Unit 3: Fiction C. Plot


1. Analysing Plot Te plot refers to the sequence of events or the shape that a story takes. One could imagine it as a sort of map for a journey which the reader takes during the course of the narrative.


When planning the plot of a narrative, the writer has to make certain decisions. You should examine the following questions in the short stories and novels you have studied:


■ How is the time sequence handled? Is there a chronological order, where the writer works progressively through the events as they occur, or is there a flashback or a series of flashbacks, which shape the narrative?


■ How and when are new characters introduced? What complications and obstacles arise for the main characters, which make us want to read on to find out what is going to happen?


■ How is conflict and tension created? Suspense is a prime ingredient of any story and is necessary to maintain the reader’s interest. Suspense comes from the building up of tension, keeping the reader in a state of heightened anxiety or uncertainty. It may rely on conflicts or tensions between the characters themselves, conflicts or tensions surrounding events, or tensions relating to the setting, e.g. a battlefield or a haunted house. Te important ingredient is that the reader is leſt uncertain about what will happen and wants to read on to find out.


■ Climax may be described as a series of events, increasing in tension until a critical point is reached. It is usually the turning point in a story and leads to the conclusion. Where does the story come to a climax? Is there more than one climax? Ask yourself where the story has been going – follow the ‘map’. Take for example the climax in Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. George is about to kill his close friend Lennie to spare him from a lynch mob. Te two friends engage in a dialogue about the dream they shared to own their own home. As Lennie looks across the river, George brings the novel to its climax:


‘. . . George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. Te hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. Te crash


of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.


■ How does the pace vary? It is important to have changes in the speed at which events happen. Too much dialogue slows the action down, but enough must be given to make the characters seem real. Likewise, too many events happening in quick succession, or the plot lurching from one crisis to another creates a sense of unreality.


■ How does the conflict resolve? Remember, there may be more than one conflict in a novel. What happens as a result of the resolution of the conflict? How does the story end?


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