Editing Plot (narrative) (section)

{{Short description|Cause-and-effect events in a narrative}}
{{Other uses|Plot (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Story v. plot.png|thumb|300x300px|[[Narrative|Story]] events numbered [[chronologically]]; the red plot events are a subset connected [[logically]] by "so". This basic plot is able to be mapped as a [[cause‐and‐effect]] sequence of main events.<ref name="dibell" />]]
In a [[literary work]], [[film]], or other [[narrative]], the '''plot''' is the mapping of events in which each one (except the final) affects at least one other through the principle of [[Causality|cause-and-effect]]. The causal events of a plot can be thought of as a selective collection of events from a narrative, all linked by the connector "and so". Simple plots, such as in a traditional [[ballad]], can be linearly sequenced, but plots can form complex interwoven structures, with each part sometimes referred to as a [[subplot]].

Plot is similar in meaning to the term ''storyline''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of plot |work=Dictionary.com|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/plot|access-date=2023-01-25|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-08-09|title= Definition of storyline | work= Oxford Dictionaries |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/storyline?q=storyline|access-date=2023-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809033026/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/storyline?q=storyline |archive-date=2014-08-09 }}</ref> In the narrative sense, the term highlights important points which have consequences within the story, according to American science fiction writer [[Ansen Dibell]].<ref name="dibell">{{cite book|author=Ansen Dibell, Ph.D.|title=Plot|date=1999-07-15|publisher=Writer's Digest Books|series=Elements of Fiction Writing|pages=5 f|isbn=978-0-89879-946-0|quote=Plot is built of significant events in a given story – significant because they have important consequences. Taking a shower isn't necessarily plot... Let's call them incidents ... Plot is the things characters do, feel, think or say, that make a difference to what comes afterward.}}</ref> The [[Premise (narrative)|premise]] sets up the plot, the [[Character (arts)|characters]] take part in events, while the [[Setting (narrative)|setting]] is not only part of, but also influences, the final story. An {{Lang|it|imbroglio}} can convolute the plot based on a misunderstanding.

The term ''plot'' can also serve as a verb, as part of the craft of writing, referring to the writer devising and ordering story events. (A related meaning is a character's planning of future actions in the story.) However, in common usage (e.g., a "film plot"), the word ''plot'' more often refers to a narrative summary, or story [[wikt:synopsis|synopsis]].