The plot is an element of the plot, the starting point in the development of the action. literary work; the event from which the main conflict of the work grows and moves towards its final resolution. In a literary work, the actions of the characters are logically interconnected. Each event arises as a result of the previous one. The sequence of events in a story that influence other events based on cause and effect constitutes a single action and constitutes the plot work of art.
The plot reveals the characters, their relationships, as well as the series of events described. Since the plot is based on the emergence, growth, and resolution of a conflict, that is, a collision of opposing forces, the structure of a literary work includes several stages of its development.
The plot structure
The plot structure of a literary work includes the following elements:
- exposition;
- string;
- action development;
- climax;
- denouement.
In the structure of the works there are also other plot elements, for example, an epilogue. Each element performs its own function. For example, the exposition provides information about the main participants in future events, time and place even before the development of the action, and the prologue tells about what happened before the events described in the work.
There are three essential elements of a plot: plot, plot. Every story uses a plot to build a narrative, even if it has an unconventional plot structure.
The plot is usually found at the beginning of the work, although sometimes it appears in the middle or at the end. For example, the reader learns about the decision of the hero of N.V. Gogol’s novel “Dead Souls” Chichikov to acquire dead souls at the end of the work.
In large-scale works (for example, in L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”) there are often several plots that begin different storylines. Each separate part a work of art (part, chapter, action, etc.) has a separate plot, subordinate to the general one. The plot of a work is the starting point for the development of action.
Types of ties
The set-up usually begins after exposure (introduction). In this case, the story becomes motivated and consistent. However, some works begin with a sudden, unmotivated beginning, which gives them poignancy and secrecy. Such a plot contains intrigue (Latin inticare - to confuse, confuse), i.e. a way of organizing actions in a work by increasing tension, hidden intentions, and acute confrontation of interests. The presence of intrigue is characteristic mainly of action-packed adventure and adventurous works (for example,). In detective novels, the plot, as a rule, is a description of a crime that will soon be solved by detectives; in adventure novels, it is a scene that motivates the characters to exploits. An example of an intriguing plot is the beginning of N. G. Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?”
The meaning of the plot in the work
The plot is the event from which the development of action in the work begins. In the beginning, as a rule, the main conflict begins, a clash of forces occurs, which leads to the development of subsequent events in the work.
The tie has great value in revealing the characters' personalities. The opening usually shows the first clash of the antipodes, the emergence of tension between the characters, the emergence of a conflict situation that will develop further and deepen towards its final resolution. The plot determines the main lines of plot development, orients the reader in the division of forces, and specifies the theme and problems of the work.
The plot is often considered the most significant part of the plot, since the climax and resolution depend on the events described at the beginning of the story.
Examples of plots in works
Who buttoned the first button incorrectly
It won't fasten properly anymore.
Goethe
START OF THE WORK. Prologue, exposition, plot
1. Prologue
2. Exposition
Exposure functions
Expanded and fast-paced exposition
Exhibition elements
Direct and indirect exposure
Introduction of the main character
3. Tie
Trigger
4. First paragraph
The beginning of a work is often likened to a small pebble, which, having rolled down a mountain, carries others along with it and leads to a rockfall.
The success of the work depends on how deftly the author launches the starting stone.
This is what will be discussed in this article.
In the classic version, the following parts of a work of art are distinguished:
- prologue
- exposition
- string
- development
- climax
- epilogue
This list and order are not mandatory. The prologue and epilogue may not be present in the narrative, and the exposition can be located anywhere and not necessarily in its entirety.
Subjects modern works are often built according to a simplified scheme: plot - development of action - climax - denouement, or according to an even more simplified plot - action - climax (also known as denouement).
The classic scheme is more suitable for solid, slowly developing plots. A lightweight scheme is used where rapid development of the plot is necessary.
The beginning is more than half of everything.
