Writing Help 129 | - Freelance Writer
Apr 05, 2013 | #1
Terms You Need for Writing about the Novel
There is perhaps nothing more central to a story of any kind than its plot, and Aristotle did not hesitate to describe this as the most important aspect of a narrative, making all other aspects, including characterization, subservient to it. He described plot as a series of interconnected events, and although scholars have since refined and elaborated on this basic formulation, it remains the core definition still used in high school and university classrooms. For Aristotle, a plot needed to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and while this seems so elementary this it appears unhelpful, it is not so obvious as it may seem. For example, take a series of events presented side-by-side that are not interconnected and which are completely self-contained. In this instance, there is no continuity, and so the idea of beginning, middle, and end is inapplicable. There is merely a series of discreet events, and no plot whatsoever, meaning you do not have a story in front of you, and that what you are reading is also not a novel.
Taking Aristotle's idea of interconnected events with a beginning middle and end much further, most teachers and professors turn to a structure called Freytag's pyramid (even thought they may not call it that) to describe the elements of a typical plot. The first of these elements is known as exposition, in which the important details of the story are set up. We learn about characters, their relationships with each other, where and when the story is located, what conflicts are present in the current situation between various groups and individuals, and so on. In this phase, the fictional world as it normally exists is presented to the reader; this can hold our attention for a time, but once we see that this is the usual way of life there, we become as bored with it as we would our own day-to-day lives, and so the normal must give way to something out of the ordinary.
This is where what is known as the inciting incident comes in. After we see how the world functions normally, an event occurs which creates or exacerbates some conflict and makes a significant change to the story world as we have come to know it. It takes the novel from the mundane to the interesting, and the rest of the novel unfolds as a result of this event. If this event did not occur, we would not have a novel, but only a series of boring events taking place in a given area to certain people. The inciting incident leads to a rise in the dramatic tension of the novel, and here is where the plot really starts to pick up speed. We are introduced to new characters, and we begin to see how the protagonist (the main character) is going to try to achieve what she has set out to do, and how others are going to try to prevent this from happening. This is known as the rising action, and it usually takes up a significant portion of any novel. This is where the story is the most wide-open to the inclusion of new characters and information, and so it sets the groundwork for what will happen in the future.
The rising action ends at the occurrence of the climax, which is the point of the novel where things turn around for the protagonist, and her fortunes are changed for better or worse. This usually takes very, very little time to occur, and can be as brief as a single paragraph or sentence in a large novel. It is the point the novel has been building toward, and where the suspense has been leading us. From here, we enter the falling action, which is where the protagonist either succeeds or fails; if there is a final encounter between opposing forces, this is where it takes place and resolves, leading us into the denouement, the end of the novel where loose ends are tied up, and the protagonist's fortunes and life are once more stable.
Plot II
In the previous article (above), we discussed what plot is, what role it plays in the novel, and how it usually unfolds, creating a dramatic effect that carries us through its length. In this article, I thought it would be helpful if we took the abstract concepts presented in the last article and applied them to an actual text, and I cannot think of a more exciting and current example than Dan Brown's recently published bestseller The Da Vinci Code. Aside from being remarkably entertaining, the novel follows the structure of Freytag's pyramid quite well, making it an obvious choice for examination here. If you are not familiar with aspects of plot, and if you have no idea what Freytag's pyramid is, please read the previous article and then return here. Otherwise, not much of this is going to make sense.
The novel begins (after a very brief section done in medias res, which we will discuss in a future article) with the expected exposition, as we are introduced to Robert Langdon, an American professor of symbology attending a conference in Europe. This gives us a slice of how things usually are for him, and although his world is likely very different from most of ours, we see what his idea of normal looks like. All of this is soon punctured by a late night phone call from the French police, who request his presence at the scene of a bizarre murder. This is the inciting incident, the event that takes us out of the normal world of the protagonist and thrusts us into the mission the protagonist sets for himself, decoding the clues and solving the mystery. If this event had never happened, there would have been no story and no novel. After all, no matter how interesting someone's daily life is, how willing would any of us be to read about it for 500 pages?
From here the rising action takes over, occupying most of the novel. It is here that the most important discoveries and adventures take place, where Langdon and company slowly unravel minor mysteries while revealing new ones, and where their quest is continuously complicated by the interference of many other characters and groups, including the French police and the shadowy Catholic organization Opus Dei. The central conflicts are established and expanded, and the events begin to unfold more and more quickly, building in speed and intensity until the climax, which occurs well into the second half of the novel.
The climax of the novel takes place when Leigh Teabing, thought to be Langdon's great ally, reveals that he is actually the master villain who has been organizing the forces that committed the inciting murder and which have been opposed to Langdon throughout the novel. Although the climax need not be shocking, it often is, and this case proves no exception. The climax is the moment of greatest dramatic tension, and while it does not mark the end of the novel, nor even the end of the suspense, it is the point which marks the most significant shift in the story world since the inciting incident.
From here, the novel presents its falling action, where Langdon and his partner Sophie confront Teabing and defeat him. They continue from this point, traveling to a chapel where they believe the Grail is hidden, but are disappointed. However, at this point they discover Sophie's family, whose origins and connections to her own life and the location of the Grail have been unknown throughout the novel, and we are thus brought to the denouement. Almost all of the mysteries have been explained, the loose ends have been tied up, and the excitement and suspense that have powered the novel to this point have dissipated almost entirely.
