story, making them not want to put it down. The most common types used are suspense, irony, similes and metaphors. Be sure to remember that the most intriguing stories are the ones in which a reader has to really think outside of the box, so make sure to include implications where your reader has to really read between the lines.
How Do I Write the Falling Action?
The falling action of a story is your events leading up to the end, it is where the ties start coming together and you can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. You want to make sure you answer any questions your reader may have had in reading your story, and make it so your ending is believable. You don’t want to have a story lead up to a completely different topic that leaves your reader confused and going, huh? Your falling action should flow nicely after your climax and provide a sense of future for your protagonist. In the closing part(s) of your story you want to provide a sense of accomplishment or perhaps failure for your protagonist and make your ending/resolution clear.
Writing a Good Resolution
Your resolution is your end of the story, the point where everything is said and done and you can either envision your characters with a bright and sunny future or weeping in a cemetery. Your resolution should make your readers jump for joy, cry with tears of sadness, or leave them hanging if you plan on writing a sequel (though it is not recommended).