Aristotle
PROLOGUE
- introductory (initial) part of a literary-artistic, literary-critical, journalistic work, which precedes general meaning, plot-plot basis or main motives of the work, or briefly outlines the events that precede the main content.
In narrative genres (novel, story, short story, etc.), the prologue always has artistic and aesthetic significance, becoming a kind of prehistory of the plot, and in literary criticism, journalism and other documentary genres can be perceived as a preface.
Prologue
I still have memories and one photograph from our class. Group portrait with class teacher in the center, girls around and boys on the edges. The photograph had faded, and since the photographer carefully pointed at the teacher, the edges, blurred during the shooting, were now completely blurred; sometimes it seems to me that they blurred because the boys in our class long ago faded into oblivion, never having had time to grow up, and their features were dissolved by time.
<…>
For some reason, even now I don’t want to remember how we ran away from classes, smoked in the boiler room and created a crush in the locker room, so that at least for a moment we could touch the one we loved so secretly that we did not admit it to ourselves. I spend hours looking at a faded photograph, at the already blurred faces of those who are not on this earth: I want to understand. After all, no one wanted to die, right?
And we didn’t even know that death was on duty outside the threshold of our class. We were young, and the ignorance of youth is made up for by faith in our own immortality. But of all the boys who look at me from the photograph, four remain alive.
How young we were. (B. Vasiliev. Tomorrow there was a war)
Through the prologue, the author introduces the reader to the world of his memories of his youth, introduces him to his former classmates and teachers, to school and parents. At the same time, the writer seems to be reflecting, pondering and reevaluating everything that happened to him forty years ago.
Another example of a prologue is the film “Pokrovsky Gates,” remember?
Director Mikhail Kazakov carefreely travels through Moscow in the 70s. He drives up to the old dilapidated house in which he spent his youth. The voiceover and the very fact that the house is being destroyed sets the viewer on a nostalgic note.
Thus, the FUNCTION of the PROLOGUE is to convey the events that prepare the main action.
However, the prologue is NOT the first episode of the narrative to be forcibly cut off from it.
The events of the prologue should not duplicate the events of the initial episode, but should generate intrigue precisely in combination with it.
The mistake is to create an intriguing prologue that is not connected to the beginning by time, place, characters, or idea. The connection between the prologue and the beginning of the story may be obvious, it may be hidden, but it must be there.
A PROLOGUE IS NEEDED IF:
1. The author wants to start the story slowly, and then make a sharp transition to dynamics and drama. In this case, several phrases are inserted into the prologue, hinting at the climax, but, of course, not revealing it.
An example is the same story by Vasiliev “And tomorrow there was war”
2. The author wants to describe in detail the preceding events - who did what in what year and what came of it. This type of prologue allows for a leisurely, sequential narrative with a detailed presentation of exposition.
In this case, a maximum time gap is allowed between the prologue and the main narrative, which serves as a pause, and the exposition becomes minimal and serves only those events that give impetus to the action, and not the entire novel.
An example is Volkov’s fairy tale “Yellow Fog”, in the prologue of which the author reproduces the continuous continuity of the narrative - history Fairyland and the dream of the sorceress Arachne, five thousand years long.
3. Set the reader to a certain emotional wave.
In this case, allusions and allegories are possible in the prologue.
An example is Andrei Bely’s novel “Petersburg”
PROLOGUE
Your Excellencies, Highnesses, Nobility, Citizens!
What is our Russian Empire?
Our Russian Empire is a geographical unity, which means: part
famous planet. And the Russian Empire concludes: firstly, Great, Small, White and Red Rus'; secondly - the Georgian, Polish, Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms; thirdly, it concludes... But - so on, so on, so on.
(in this phrase Bely parodies the full official title of the Russian emperor, which included about 60 names of the lands subject to him ("Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Tauride Chersonis", etc.) etc.) and ending with the words: “and so on, and so on, and so on”)
<…>And we won’t dwell on it.
