HookĪ story must start off strong enough to keep the reader, you know, actually reading. However, dig a little deeper and you’ll find that its structure is comparable to other great stories. All this might account for why it remains so popular to this day - in 2017, its TV adaptation swept the Emmys, and it was the most read book of that year according to Amazon. On the surface, the plot of Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel is thoroughly unique: a cocktail of historical precedence, futuristic speculation, unreliable narration, and a necessarily passive protagonist (as a woman living under a oppressive and sexist regime). The Plot Points of The Handmaid’s Tale ( i mage: McClelland and Stewart) Let’s look at two vastly different but equally classic books - Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are - to see how well-structured stories often work with similar plot points. Some people argue that there only needs to be two plot points in a story, while others suggest much more, such as the Seven Point Story Structure we’ll use as a model here. Understanding when plot points occur in a story will give insight into whether any particular structure is being used. This happened, and then this happened, and then this happened… with nothing connecting the events organically. This happened, so this happened, but then this happened, therefore this happened. Once you link them together, you can understand how the whole story is built. It’s also because they’re tiny and significant. Remember how plot points are like bolts? That’s not just because they hold the story together. Mapping a story by its plot points illuminates why some books are page turners, while others never get turned past the first page.įirst and foremost, plot points show you how a story works. There, you can see a plot point in motion, determining the story’s course moving forward.Ĭlick to tweet! Why is it important to identify plot points? If one of those events does not have a concrete effect on the protagonist - and by extension, the trajectory of the plot - it is not a plot point.Īn advisor might berate a prince for mourning the death of his father, but this isn't a plot point because it isn't necessarily pivotal - it doesn't convince Hamlet to keep a stiff upper lip for the rest of his life, after all.īut, when the prince sees his father’s ghost with his own eyes (and the ghost bids him to avenge its death), the prince has no choice but to act. The plot is a chain of connected events that comprises the narrative. Because of this, it’s easy to think of every event in a book as a plot point. Plot points are big and exciting moments, and if you think back on a book you read a while ago, they’re likely the moments you’ll remember. What’s the difference between a plot point and plot? But connect them together and they form a whole, each piece informing the event before it and after it. Think of it like a bolt, holding your story together: without it, you just have separate pieces of scrap metal. Close a door behind a character, forcing them forward.Move the story in a different direction.In other words, it gives a point to the plot, forcing the story in a different direction, where otherwise it would’ve just meandered.Īny event in a story can be significant, but if it does not move the story forward, it is just a point in the plot- not a plot point. Finally, we’ll map two popular books by only their plot points.Ī plot point is an incident that directly impacts what happens next in a story. Then, we’ll cover the difference between a plot point and plot and why it’s important to identify plot points. In this article, we’ll show how plot points are used to move organically from the beginning to the middle to the end. Every story needs a beginning, middle, and end - we’ve known that for about two thousand years, thanks to good old Aristotle. We’ve all read a book without a plot point, or, should I say, without a point to the plot.
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