What's the different between a Plot Development and a Plot Event? And what exactly are they?

There are masters of plotting who create plot and story with incredible ease.

That's the mystique; what newer writers seem to believe about established writers. 

But that simply isn't true. What successful writers do to 'make' their stories 'zing' is a lot of hard work, done long before a final draft every shows its fact to the reading pubic. 

Plot events, and plot developments rule the roost when getting your story from its beginning to its conclusion. Likewise, they are the easiest way to create a journey through a story idea that will successfully turn it into a story, whether that's a novel, or a short story.

A plot event is an incident that touches the lives (directly, indirectly, for good or ill) of the main characters without altering the trajectory or outcome of the plot itself.  Events are useful for  temporarily raising tension, developing characterisation, perspective, relationships, and ‘fill the middle slump’, helping to interest the reader and get them turning the page at all stages of the story. But events never alter the outcome of the story. 

For instance, in A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, the lovely Christmas Day scene at Bob Cratchit's house is an event. It enriches the story, and explains his life and family, but it doesn't alter the outcome of the story. 

A plot development is an incident or happening that not only touches the lives of the main characters, but also alters the plot trajectory or outcome. It might be either a cause or an effect. 

(A plot development is sometimes called ‘a plot point’ or ‘a story beat’. They’re basically the same things. )

For instance, the arrival Marley's ghost at Scrooge's beside is a plot development. In fact it's the first plot point of the story, after introducing Cratchit and Scrooge at their place of work. This moment changes Scrooge's life forever. 

Although both types of incident can crank up emotional energy, pace and atmosphere and create a gripping read, only plot developments lead on to new causes and effects and ensure that your story contains what makes stories enjoyable to read: action and event, change, wonder and surprise. Subsequently, the right developments will lead to a deeply satisfying conclusion, whether in a short story or a novel. 

However, ‘events’ can turn into ‘developments’, sometimes simply because the writers has  deliberately plotted  a development to look like an event, which then ‘grows like Topsy’ as the story moves on. Sometimes, serendipitously, as ideas develop, around the plot, moments that seemed like an event when first created, will become a development. 

An interesting and useful thing to do is build a chart in which  all Developments are noted separately in chronological. Sometimes this can be revealing or even inspiring! 

 

Here are three tips to successfully navigating your own 

Plot Development Chart:

• Start a chart at any stage of your writing process
•  If you’re just beginning your story, it will help you see where to start and where to spin off ideas to move your piece forward. 
• As you map your ideas, you’ll discover that they help to propagate more ideas. 
• If you’re stuck at a particular point in your story, you may want to update or create a new map so it reflects—or creates—fresh ideas and story structure. 
• If you’ve already outlined or written most of your story, a story map may point out where your structure is weak or not fully developed by what you can’t fill in, or by what you’re struggling to answer. Steadily go through the chapters from the beginning and note where the developments are.
• You can also include plot events, but it's better to start with developments to keep your thinking clear (see below).
• Don’t get anxious about the process. 
• Write what you know—and put it where you think it belongs. You can always change it once you have a clearer understanding of what you're writing about.
  
  
  
• You’re simply placing story developments on a chart in the order you think they will happen. 
• You can mix things around or change ideas as you go.
• Everything you write can be considered to be ‘written in sand, not stone’ until you develop a stronger idea. 
• Sometimes what you think is the beginning hook may change to be the climax or a conflict once you better understand your story. 
• Use SHOW, DON’T TELL
• steadily go through the chapters from the beginning and create
• Try to capture ideas about development that SHOW, rather than TELL. Use phrases that show the story, and will mean something to you when you read the chart back.
• Try asking ‘what if’ as you create this chart, and think of this as a road map that  helps you plot your ‘story travel plans’.

Creating a Plot Development Chart can serve as a visual outline that helps you see the direction your story is taking and whether you’ve overlooked any major points of interest along the way while you're writing plot structure. 

Once you have the broad outline of developments, you can slide the 'plot events' into the mix. Maybe you'll need to start a new chart for this as things can get complicated. 

Do have a go; either at enriching the story you're writing now, or by starting a new story you might be thinking about, by using the chart. 

Let me know at Kitchen Table Writers by leaving a comment in the comment area 

Enjoy!