Plot.
Keith: The plot of the story is comprised of a series of events that make up the story line. The plot is never static and it transports the reader from the first word to the last. The series of events that constitute the plot of the story usually revolve around a central conflict, and are played out as the story progresses and comes to its inevitable conclusion. The plot is crucial to any story. It is a thread on which all other elements of the story hang. Setting, character, and theme are all built on the foundation of a good plot, and cannot be developed without this solid foundation.
We are here to discuss plot with David and Jill. My first question to both of you is simply: How do you define what is a good plot, in your mind?
David: A good plot, for me, is something that begins in a very expected way-something that is very commonplace, very prosaic, and then all of a sudden there is a huge shift in what occurs. In some manner, the way-the scene is very-you're very comfortable reading a particular book, and then all of a sudden something happens to change the plot, and it takes it in a direction that I never expected. That keeps me reading, and that makes the reading of a book thrilling to me.
Jill: A good plot to me is a plot that, as David mentioned before, keeps you guessing, isn't predictable necessarily, new things are always happening, and that keeps it exciting and you want to keep reading to find out more. Keith: Now, obviously, you like twists and turns, both of you, in what you read. Now, in those twists and turns, do you enjoy what is referred to as a subplot, a parallel plot, another plot that is going on alongside the main or most significant plot in a story?
David: I think if a story is going to be interesting, it's going to have to have a number of subplots. With any character that's interesting, they're going to have a life that extends beyond what they are currently doing in that particular story. If they are in their thirties, they've lived a life before that. They may have been married, they may have children, they may have enemies, and those subplots find their way, often, into the plot, worm their way in and out of the main plot. I don't think I've ever read a story that was devoid of any subplot. I think it's essential to have other layers of subplot in addition to the main plot going from point A to point B in a story. Keith: Jill?
Jill: Thank you David. I agree subplots make a story much more interesting. I like when there are several characters and something's going on with one character, and then you switch to the next chapter and it's another person and something else is happening with that other person and it's all interconnected somehow, it all comes together in the end, but different characters are doing things simultaneously, usually, and you can't, obviously, write about what each one of them is doing, so you just have to be careful not to make it too confusing. Keith: That leads to my next question: Can a plot be too complicated? And if a plot can be too complicated, do you have any examples of this?
Jill: Okay, yes, I think plots can be too confusing. An example of that would be a movie like Pulp Fiction for me, where I can't really even remember what it was about, because there was just so much jumping around, going from here to there, everywhere, and it just didn't really hold my concentration. David: I had to see that film probably three or four times to actually get a hold of the plot. There were so many subplots intertwined, it was aggravating at first. Which, it may be a good aspect of fiction, if it's aggravating, because it is so intelligent and there are so many subplots happening. I'm not sure if this is an axiom of reading things and enjoying them, but if you read something and you understand it completely from the beginning to the end, that book is set down for me and I'll never read it again. Books that frustrate me, ones that are difficult, that make me angry, I go back to again and again and again, movies I go back to again and again and again and I see new things in them, like Pulp Fiction, there's something new to find in that. Literature that does have too many subplots, I find, is nineteenth-century Romantic literature, where I get lost in-they introduce so many characters and there's so many plots with each character-it has to be extraordinarily interesting for me to want to continue reading; otherwise the payoff is just not enough, and I just set the book down. Keith: Well, that wraps up our discussion on plot-what plot is and its significance to stories is a little clearer, and happy reading!
