Plot and Story

Plot and story: Plot is what happens. Story is how plot causes a character to change. Effective writing needs both.

Back to School Assignment

Every September of my school life, the first writing assignment was some variation of What I did over summer vacation. In retrospect I pity my teachers who were forced to wade through boring itineraries.

I took swimming lessons. My sister and I played in the

sprinklers with the neighbor kids. Our family vacation

was driving to Aunt Wally’s and Uncle Pete’s. We swam

in their pool with my cousins. It was fun.

Bo-oring. That was merely a disjointed listing of events. If my summer vacation were a book, it would be the plot. Now, let’s look at story. If I’m the main character, how did the events of the summer change me?

At the beginning of summer, I didn’t know how to swim. By the end

of summer, I had fun swimming with my cousins.

Plot and Story

So, at a very basic level, that’s the difference between plot and story. The next step is to weave them together to tell something about the character.

Mom didn’t learn to swim until she was a grown-up. She almost

drowned in a river whirlpool when she was a teenager. That’s

why I had to take swimming lessons every summer. This year

was no exception. Because of Mom’s fear of the water, we never

went swimming for fun, so every year I forgot what I learned

the year before. It’s a drag being the only ten-year-old in the

beginning swimmer’s class.

Do you see how introducing the element of Mom’s near-drowning explains both the need for lessons and the lack of practice throughout the year? Can you feel the resentment of the ten-year-old stuck with the little kids in beginning swimming? Let’s go on to learn how the character changes by combining plot and story.

This year, I was determined to really learn, so I can start in

the intermediate class next year. I paid attention and learned

all the kicks and strokes. I talked Mom into taking me and my

sister to the city pool to practice. Besides practicing swimming,

we splashed and played with the other kids. In July, Mom

and Dad drove us to Aunt Wally and Uncle Pete’s for a week.

They have a pool. It was great. We spent all day in the pool

with our cousins and Mom didn’t even worry about me

drowning. I had so much fun!

Cause and Effect

In order to weave plot and story together you will need to think a bit about cause and effect. In my example, Mom’s fear of drowning (cause) was the reason I was forced to take beginning swimming every year (effect). My embarrassment of being lumped in with the little kids (cause) made me work extra hard to get extra practice (effect). Without including these two pieces of information, the reader doesn’t feel the full impact of the story.

Effective writing needs both plot and story. The next time you are asked to write What I did over summer vacation, don’t bore your teacher with a list of events. Start with the events, think about cause and effect and tell how those events changed you.

Happy writing! In the comments below share your summer story.