Plot Study: Introduction

The introduction ‘act’ of your story is where you give the reader all the information about the world they will be entering, along with background to explain the upcoming conflict. It’s your opportunity to lay the foundations for the rest of the tale.

Characters

It is during this section that you introduce your characters, giving an insight into their personae, allowing the reader to familiarise themselves with your cast before you throw them into the ‘meat’ of your story. Often, characters will come and go within a story, and this is your opportunity to introduce the core group of characters who will be playing the lead parts.

Obviously, the protaganist is introduced here directly, but what about the antagonist? Should he/she be explicitly introduced? I suppose this is entirely dependant on personal taste. For me, I like to only hint at the main protaganist during the introduction: That way, you can build some tension as the reader tries to figure out who is the main bad-guy.

The World

The introduction gives you a chance to introduce your world: Its people, the governmental structure, and the current situation it is in. It also is a chance to put into context where your characters stand within the world - which can be of utmost importance to the story.

History

As in the real world, the history of your created realm often will have shaped how it now stands. Your introduction gives you a chance to tell part of that history, and your readers will have a greater understanding of the world.

The origins of the protagonist, antagonist or any other character could well be inter-mingled with the history of the world, so you can also explain their background - And legends are always a nice way to give hints to what will happen later on in the story.

Atmosphere and Tone

The atmosphere and tone of your story could well stay the same throughout, and the introduction is a nicely convenient place to put them in place, giving your reader a taster of what to expect throughout the story.

However, the tone and atmosphere could also change by the end of the story, but you need to set the initial tone so the reader can see the changes. What better place to do it than here?

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I mentioned I would be using the ‘Lord of the Rings’ as an example throughout this theme, so let’s take a quick look at what Tolkien did in his ‘introduction’ to do that which has been discussed above.

Starting off in Hobbiton, we are introduced to the race of Hobbits, who are a friendly, happy-go-lucky race of people who have no care of the outside world. It is also here that we meet our main protagonists: Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin. We see their attitudes, ideals and personalities quite well - Frodo, the adventure seeking young man who feels bogged down by responsibility; Sam, the duty-driven gardener who loyally serves his master (Frodo) well; Finally, Merry and Pippin who are both very similar: cheeky, mischievous friends who haven’t a real care in the world.

We’re also introduced to Gandalf, who plays a big part in the story, and get an insight into his position and power. But, his main ‘purpose’ during this part of the plot, from a storyteller’s viewpoint, is to give us, the reader, an insight into the history and world. He tells the story of the One Ring, and its creator, Sauron, while also giving us an idea of the world outside Hobbiton.

Overall, the tone and atmosphere are happy, cheerful and bright (Just about all Hobbits’ speech is ended in exclamation points!), yet during Gandalf’s telling of the story and legend surroudning the Ring, we get a hint of the darkness that will later prevail the story.

The introduction ends quite nicely as Frodo is charged with leaving Hobbiton to take the Ring to Rivendell so the elves can choose what to do with it.

Tolkien gives us a nice example of how Freytag’s analysis actually works in literature, and we’ll take a look later at how the other sections are utilised.

Your Introductions

What do you like to see/put into the introductory phases of stories? Do you like the way Tolkien makes his introduction? What other introductions have you enjoyed? Share with us!

Elements of Plot

We all know what a plot is, it’s the development of a story. Its progression from start to finish. But, what parts make up a plot? What themes are present in all stories if you look closely enough? That’s what the next few posts will be looking at; but for this introductory post to the theme of plot, I’m going to be giving an overview.

Dramatic Structure

While originally designed as an analysis of dramatic works like plays and screenplays, Gustav Freytag’s study of ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama is probably the most readily noticeable structure for plots - both for plays and ’standard’ literature.

It incorporates five acts: Exposition (introduction), Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Conclusion (listed as ‘denouement’). Each of these ’sections’ will be looked at in more detail over the next couple of weeks, but I’ll be giving a brief overview now.

Introduction

This is the beginning of the story, where characters and the world are introduced, background information is offered, and your readers are made ready for the next sections. Your introduction gives the setting and reasons for the upcoming conflict.

Rising Action

The build-up to the climax, the Rising Action ‘phase’ takes all the information from the Introduction and moves it forward towards the Climax. Other side-plots are generally introduced here and add to the final conflict.

Climax

This is the point at which the story has thus far been reaching towards - the key point in the story where there is a turning point in the situation.

Falling Action

This shows the immediate effects of the Climax, and generally finalises the victory - or loss - of the protagonist against the antagonist.

Conclusion

The final, closing section of a plot, the Conclusion ends all ‘loose ends’ and shows the changes from the start of the story. “And they lived happily ever after…”

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Obviously, these are only scant offerings of explanations, but all will be explained in more detail as we continue on. I’ll be making reference to Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ when writing my more detailed articles on plot. Hopefully a lot of you would have either read the books or seen the movies, so will have at least a rough knowledge of the general plot involved.

Feedback?

Do you know of this structure already? If so, what are your thoughts? If not, what structures do you use, or notice, when looking at plots? Your thoughts, methodologies and ideas are all welcome, and part of my own writer’s journey. So, give your input!