Story vs. Plot (…and what your plot needs to achieve)

The reason most moviegoers love a film is because the story has a great plot that affected them emotionally.

New writers sometimes confuse story and plot.  The terms story and plot are not synonymous.  Story is an account of incidents or events that convey a deeper understanding of the human condition. Plot is how those events are arranged to achieve an intended effect.

Plot is the tool you use to tell your story – it is how you present the story.  Your plot does not create the story.  Your story creation comes from concept, theme, premise, and character development.  The plot makes your story more emotionally satisfying to the reader or viewer. It provides the answers to the questions of who, what, where, when, how, and why, that are necessary to make sense of the meaning of the story.  Your plot must be carefully focused and mapped out to reach a specific goal or result.

PLOT IS MAPPING ACTION AND REACTION
A good plot is not episodic: A happens, then B happens, then C happens.  When you create an episodic plot, simply moving from incident to incident, the audience gets bored, there is no connection to the material.  Great plots tell a dramatic story and revolve around causality: A happens and causes B to result, which then causes C, and on and on.  A cause-and-effect plot creates conflict and action which gives the plot meaning and direction, engaging an audience and heightening their emotions and reaction to the story.

PLOT IS THE ORDERING OF EMOTIONS
Author Irwin Blacker famously wrote, “Plot is more than a pattern of events; it is the ordering of emotions”.  Emotion is how we connect to others.  Emotion unites us.  Emotion is what makes a film compelling.  And, indeed, how you arrange your plot affects the emotional impact the story has on an audience.  You could say plot is the management of information (through the use of scenes) to make a story more involving and satisfying for an audience.  It is the structuring of action and reaction to create a desired outcome.

And the outcome you want to achieve is emotionally affecting an audience – to laugh, to cry, to fear, to be excited, and to feel connected to the human experience.

Posted: June 25th, 2009
at 6:00am by Laura

 Tagged with screenplay plot, screenplay story
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Categories: Structure, Plot & Technique

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