Let's talk more about St. Petersburg: there is St. Petersburg, or
St. Petersburg, or Peter (something the same). Based on the same judgments
Nevsky Prospect is St. Petersburg Prospect.
Nevsky Prospect has a striking property: it consists of
spaces for public circulation; numbered houses limit it; The numbering is in the order of the houses - and the search for the desired house is greatly facilitated.
<…>
If you continue to assert the most absurd legend - the existence of a one and a half million Moscow population - then you will have to admit that the capital will be Moscow, because only in capitals can there be a population of one and a half million; but in the provincial cities there is no one and a half million population, there has never been, there never will be. And according to an absurd legend, it turns out that the capital is not St. Petersburg.
If St. Petersburg is not the capital, then there is no St. Petersburg. It only seems that he exists
(Asserting the motif of the “unreality” of St. Petersburg, Bely follows the poetic tradition of depicting the city in the works of Gogol (see the ending of the story “Nevsky Prospekt”) and Dostoevsky (“Teenager”, part I, chapter 8, I).
“The theme of “Petersburg” by Andrei Bely grew out of the two-hundred-year-old mythology of St. Petersburg, the creation of which dates back to the time of the founding of the city. In its most acute form, Bely's "Petersburg" confronts " To the Bronze Horseman"Pushkin and at the same time, as it were, continues and develops his ideas<…>Petersburg in Bely’s “Petersburg” is not between East and West, but East and West at the same time, that is, the whole world” (c) D. Likhachev
Find the beginning of everything, and you will understand a lot.
Kozma Prutkov
EXPOSITION
- depiction of the arrangement of characters and circumstances immediately preceding the unfolding of the plot action.
EXPOSURE FUNCTIONS:
Determine the place and time of the events described,
- introduce the characters,
- show the circumstances that will be the prerequisites for the conflict.
Diderot wrote: “The first act of a drama is perhaps its most difficult part: it must open the action, develop, sometimes expound and always connect.”
Let's look at an example - how to “state” and “connect” this?
Script for the film " Office romance" The voiceover is on behalf of the main character - comrade Anatoly Efremovich Novoseltsev.
“As everyone knows, work ennobles a person.
And that’s why people are happy to go to work.
Personally, I go to service only because it ennobles me.
If there were no statistics, we would not even suspect how well we are working” (c) - place and time of action + self-presentation of the hero = presentation of the characters.
“Lyudmila Prokofyevna Kalugina, director of our statistical institution.
She knows the business she runs. This also happens.
Lyudmila Prokofyevna comes to work before everyone else and leaves later than everyone else, from which it is clear that she, alas, is not married.
We call it "our mymra".
Of course, behind the scenes” (c) – representation of the characters, a hint of conflict.
“Every morning on the way to work I get rid of my skanks.
- Here's 40 kopecks, you can buy two cartons of milk. And don't forget!
- OK!
“And don’t forget to have breakfast, do you hear!” (c) – self-presentation of the hero = presentation of the characters
“My name is Anatoly Efremovich, my last name is Novoseltsev.
I live only on my salary, that is, from paycheck to paycheck.
In a word, I'm getting out...
In a word, I’m spinning” (c) - self-presentation of the hero = presentation of the characters + a hint of conflict.
And this is Olga Petrovna Ryzhova...
Olya.
Olya is my most faithful friend.
We became friends a long time ago, back in college.
What I love most about her is that she is an optimist - no matter what happens!
And, as you know, it’s the optimists who move the globe” (c) – representation of the characters
Balance and precision in defining characters and circumstances should be the virtue of exposition.
EXHIBITION VOLUME
According to the classical scheme, about 20% of the total volume of the work is allocated to exposition and plotting. But in fact, the volume of the exhibition depends entirely on the author’s intention. For works with a fast-paced plot, a couple of lines are enough to introduce the reader to the essence of the matter; for works with a protracted plot, the introduction is usually made larger.
