Thursday, May 24, 2007

The Six Elements of Plot

I thought I would take a moment and mention a sixth element to the traditional Five Elements of Plot. I find as a reader and as a writer, in modern literature, there is a sixth element of plot that any writer who has tried to sell their work is aware of, but a lot of people who teach writing (from what I have seen) might not be aware of. As we all know, the traditional Five Elements of Plot are as follows:
  • The Exposition
  • The Rising Action
  • The Climax
  • The Falling Action
  • The Resolution
Writers today are competing for the attention (and let's face it the dollars!) of the general reading pubic against such things as video games, television, video, cellular technology, etc. You get the idea. We have to do anything we can to command the attention and get the people to read our work! Consequently, more and more, there is an element of plot that we as writers are very much aware of, but that others might not be so much aware of. It comes right before the Exposition. I have named it the Inciting Climactic Event (or the ICE for short). It's widely known throught the business as "The Hook." Basically, it's a little piece of the climax taken from the high point of the story and transplanted to the beginning of the story, for the sole purpose of "hooking" the reader's attention and (hopefully) drawing them into your story, enough so that they will carry your book from the shelf to the cash register.

So, my mofidied Elements of Plot for "modern" literature are as follows:
  • The Inciting Climactic Event
  • The Expostion
  • The Rising Action
  • The Climax
  • The Falling Action
  • The Resolution

An example: perhaps you have written a novel about a serial killer. Normally, a story stars out with the Exposition; the author begins laying the groundwork for the characters, the setting, and the coming conflicts. With a hook, the author would take a piece of the climax--in this case, perhaps one of the murders--and transplant it to the beginning of the story. The traditional "bell curve" of the five elements of plot would essentially remaing the same, except that when the hook is placed, the curve starts out at a high point instead of the tradtitional low-to-rising expositional curve.

Theoretically, this "hook" serves to "grab" the reader, drawing them into your story immediately and, hopefully, selling your work!

© Ray Cattie

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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