The Importance of Plot

Plot doesn't just happen. Plot, by definition, requires planning. That's a functional way to think of it--as a plan--either simple or complex, depending on a writer's approach. Writers who create by the seat-of their-pants may begin with a simple plan; writers who invest much time in pre-writing may develop a complex plan complete with story "maps."

It's possible to write a story without a plot. Some literary and award winning popular authors get away with this because they focus intensively on characterization. Three-dimensional, conflicted, interesting characters never make up for the lack of a plot, but they can absorb a reader's attention from looking for one, for a while anyway.

Generally, if a character is well defined, then the story probably has an internal plot of sorts. That's because realistic characters want something, even if it's defined loosely as a longing for love, respect, honor, courage, etc. No human being maintains a state of pure and complete contentment for very long. If it's not an arrow of insecurity striking at the heart, then it's the whiff of cream-filled donuts the first week of a new diet.

Internal plots consist of intangibles--the yearning for contentment, perhaps. Not the cream-filled donuts. Those are tangible, existing outside the person, and are external. It's important for stories to have internal plots, because that's where realistic characters are developed in richly layered detail. Internal plots are full of vague and long-term yearnings, hopes, and dreams.

Internal plots, like external plots, begin with a goal. It's something long term and usually a little vague. Sue wants a family of her own. Hank wants his father's respect. These are non-specific, because what does a family look like? What does respect look like? The character doesn't know. All she knows is she feels the void of it in her life, and she'll recognize it when she experiences it. The writer needs to know by the end of the book that the family Sue desires looks like widower Hank and his twin two year-old girls. The respect Hank wants from his father looks like Dad trusting Hank's advice to partner in a risky but ultimately profitable business deal. The writer also needs to know the lessons Sue and Hank need to learn before their dreams materialize.

The reason internal plots are not enough for great stories to hang on is because a character flounders in uncertainty a lot. Can Sue feel like she's part of a family that once belonged to another woman now dead? Will she always feel like an outsider? / How important is the respect of a man who's never told his son he loves him? Is Hank willing to pay the price for Dad's respect? Because the character is uncertain how her internal goal will manifest in the end, readers cannot measure pace, recognize the significance of important events, or feel closure in a resolution. Character uncertainty makes for great internal dilemmas, but when it's left alone to drive a story it diffuses the pace and confuses the reader.

External plots are excellent drivers. They are full of tangible, short-term goals and events. A character wants something right away. Not improved living conditions for any orphans (general). A new home for twenty orphans in a tiny flood-stricken town in South Carolina (specific).When a goal is specific, readers can measure the character's success by whether she gets what she wants or not. It's something that can be seen, felt, touched, tasted, or heard, occurring on the page. The character's progress towards that goal controls the pace of the story. If Sue targets a certain philanthropist for financial support on page ten, that book is paced a lot faster than one where she reads about him for the first time on page one hundred. Either way, it's the concreteness of the external plot that gives either event significance in the mind of readers.

Plots, internal or external, contain four primary parts. 1. Something a character wants. 2. The reason she wants it. 3. What's keeping her from getting it. 4. How she gets it (or not). They can be blended into one sentence. A character wants something for a reason, and after overcoming what's keeping her from getting it, finally gets (or doesn't get) what she wants.

It's important that a plot sentence focus on a book-length issue, something that requires more than a few scenes to resolve. A situation is not enough. The place to check the endurance of a plot sentence is the first part, where the character wants something. Does she want to find the perfect pair of shoes for the Christmas party at work? That's a situation that may make up a short chapter, whereas what's needed is a goal that can carry an entire book.

Here's what an internal plot sentence may look like: Sue wants a family of her own because she grew up an orphan, and after overcoming persistent feelings of being an "outsider," she adopts a ready-made family as her own.

The following is an example of an external plot sentence: Sue wants Hank to donate a large sum of money to build a refuge for orphans, and after struggling to raise funds to match his challenge donation, breaks ground on the new facilities.

The internal and external plots shouldn't mirror each other. It's best if they pull in opposition to each other, because the external plot forces the character to face her internal flaw, the inner conflict that's keeping her from being happy. It generates the internal plot's resolution and infuses it with credibility. Realistic characters don't change without a reason, and it's the external plot that provides that reason.

In the above example, it's Sue's pursuit of an orphanage that forces her to interact with Hank and his twins. The more emotionally involved she becomes with a ready-made family she feels she can never be a part of, the greater her chances diminish of finding a family of her own. Reciprocally, avoiding Hank's family so she might find a family of her own will cause her plans for the orphanage to suffer. Ideally, when a character makes progress in the internal plot, it makes it harder for her to achieve her external goal, and when she makes headway in the external plot, her internal goal comes under fire. It's the push-pull between the internal and external plots that creates the compelling rhythm of all great fiction.

Plot is story. Without a plot there is no story, merely a random series of events, at best loosely associated by the fact that most of them involve the main character. Not every plot has a great story, but every great story has a plot, and a plot is a plan. It's the plan the character follows toward an anticipated resolution, and it's the plan a writer follows to relate the character's journey to readers.