An example of an extensive exhibition is Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”
The action develops slowly and slowly, the viewer’s entry into the world of the “dark kingdom” occupies the entire 1st act and the beginning of the 2nd. The viewer has the opportunity to carefully examine the surroundings of the provincial merchant town of Kalinov, taking the time to get acquainted with the life and customs of its inhabitants.
IN in this case The playwright’s task is to create a detailed picture that does not raise any doubts in the viewer about the authenticity of what is happening on stage.
An example of fast-paced exposition is Conan Doyle's story "The Redheads' Union."
“It was last fall. An elderly gentleman, very plump and fiery red-haired, was sitting with Sherlock Holmes. I wanted to go in, but I saw that both of them were engrossed in conversation, and I hurried away. However, Holmes dragged me into the room and closed the door behind me.
“You could not have come at a better time, my dear Watson,” he said affably” (c)
And then comes the beginning of the plot.
In addition to the author’s tastes, the volume of the exhibition is also dictated by fashion, as sad as it may be. The requirement of modern editors is that the exposition should begin with a dynamic and exciting scene in which the main character is involved.
EXHIBITION ELEMENTS
The beginning of something has long been designed to seduce.
Ernst Simon Bloch
“At the end of 1811, in an era memorable to us, the good Gavrila Gavrilovich R** lived on his estate Nenaradov” (Pushkin. Blizzard)
The reader should be presented with the main characters- and with the details that will later be used in the conflict...
“He was famous throughout the entire district for his hospitality and cordiality; neighbors constantly went to him to eat, drink, play Boston for five kopecks with his wife, and some in order to look at their daughter, Marya Gavrilovna, a slender, pale and seventeen-year-old girl. She was considered a rich bride, and many expected her to marry them or their sons.
Marya Gavrilovna was raised in French novels, and, therefore, was in love. The subject she chose was a poor army ensign who was on leave in his village." (Pushkin. Blizzard)
...as well as the preconditions for the conflict
“It goes without saying that the young man was burning with equal passion and that the parents of his beloved, noticing their mutual inclination, forbade their daughter to think about him, and he was received worse than a retired assessor.
Our lovers corresponded and saw each other alone every day. pine grove or at the old chapel. There they swore to each other eternal love, complained about fate and made various assumptions. Corresponding and talking in this way, they (which is very natural) came to the following reasoning: if we cannot breathe without each other, and the will of cruel parents interferes with our well-being, then will it be impossible for us to do without it? Of course, this happy thought first came to mind young man and that Marya Gavrilovna’s romantic imagination liked her very much.” (Pushkin. Snowstorm)
All elements of the exhibition are “guns” hung on the walls, which must fire at the moment desired by the author.
TYPES OF EXPOSITION
There are many different ways of exhibiting. However, ultimately, they can all be divided into two main, fundamentally various types- direct and indirect exposure.
In the case of DIRECT EXPOSITION, the reader is introduced to the course of the matter, as they say, head-on and with complete frankness.
First young man. Is it true that, having fallen in love, a person straightens up like a flower in the light?
D eushka (thoughtfully). And so it happens...
The second young woman (takes her hand, looks at her). But couldn’t it happen that the power of my love will change you beyond recognition, and you will become so beautiful that even I myself won’t recognize you?
Young woman. Who knows...
H o r. This is the story that happened on the Angara River, not far from the city of Irkutsk. In the mid-twentieth century, a powerful hydroelectric power station was built in those places...
- And three people met there.
- The story we are going to talk about is...
V a l I. The story of my life.
Sergey. And my...
V i k t o r (rather rudely). Mine too.
V a l I. My name is Valya.
V i k t o r. My name is Victor.
SERGEY (thoughtfully). And my name was Sergei.
L arisa (puts her hands on Valya’s shoulders). I am friends with her, but this story is not about me. My name is Larisa... It's a shame, but I'll pass by.
