Story vs Plot (This idea evolves with you as you become an evolved storyteller)
Published 10 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Friend, Welcome to the new edition of The Storytelling Wizard!
You might be surprised to see an email in the middle of the week. But if there's something I could share with you, I will not wait for the weekend. :)
There's no wrong time to do the right thing.
The idea that I want to share with you today took me years to understand and completely internalize within me. It's the idea of a story versus plot.
What is a story? And what is a plot? And is there any correlation between them? And here's the simplest form in which I found it to be working out for me in my projects.
Image created by author on MidJourney
"The king died and the queen died."
Two events.
A simple narration.
This is a story.
But if you connect the first movement (the death of the king) with the second movement (the death of the queen) and make one action the result of the other, we would have a plot.
"The king died and then the queen died of grief."
Touch up with a little suspense:
"The queen died and no one knew why until it was discovered that it was through grief at the death of the king."
Story, then, is a chronicle of events. The listener or the viewer or the reader wants to know "WHAT" comes next.
Plot is more than just a chronicle of events. The listener/ viewer/ reader asks a different question: "WHY" does this happen?
Story is a series of events strung like beads on a string.
(This happened and then this happened and then...)
Plot is a chain of cause-and-effect relationship that constantly create a pattern of unified action and behavior.
Plot involves the reader in the game of "Why?"
Story requires only curiosity to know what will happen next.
Plot requires the ability to remember what has already happened, to figure out the relationships between events and people, and try to project the outcome.
I hope this helps you gain some clarity in a few minutes, which took me years to understand deeply.
