Plot Twist! Why story and plot distinction doesn’t actually matter
You say tomato, I say tomato. Let's dive into what's story and what's plot and look at just how much it really matters. And revealed! The only thing you REALLY need to know...
All writers, whether they’re working on a short story, a novel or a (screen)play, need to know how to tell a story, that will satisfy and keep the reader/viewer engaged from beginning to end. A lot of this is down to story structure. But there's a huge amount of terminology in use discussing structure, and not everyone uses the same definitions. It can be a confusing mess, right? Particularly when what you really want to know is ‘How do I keep the reader glued to the page or screen?’
In this article I'm going to delve into a particular bugbear of mine: the different definitions of ‘story’ and ‘plot’. I’ll then illustrate my points by breaking down the story and plot of my first book, Before I Go to Sleep, before finally considering which definitions are most accurate, and why any of this even matters in the first place.
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What’s the story, what’s the plot?
When talking about how to write, how to tell a good story in any medium in fact, people often talk about Acts. They also mention plot-points, turning points, doorways, catalysts and inciting incidents. And then of course there are beats, dark nights of the soul, denouements, climaxes, cliffhangers and resolutions. There’s a lot of terminology, basically, and it can feel like a nightmare.
You’d think it’d be easy, right? But writing a novel (or any long form story) is a mysterious, alchemical process, and we all approach it, and think about it, slightly differently.
‘What exactly is the difference between a story and a plot?’
As an example? It’s even hard to get a concise, consistent answer on that age-old question, ‘What exactly is the difference between a story and a plot?’ I know two very established writers, both of whom do a fair bit of teaching, and both of whom I admire hugely. Yet when asked this question they give two completely contradictory answers. When describing their ‘story’ one will — almost word for word— use the definition the other uses for ‘plot.’ And, you guessed it, vice versa. And no, they don't know each other.
Some people define ‘story’ as a list of events which may or may not be linked, whereas a ‘plot’ links them causatively. So, for example, using this definition, ‘he went into town and ended up in hospital’ is (arguably) a story, whereas ‘he went into town, got hit by a bus crossing the road, and ended up in hospital’ is (equally arguably) a plot.
Other people approach things differently. For some, ‘story’ is a list of the events in chronological order, whereas a ‘plot’ is the way those events will be rendered on the page (or in the screenplay, or whatever) to create a satisfying whole.
So, to use the above example, ‘he went into town, saw his friend on the other side of the road, and got hit by a car as he crossed over to chat to her, which meant he had to go into hospital’ would be a story. Whereas consider ‘A car slammed into him as he crossed the road to talk to his friend about her upcoming wedding, this sent him flying into the air and he broke several bones, which meant he had to go to A&E where he is now, and the irony is he went into town to buy a wedding gift for his friend and will no longer make her big day’. Same events, but told in a different, non-chronological order? Still with causality but rearranged for dramatic effect? By this definition, this is no longer a mere story, but now qualifies as a ‘plot’.
Confused? Let’s take Before I Go to Sleep as an example (spoiler alert!). Here are two different ways of telling that tale…
A woman learns she has debilitating amnesia, which she initially believes is because of a car accident in her past, but in fact turns out to be the result of a violent attack by a lover she took early in her marriage when her relationship with her husband had begun to deteriorate. Ultimately, she learns that this ex-lover is now the man pretending to be her husband.
A woman gets married, and is happy for a while. Her marriage deteriorates, and she ends up having an affair with someone who has effectively stalked her. Feeling guilt, she attempts to break off the affair, but this results in a violent attack by her lover which results in catastrophic amnesia. Many years later, after her husband divorces her, her old lover returns and convinces her that they are married.
Now, it is not hard to see that these are two very different ways of telling what is essentially the same story. Both have causative elements, so many people would define them both as plots. Whereas some would say the first is the plot, since that’s the way the tale was told in the eventual publication, while the second — a chronological rendering of the events — is the story.
So who’s right?
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