Plot

Plot is what I would like to discuss with my readers today. Plot is generally seen as the most important part of any story. Now I am not saying that plot is not important but I do not that think that it is the most important. But first I will give the reasons why I think that plot is important then I will discuss why I do not think that plot is the most important element of any story.

Plot is not just the story going from point a to point z. Plot is main reason that new readers will pick up a new book. It is normally what sales a book to an editor or a publisher. Plot is the thing that most writers have at the start of the writing process. By that I mean I have an idea about an interesting story; for example a fussy little man who solves crimes because is he so fussy about details that he sees everything. Now Ms. Christie did not just stop there but that is more than likely where she started with just an idea about a story. Now I realize that you may think that the idea is a character but I see it as the start of the plot.

Now I think that plot is seen as the easy how to make a sale. Any and every plot can and has been sold. It has been published and it has done well. But why do some plots do better than others? That is something that only a reader can decide that. I think that it comes down to a few things. Luck is a big one, unfortunate for me because I only have bad luck, but there is something to it. Then there is the combination good characters, pacing, and plot to make something really special. But do not let your plot drive the bus. There is a charming children's book called "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus". Basically the story is about a pigeon who wants to drive the school book. He keeps begging and begging to but only bad things will happen if he does. Now replace the pigeon with the plot and you have one of my writing classes. The plot can be interesting and awesome but if the plot drives the bus then you will have characters acting ways that are not believable or worse yet the reader will just not care about the characters. If the reader does not care about what is going to happen to the characters then they will put the story down. They will talk about how it had a great idea but they really could not just get into it. I have heard and said that very thing myself many times before. It is a sad thing for a good plot to have weak characters.

I leave you with this saying from me. Strong characters can carry a weak plot but a strong plot cannot carry weak characters. Thanks for reading!