[MUSIC] Welcome to module A, Plotting a Course. Hi, I'm Brando Skyhorse and in this course I'll be teaching you the craft of plot. Together we're going to learn what is plot, how is plot different from a story, how does plot shape a narrative, what makes a strong plot. We're also going to be talking about story structure, how to show instead of tell by writing scenes, how to edit and revise our work once we've finished our draft of it. And I'll also be discussing with you in the capstone segment what to do when you finished all of your revisions. How do I get my work published? Should I self-publish or should I find an agent? How do I write an agent query letter? Hint, it should be as short as haiku. What happens to my book after I sell it? Complete all four courses in the Wesleyan creative writing program, then come join me in the capstone, where I'll answer these questions and a whole lot more. Now let's start with plot. What is plot? Plot can often be a scary word for writers because it's the first word we think of when someone finds out we're writing something. Writing a book? What's it about? How can you break down all of the complicated parts of your novel into one, simple, easy to digest sentence. That's where plot comes in. To those of you either writing a novel or thinking about writing one, plot is the main events of a novel or story devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence. Now, that's his dictionary definition but let's break that down further. Main events mean what happens in your story, literally the actions or events that occurred. Devised and presented as an interrelated sequence means the connected order In which things happen in your story. Note that word connected. That's a key word to keep in mind and I'll explain why in a second. So plot then is this What happens in your story and the connected order in which those events occur? That's it. Now, did you catch that in how I just described plot, story is in the definition of plot. A lot of people get these two words story and plot confused. What's the difference then between a story and a plot? The great English author Forster defines the difference like this. The king died And then the queen died is a story while the king died and the queen died of grief is a plot. This implies a causal relationship between those two events. in the first description First x happened and y happened. There's no relationship between those two actions. It's like an itinerary of events that happened according to a timeline, but are not related to each other. Think about the departure board in an airport. This plane leaves for Paris at 5 PM. The next plane leaves for London at 6 PM. The two flights occur at the same airport, but they are not related to each other in any way. But in the second description, first x happened and then y happened because of x. The queen died because she was sad about the first thing that happened. Those things are connected to each other. Now let's go back to that airport departure board. Imagine that you were supposed to be on the 5 PM flight to Paris to meet a friend, but discovered they rerouted through London and were stuck there. Therefore, you took the 6 PM flight to London instead. Let me put this another way. Think about the actions in any novel or story. If the words and then happens between the beats of those actions, you have something really boring because the events are not related to each other in any way. You don't need and thens, you need therefores. This happened therefore, this happens. An excellent way to visualize all of this and how events happen in a story is Freytag's Pyramid. Gustav Freytag was 19th century German novelist and playwright who analyzed ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama and devised a pyramid to describe how a story works. At the base of one side of the pyramid, is exposition. This is where you give your initial important background information about the story. So for example, you can tell your readers information about setting, events that have occurred before the main plot of your story. Back story information about your characters, any information that might provide context for what your plot is about is exposition. Next, there is what's known as the inciting incident. This is the actual event that kicks off the action in your story. This event also informs the reader what the main conflict in your plot will be about. This is where we are introduced to our protagonist. That's your novels main character. After that the pyramid goes up, that's your rising action. This is an event or series of exciting events that start right after your inciting incident that builds up to your climax. Your plot is dependent upon these exciting events to set up the climax of your story. This is where we usually meet our antagonist. This is our protagonist's chief opponent. The antagonist of your story tries to put as many obstacles in your protagonist's way. At the top of your pyramid is a climax. Here's where the biggest tension in your story is. It's the most exciting event in your plot. This is everything that your rising action has built up to and sets sets up for all of the falling action that follows. Here's where your protagonist, your main character pushed up against the wall, finally reveals what they're made of. Now we're coming down the other side of the pyramid, falling action. These events are the fallout from the big action that happened in the climax. This is also where we learned the conflict between your protagonist and the obstacles that have been put in their way. At the base of the other side of the pyramid, resolution. This is where the protagonist, or main character, solves the main problem or conflict. Last, on the other end of the pyramid, the denouement, this is your ending. Any remaining secrets, questions, or mysteries which remain after the resolution is solved by the characters or explained by the author. Now, all these terms are great. But, how do they work in an actual book? Click on the next segment in this module and I'll show you how. [MUSIC]