S e r d u k. Serdyuk is my last name. I'm already over fifty, that's what's bad. (After thinking.) There are others involved in this story, but you will learn about them later.
H o r. This is the end of this story. Spring rain. It's getting dark. Valya stands on a wooden bridge near the Angara itself and thinks about how she should live next. (Arbuzov. Irkutsk history)
A striking example of direct exposition is the monologue of the main character with which the work begins.
I don't like to accept invitations long in advance. How can you guarantee that on such and such a day in three weeks or a month you will want to dine with such and such? Perhaps, in the meantime, an opportunity will arise to spend this evening more pleasantly, and when they invite so long ago, a large and ceremonious company will obviously gather. Well, what should we do? The day was set a long time ago, the invited guests could well have vacated it in advance, and you need a very compelling excuse for refusal, otherwise you will offend the hosts with discourtesy. You accept the invitation, and for a whole month this obligation weighs on you and darkens your mood. It disrupts the plans dear to your heart. It brings chaos into your life. In fact, there is only one way out - to duck at the very last minute. But I either don’t have the courage to do this, or my conscience doesn’t allow it. (Maugham. Sense of Decency)
Another specific form of direct exposure is the self-recommendation of characters to the viewer - like what Anatoly Efremovich Novoseltsev did. Usually this technique is used to enhance the lyrical beginning.
INDIRECT EXPOSURE
It is formed gradually, consisting of a multitude of accumulating information. The viewer receives them in a veiled form; they are given as if by accident, unintentionally.
One day in the spring, at an hour of unprecedentedly hot sunset, two citizens appeared in Moscow, on the Patriarch's Ponds. The first of them, dressed in a gray summer pair, was short, well-fed, bald, carried his decent hat like a pie in his hand, and on his well-shaven face were glasses of supernatural size in black horn frames. The second, a broad-shouldered, reddish, curly-haired young man in a checkered cap pulled back on his head, was wearing a cowboy shirt, chewy white trousers and black slippers.
The first was none other than Mikhail Aleksandrovich Berlioz, chairman of the board of one of the largest Moscow literary associations, called MASSOLIT for short, and editor of a thick art magazine, and his young companion was the poet Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, writing under the pseudonym Bezdomny.
Finding themselves in the shade of slightly green linden trees, the writers first rushed to the colorfully painted booth with the inscription “Beer and water.” (Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita)
One of the tasks of the exposition is to prepare the appearance of the main character (or characters).
In the vast majority of cases, there is no main character in the first episode, and this is due to the following considerations.
The fact is that with the advent of the GG, the tension of the narrative intensifies, it becomes more intense and rapid. The possibilities for any detailed explanation, if not disappearing, are at least sharply decreasing. This is what forces the author to delay introducing the main character.
The novel “Fathers and Sons” begins with a scene in which Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov, worried, waits at the inn for his son Arkady, who has just graduated from university. First of all, Turgenev introduces information into the exhibition not about the main character - Bazarov, but about Kirsanov, a minor Persian.
The novel "War and Peace" begins with a description of Scherer's salon. It is not Pierre or Bolkonsky that Tolstoy shows us, but minor characters like Prince Vasily.
The list goes on. These works are united by the same desire of the authors - to prepare the ground for the appearance of the hero.
The hero must clearly attract the reader's attention. And here is the most reliable way- introduce the hero when the reader has already become interested in him from the stories of other characters and is now eager to get to know him better.
So, the exposition outlines - only in general outline! - the main character, whether he is good or bad. Under no circumstances should the author reveal his image to the end.
Firstly, talking a lot about the hero at the very beginning is boring and long. The reader will drown in multi-page descriptions of a completely uninteresting and unknown person.
Secondly, you can’t lose your main trump card in general plot construction– gradual development of the hero’s character. If the character is completely clear, then his actions will be easy to predict. The predictability of the plot is a big disadvantage for the work.
What one starts with must have the opportunity to grow.
