Chris Rogers, Author

Writers' Easy Guides: Plot

The Plot is your story skeleton. Plot is order and causal relationships—this happened, causing that to happen. “The head bone is connected to the neck bone, the neck bone is connected to the shoulder bone...” Plot presents the chronological facts of what happened and why.

For a quick example, consider Cinderella: A girl’s father dies, leaving her to live with greedy stepmother and two stepsisters who mistreat her. The king announces a ball to find a bride for his son. Stepmother and stepsisters prepare to go, but Cinderella is left out, until her fairy godmother appears and sends Cinderella to the ball in style. The prince falls in love, but Cinderella dashes away. He tracks her down and they live happily ever after.

Story, on the other hand, is how you choose to unfold these events. Do you introduce Cinderella’s father? Or do your start with Cinderella sweeping up the fireplace in her tattered skirt after the stepmother has taken over the household? Story includes setting, description, dialogue, character background and motivations, and much more. Story can include various points of view, can relate events that take place over decades or only hours. How you choose to tell it is what makes your story differ from another writer’s whose plot is almost identical. Like two humans with almost identical skeletons will look completely different. Plot is the skeleton, story is everything else.

Plot in a Nutshell:
Capture Your Story in 10 Quick Steps

The late Dwight Swain, whose excellent book Techniques of the Selling Writer resides on most writers’ bookshelves, told us that, “A story begins with a change in the way things are or fear that change will not occur…”

Writers’ Easy Guide #1 ORDER NOW

Single Line of Action:
Define the Story Spine for Tight Plotting

After plotting your story, look for the Single Line of Action, the spine that holds the story together. Surprisingly, the spine may not be defined as you expect. The frame, the background, the puzzle, the character growth are all important to excellent crafting, but every story needs a single element that functions as the nerve center, the driving force.

Writers’ Easy Guide #11 ORDER NOW

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