Plot vs Story
Plot and Story are very confusing words that keep baffling people’s mind all the time. Sometimes they are used as if they are one. A very interesting fact is that Aristotle is the very first person to explain the difference with these two.
Plot
According to Aristotle, A plot is the most crucial factor in a drama. It is much more important than all the other elements including the characters. Must have a beginning, middle part, and ending and must be logically connected with each other with strong feelings and conflict. Plot is very detailed like every aspect of a story is specified and considered.
Story
A Story is also a sequence of different events and actions that tells what is it all about. It’s like more of a summary of a literary piece. When go and buy a book or a DVD, there’s some kind of summary at the back that tells what the book or the movie is all about, and that’s what you called a story.
Difference between Plot and Story
Though these two matters are very confusing, they have their own characteristic that is unique with one another. When buying a new novel, the summary in the back is the story and the whole content of the novel itself is the plot. A house for instance, the story is the view of the house when you’re outside it like you see that smoke is coming out from the chimney. Plot on the other hand, is what happens inside the house like someone is cooking that’s why the chimney’s emits smoke.
Truly, plot and story are confusing at times and people tend to interchange their meaning. But the most important thing is that plot and story can not exist without the other. There could never be any good story if the plot is not that good and is boring.
In brief: • Plot is what happened in a narrative like books, novel, or movies while story is what the book and/or movie is all about. • Plot is the detailed perspective whereas story is much like the general outlook or outcome. |
Not really correct. Plot structures the events. It (meaning Plot) can organize the events either
through a linear construction or an episodic construction. As it requires an inciting incident, linear (cause-effect) is easily recognized. One event cause another, etc. Episodic construction does not make use of an inciting incident but rather organizes the events either through thought, person,place or thing. Example: “Waiting for Godot.”
Simply: Story is the content which is plotted (structured) via cause-effect or episodic. Depends upon the writer.
Forster’s example/definition necessarily includes events. (king+Queen+death). I like the distinction you make of cause/effect. It could be the key to good writing.