Ernst Simon Bloch
The exposition effectively prepares the plot, the plot realizes the conflicting possibilities inherent and more or less tangibly developed in the exposition.
Exposition and plot are inextricably fused elements of a single initial stage works form the source of dramatic action.
TIE
- the moment from which the plot begins to move.
In Western literary criticism there is the concept of “trigger” = the triggering element of a novel. It marks the beginning of an action.
In most cases, it is triggered at the end of the exposition and after its activation, the course of the heroes’ previous lives becomes impossible.
For example, in “The Children of Captain Grant,” the trigger is that in the belly of a caught shark, the heroes of the novel find a bottle in which Captain Grant’s ship diaries are sealed. The need to search and possibly rescue the missing expedition forces the heroes to act, they set off on their journey.
In The Inspector General, the trigger is the story of the city gossips Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky about incognito from the capital.
There is an active trigger and a behind-the-scenes (trigger).
The voiceover is seemingly invisible to the reader, but certainly has an impact on the characters. For example, in “Hamlet” the trigger is the murder of Hamlet’s father, which was “offscreen”, but determined the entire course of events and the fate of the heroes of the tragedy.
In other words, the beginning is important event, where the hero is given a certain task that he must/is forced to complete.
What kind of event this will be depends on the genre of the work. This could be the discovery of a corpse, the kidnapping of a hero, a message that the Earth is about to fly into the celestial axis, etc.
Most often, the premise is banal. It is very, very difficult to come up with something original - all the stories have already been invented before us. Each genre has its own cliches and hackneyed techniques. The author's task is not so much to show off in inventing a plot, but rather to make an original intrigue out of a standard situation.
There can be several plots - as many as the author has set up plot lines. These ties can be scattered throughout the text, but all of them must be developed and not hang in the air.
LAW - all presented ties must have a continuation and end with a denouement.
For example,
The bun lay there and lay there, and suddenly it rolled - from the window to the bench, from the bench to the floor, along the floor and to the doors, jumped over the threshold into the entryway, from the entryway to the porch, from the porch to the yard, from the yard through the gate, on and on. ..
FIRST PARAGRAPH
You should grab the reader by the throat in the first paragraph,
in the second - squeeze harder and hold it against the wall
until the last line.
Paul O'Neill. American writer
Read about the role of the first paragraph in a newspaper article by Randall D. Universal Journalist http://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/Gurn/Rendall/10.php
Works of fiction differ from journalistic works, but the role of the first paragraph remains.
“The first paragraph, sometimes called the introduction, should be a straight shot. It should give a clear idea of the theme and mood of the entire book in which you have decided to write your deliberate and calculated story. If you come up with a beautiful stylistic phrase, it will be even better.
Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, for example, begins with a smooth, natural phrase:
“That night I dreamed that I was back in Manderley.”
This beginning matches the book so harmoniously that it’s hard to believe that just a little more, the author would have chosen a different beginning. In her hesitation, however, there is a certain consolation for us - if the writer came up with the famous first line later, it means that we are not obliged to immediately bring the first sentence to perfection. We will still have a lot of time to achieve the desired effect.
<…>
Here is an example of the beginning of several stories, new and old, that fell into my hands. First Georges Simenon, and Les Fantomes du chapelier, a story first published in 1949, set in an unforgettable mood:
“It was the third of December and it was still raining. A black three-piece suit, with a slightly protruding belly, stood out against the whiteness of the calendar attached to the cash register, opposite the dark oak partition that separated the display case from the store itself. Exactly twenty days ago, because it happened on November 13 - another pot-bellied three on the calendar - the first old woman was killed near the Church of the Savior, a few steps from the canal.”