Plot - Part I
There is perhaps nothing more central to a story of any kind than its plot, and Aristotle did not hesitate to describe this as the most important aspect of a narrative, making all other aspects, including characterization, subservient to it. He described plot as a series of interconnected events, and although scholars have since refined and elaborated on this basic formulation, it remains the core definition still used in high school and university classrooms. For Aristotle, a plot needed to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and while this seems so elementary this it appears unhelpful, it is not so obvious as it may seem. For example, take a series of events presented side-by-side that are not interconnected and which are completely self-contained. In this instance, there is no continuity, and so the idea of beginning, middle, and end is inapplicable. There is merely a series of discreet events, and no plot whatsoever, meaning you do not have a story in front of you, and that what you are reading is also not a novel.
Taking Aristotle's idea of interconnected events with a beginning middle and end much further, most teachers and professors turn to a structure called Freytag's pyramid (even thought they may not call it that) to describe the elements of a typical plot. The first of these elements is known as exposition, in which the important details of the story are set up. We learn about characters, their relationships with each other, where and when the story is located, what conflicts are present in the current situation between various groups and individuals, and so on. In this phase, the fictional world as it normally exists is presented to the reader; this can hold our attention for a time, but once we see that this is the usual way of life there, we become as bored with it as we would our own day-to-day lives, and so the normal must give way to something out of the ordinary.This is where what is known as the inciting incident comes in. After we see how the world functions normally, an event occurs which creates or exacerbates some conflict and makes a significant change to the story world as we have come to know it. It takes the novel from the mundane to the interesting, and the rest of the novel unfolds as a result of this event. If this event did not occur, we would not have a novel, but only a series of boring events taking place in a given area to certain people. The inciting incident leads to a rise in the dramatic tension of the novel, and here is where the plot really starts to pick up speed. We are introduced to new characters, and we begin to see how the protagonist (the main character) is going to try to achieve what she has set out to do, and how others are going to try to prevent this from happening. This is known as the rising action, and it usually takes up a significant portion of any novel. This is where the story is the most wide-open to the inclusion of new characters and information, and so it sets the groundwork for what will happen in the future.
The rising action ends at the occurrence of the climax, which is the point of the novel where things turn around for the protagonist, and her fortunes are changed for better or worse. This usually takes very, very little time to occur, and can be as brief as a single paragraph or sentence in a large novel. It is the point the novel has been building toward, and where the suspense has been leading us. From here, we enter the falling action, which is where the protagonist either succeeds or fails; if there is a final encounter between opposing forces, this is where it takes place and resolves, leading us into the denouement, the end of the novel where loose ends are tied up, and the protagonist's fortunes and life are once more stable.
Plot II
In the previous article (above), we discussed what plot is, what role it plays in the novel, and how it usually unfolds, creating a dramatic effect that carries us through its length. In this article, I thought it would be helpful if we took the abstract concepts presented in the last article and applied them to an actual text, and I cannot think of a more exciting and current example than Dan Brown's recently published bestseller The Da Vinci Code. Aside from being remarkably entertaining, the novel follows the structure of Freytag's pyramid quite well, making it an obvious choice for examination here. If you are not familiar with aspects of plot, and if you have no idea what Freytag's pyramid is, please read the previous article and then return here. Otherwise, not much of this is going to make sense.
The novel begins (after a very brief section done in medias res, which we will discuss in a future article) with the expected exposition, as we are introduced to Robert Langdon, an American professor of symbology attending a conference in Europe. This gives us a slice of how things usually are for him, and although his world is likely very different from most of ours, we see what his idea of normal looks like. All of this is soon punctured by a late night phone call from the French police, who request his presence at the scene of a bizarre murder. This is the inciting incident, the event that takes us out of the normal world of the protagonist and thrusts us into the mission the protagonist sets for himself, decoding the clues and solving the mystery. If this event had never happened, there would have been no story and no novel. After all, no matter how interesting someone's daily life is, how willing would any of us be to read about it for 500 pages?
From here the rising action takes over, occupying most of the novel. It is here that the most important discoveries and adventures take place, where Langdon and company slowly unravel minor mysteries while revealing new ones, and where their quest is continuously complicated by the interference of many other characters and groups, including the French police and the shadowy Catholic organization Opus Dei. The central conflicts are established and expanded, and the events begin to unfold more and more quickly, building in speed and intensity until the climax, which occurs well into the second half of the novel.
The climax of the novel takes place when Leigh Teabing, thought to be Langdon's great ally, reveals that he is actually the master villain who has been organizing the forces that committed the inciting murder and which have been opposed to Langdon throughout the novel. Although the climax need not be shocking, it often is, and this case proves no exception. The climax is the moment of greatest dramatic tension, and while it does not mark the end of the novel, nor even the end of the suspense, it is the point which marks the most significant shift in the story world since the inciting incident.
From here, the novel presents its falling action, where Langdon and his partner Sophie confront Teabing and defeat him. They continue from this point, traveling to a chapel where they believe the Grail is hidden, but are disappointed. However, at this point they discover Sophie's family, whose origins and connections to her own life and the location of the Grail have been unknown throughout the novel, and we are thus brought to the denouement. Almost all of the mysteries have been explained, the loose ends have been tied up, and the excitement and suspense that have powered the novel to this point have dissipated almost entirely.