Module 4: Fiction: Plot and Conflict

Module 4:
Fiction: Plot and Conflict

Story vs. Plot
 The story is what the movie is all about, while the plot is what
happens in the movie.
• The king died and then the queen died.
• The king died and then the queen died in grief.
 The first is a story because it tells a series of events in their
chronological order, while the second is plot because it tells a
series of events in a casual and logical structure that connects the
events to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional
significance.

Story: James Bond fights the bad guys and saves the world.
Plot: Well, it starts with James Bond being tortured because (flashback)…. Then
he was able to escape because…. Then (flash-forward) because…. because….
because….
Aristoteles (348-322 BCE, and yes, that’s his real name, but you can call
him “Aristotle”) in his Poetics (c.335 BCE) said that a whole is what was a
beginning and middle and end-or technically, the protasis, epitasis, and
catastrophe. But he simply mean that a traditional plot structure must
have a situation, conflict, and resolution.
Dramatic Structure

Gustav Freytag (1816-1895)
Studied the ancient Greeks and Shakespeare
He built a pyramid, but it was not like the
ones in Egypt.
Instead, he made the so-called Freytag’s
Pyramid which says that the plot of the story
must consist of five parts: exposition, rising
action, climax, falling action, and
resolution/revelation (also known as
denouement or catastrophe).

 You may have heard that there is really no more new or original story to
tell, that everything has been done before. That may be true. But you can
always remind yourself that originality is really in the plot. The new story is
all in the plotting!
1. Linear plots - is when the story is in chronological order and does not
skew from that order. Nonlinear narrative is a technique sometimes
used in literature wherein events are portrayed out of chronological
order. It is often used to mimic the structure and recall of human
memory.
2. Episodic plots - is made up of a series of chapters or stories linked
together by the same character, place, or theme but held apart by their
individual plot, purpose, and subtext.
Types of Plots

3. Cumulative plots - is a way to display cumulative information
graphically. It shows the number, percentage, or proportion of
observations in a data set that are less than or equal to particular
values.
4. Circular plots - is a non-linear plot that progresses more or less
chronologically and ends with its protagonist returning to a situation
similar to the one at the beginning of the story. ... Of mice and men is a
common example of a circular plot.
5. Plotless plots - [plot] Synonyms Examples Word Origin. noun. a
secret plan or scheme to accomplish some purpose, especially a
hostile, unlawful, or evil purpose: a plot to overthrow the government.

 Something happens in a story because someone wants
something badly, and something someone is in the way.
Translation: You have a story because a character has a goal,
and there such an obstacle between that character and the
goal. In short, you start with a character with a goal, some sort
of conflict or opposition to achieve that goal, and you finish
with the resolution of the conflict.
Someone Wants Something So Badly

There are several possible conflicts you can inject in you story,
some of which must already familiar to you. The big four are:
1. Man against man conflict wherein the characters are fighting against
each other.
2. Man against society conflict wherein the character stands up against
man-made institutions and social rules, and is forced to make moral
choices.
3. Man against nature conflict wherein the character is fighting against
animals or the forces of nature such as a storm or even the sea.
4. Man against self conflict wherein the struggle is internal, and the
character must overcome his or her own nature and make a choice
between two or more paths.

An Approach to Story Writing
 First, create your flawed character. Identify his or her weaknesses and
needs. Father’s weaknesses are his arrogance and self-righteousness.
He thinks that he is better than everyone especially in the
understanding of God, prayers, and church liturgy. His needs are to
overcome self-righteousness, to recognize that other people can be
right, to be humble, and to really listen what others have to say.
 Second, identify what the hero realizes in his or her enlightenment.
This should be the opposite of her or his weaknesses and needs.
Father Olan realizes that it is okay to be humble like a child, and to let
go of his strongly held religious beliefs. He recognizes that he cannot
do everything, and if he lets other people to be right, ha can have
peace and social acceptance.

 Third, make an intense desire or goal that is outside the hero’s control.
What does your character really want? It should be a specific object in the
world of your story. Father Olan’s greatest goal or main objective is to
control the church liturgy, especially the liturgy for the St. John the Baptist.
 Fourth, put in a worthy opponent (or opposite). The opponent must want
the same what is desired by your hero. Father Olan’s opponents are those
who think that he should not control liturgy. Don Beato appears to be a
strong opponent, but, in fact, everybody else in the story, in the archbishop,
are Father Olan’s opponents because “they want to control” the liturgy for
the St. John. Translation: They don’t want Father Olan to control the liturgy.
Although the archbishop fatherly, he is actually the biggest opponent
because the final battle to determine who decides liturgy is between
Father Olan and the archbishop.

 Fifth, develop a detailed tactical plan. There should be a build-up of
conflicts up to the inevitable big fight or climax. Father Olan’s plan of
action is to talk to his opponents-from Don Beato, to the Knights of
Columbus, the women’s group, Father Fritz, leading up to the
archbishop using his argument that God is not a waiter to whom we
give our orders.
 Sixth, let the tactical plan lead to be the big fight, where the hero
wins or loses. Father Olan confronts his biggest enemy, the
archbishop. It is a battle of words that the archbishop wins. The
archbishop was able to make Father Olan realize that priest must be
humble, must listen to people, and believe like a child.

 Seventh, finish with your character, having learned or changed
so much, doing something prove that he or she is a new
person, with a new understanding, a reorientation. Humbled,
Father Olan lets the parish leaders have their way with the
church liturgy. He lets go of his need for and it doesn’t really
matter to him now whether it rains or not. (Note: The story
ended when Father Olan recognized that he must change, and
when he agreed, and gave in, to the revised liturgy for Feast of
St. John. The story could have ended with these lines: “Padre
Olan looked up to the. There was a single thin cloud, not a sign
that the rain fervently sought would fall. He could keep the
tears from falling.)

Module 4: Fiction: Plot and Conflict

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Module 4: Fiction: Plot and Conflict