High-plot or low-plot (or somewhere in between)

[PennyThompson]

When I read "High-Plot/Low-Plot," my brain went to the difference between High Church (emphasis on liturgy, ceremony, structure) and Low Church (emphasis on participation, relationships, feelings)... I didn't see it as a value judgement

I'm not sure if that spectrum resonates for me all that well though... Most of my stories are what I think of as "slice of life," but a few of them are definitely more complex in scope (Sexy Women in your Galaxy, Dandelion Greene). And I can tell that they're a different kind of story when I'm thinking about them and writing them, but I'm not sure how I would label that difference?

 

[TheRedChamber]

I'm not sure that there is an easy 'metric' for how much plot something has. I was going to be flippant and say that my 750-word stories have 750 words of plot, while my 20k stories have 20ks worth, but then I suppose there is a lot of other things you could be spending those words on - such as dialogue or descriptions (or, Lit being Lit, gratuitous sex scenes) I'm not sure what a quantum of plot is - one of the lectures I watched recently about plotting suggests it might be anywhere in your synopsis where you can either say 'yes, but...' or 'no, and...' It may be a character taking a firm action as a result of external stimulous or internal motivation. No idea.

A lot of my stories are heavily plot-driven. So much so that a while back I dedicated myself to writing a series of stories with the premise 'she wants it and has a one-step plan for how she's going to get it'. That was a good exercise but I was soon back to making things unnecessarily intricate.

 

[liliput1]

I'm not sure that there is an easy 'metric' for how much plot something has. I was going to be flippant and say that my 750-word stories have 750 words of plot, while my 20k stories have 20ks worth, but then I suppose there is a lot of other things you could be spending those words on - such as dialogue or descriptions (or, Lit being Lit, gratuitous sex scenes) I'm not sure what a quantum of plot is - one of the lectures I watched recently about plotting suggests it might be anywhere in your synopsis where you can either say 'yes, but...' or 'no, and...' It may be a character taking a firm action as a result of external stimulous or internal motivation. No idea.

A lot of my stories are heavily plot-driven. So much so that a while back I dedicated myself to writing a series of stories with the premise 'she wants it and has a one-step plan for how she's going to get it'. That was a good exercise but I was soon back to making things unnecessarily intricate.

There's also a lot of shorthand for situations that most of us either know first hand, second hand, or by reputation. You can unpack a whole tempest of drama with just, "my ex cheated on me with my best friend."

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Character arcs are a must for me, even if I didn't think about them when I first started writing. I would consider it bad writing if my (main) characters were exactly the same at the beginning and at the end of the story. There has to be some change, some growth.

When it comes to plot, I tend to make things interesting, even in my stories that are oriented more towards sex. I find slice-of-life stories boring. No offense to those who write them.

 

[StillStunned]

I'm not sure what terminology is most apt, but overall in my stories character comes second to plot. Long ago, I realised that I enjoy stories about exciting or dramatic (or funny, or sexy) events, and that stories about "people" bore me.

I don't mind characters responding to the events they experience, and I do enjoy stories with strong characters. But I prefer to read and write about the things they experience rather than what are often essentially drawn-out character sketches.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I don't mind characters responding to the events they experience, and I do enjoy stories with strong characters. But I prefer to read and write about the things they experience rather than what are often essentially drawn-out character sketches.

Ditto.

On this site, sometimes the things they experience boil down to, y'know, fucking. But still.

 

[AG31]

To be pendantic, it’s a continuum, not binary

What's the difference between spectrum and continuum?

 

[AG31]

Consider a spherical character in a vacuum, an infinite distance from any other character. Use the de Broglie equation to derive the plot. Show all your workings.

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[AG31]

In any event, it's a false binary. Like just about everything to do with writing, there's a continuum, not a binary.

I think @EmilyMiller was quite clear that she was talking about a continuum (or spectrum...). She's too smart to ever assert a binary about anything, except, maybe 1s and 0s.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

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It's a physics joke. "Consider a spherical cow ..."

Emily is a scientist.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Emily is a scientist.

Was sadly

 

[EmilyMiller]

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As an ex-biologist, I really have no business making physics jokes

 

[TheWritingGroup]

As an ex-biologist, I really have no business making physics jokes

Maybe that's why I got it. I hold a couple of bio degrees.

 

[Bamagan]

I'm not sure that there is an easy 'metric' for how much plot something has. I was going to be flippant and say that my 750-word stories have 750 words of plot, while my 20k stories have 20ks worth, but then I suppose there is a lot of other things you could be spending those words on - such as dialogue or descriptions (or, Lit being Lit, gratuitous sex scenes) I'm not sure what a quantum of plot is - one of the lectures I watched recently about plotting suggests it might be anywhere in your synopsis where you can either say 'yes, but...' or 'no, and...' It may be a character taking a firm action as a result of external stimulous or internal motivation. No idea.

A lot of my stories are heavily plot-driven. So much so that a while back I dedicated myself to writing a series of stories with the premise 'she wants it and has a one-step plan for how she's going to get it'. That was a good exercise but I was soon back to making things unnecessarily intricate.

Since you refrained from flippancy, I'll take up the slack.

You traditionally measure plots with metes and bounds... or put another way, how the characters get together and what you don't want the story to be about. Such stories are therefore called cadastres (or cadasters).

Here in the US we've mostly moved to the lot and block system (AKA recorded plot system), which is useful for ensemble casts (there're a lot of characters) and how you block them from going off on tangents or exploring dubious themes.

Particularly high-conflict plots require Ordnance Grids, of course.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Maybe that's why I got it. I hold a couple of bio degrees.

Small world

 

[Nynah]

Labeling things "high-plot" vs. "low-plot" is needlessly pedantic and only complicates discussion by going in circles trying to agree on a definition for the purposes of this entirely arbitrary distinction.

You don't need to put things in a different bucket when the quite serviceable buckets of "plot-driven" and "character-driven" already exist. If you find yourself focusing more on plot even though you set out to write a character-driven story, guess what? You've written a plot-driven story. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that.

 

[PennyThompson]

Labeling things "high-plot" vs. "low-plot" is needlessly pedantic and only complicates discussion by going in circles trying to agree on a definition for the purposes of this entirely arbitrary distinction.

You don't need to put things in a different bucket when the quite serviceable buckets of "plot-driven" and "character-driven" already exist. If you find yourself focusing more on plot even though you set out to write a character-driven story, guess what? You've written a plot-driven story. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that.

We do love our frameworks though, Nynah... Show me a three-by-three grid with a loosely defined concept in each cell and I will subscribe to your substack