As is known, Simenon was a Belgian who wrote in French. He always tried to use ordinary language. Notice how simple and beautiful the language of this fragment is at the same time, what power it contains. There are no far-fetched phrases here that only distract the reader’s attention, but only consistent dark colors, a powerful image of an ordinary object followed by a shocking message of multiple murder. With these three sentences, Simenon conveyed the restless mood of the entire story.” (Leslie Grant-Adamson)
© Copyright: Copyright Competition -K2, 2013
Certificate of publication No. 213092602051
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Wow! (I rub my hands contentedly) - this is what I miss!
thank you, I say!
Eloise Hume 09.26.2013 22:56
Yes, yes, Eloise, stay tuned - Fifth School is coming
Copyright Competition -K2 09.26.2013 23:14
Much has been sorted into shelves. I understood this: I found inspiration, the need to speak out was ripe, and I did it. Then he took his opus in his hands and, if necessary, edited it according to the rules of literary science.
Alexandra Strizheva 09/27/2013 11:41
Let's sharpen the inspiration of the form!
Yuri Kamaletdinov 09/27/2013 12:35
But, by the way, I thought. What is more important? inspiration or form? (smile)
Eloise Hume 09.27.2013 17:50
I would venture to suggest that the “fire” without a “vessel” will quickly go out under water and wind. And a “vessel” without “fire” has no meaning.
Boa constrictor Yuzik 09.27.2013 19:09
What kind of fire is this that is in the vessel? stool?
If in human life the causes and consequences of what is happening are not always clear and understandable, then in a literary work all the actions of the characters are logically connected with each other.
Any event is a consequence of the previous one, and all scenes that are not related to the action are cut off as unnecessary. The sequence of events depicted by writers is objective world a literary work, or a plot that allows you to get acquainted with the life of the characters in its spatial and temporal changes.
What is a plot?
The plot forms the basis of any literary work. It is he who reveals to the reader the chain of events being described, the characters’ personalities, and their relationships with each other. If we compare the plot with the construction of a house, then it can be presented in the form of a frame, which, as events develop, is overgrown with scenes-bricks, and by the end of the work it acquires a roof-decoupling.
Many literary works are built according to a single chronological scheme, in which all events occur one after another. These usually include adventure novels, sagas, and memoirs. There are also those where the scenes are connected not by a temporal, but by a cause-and-effect relationship, that is, each new action of the characters is the cause of the previous one. The concentric scheme is usually characteristic of detective stories, thrillers or dramas. 
Being a complex whole, the plot consists of many elements, each of which carries specific functions. For example, the exposition includes information about the characters even before events begin to develop, but tells about what happened after everything described in the work.
Not every book contains all the plot elements, but all of them have at least three key points called the plot, the climax, and the denouement.
What is a tie?
The beginning is understood as a certain event that occurs at the beginning of the work. It gives impetus to action and plays a significant role in revealing the characters’ characters. In adventure novels, the plot is most often a scene that pushes the characters to perform feats; in detective stories, it is a description of a crime that will subsequently be solved by detectives.
If we look at specific example, you can turn to Dumas’s novel “The Three Musketeers”. The plot in it is the scene where d’Artagnan, upon arrival in Paris, meets Cardinal Richelieu and realizes that he has a serious and powerful enemy. 
It is this meeting that becomes the beginning of a sequential chain of events on which the author’s work is built.
Climax - what is it?
The climax is one of the most interesting and significant events in the book, period. highest voltage, in which the hero either gives up or gains new strength for further struggle. This plot element is found in all literary works, ranging from short stories and ending with multi-volume novels.
Its presence in the plot is considered inevitable, since otherwise the reader may lose interest in what is written.
In small literary forms usually only one is present climax episode. For example, in the fairy tale about Cinderella, an intriguing moment can be considered the scene where the evil stepmother found out about her stepdaughter’s trip to the ball. Long stories can have one or many climaxes, especially if there are several subplots running through the story.
If we talk about “The Three Musketeers,” then the culmination here is the tragic resolution of the story with the pendants, when Constance dies. But in the novel “The Master and Margarita” there are several climaxes, in particular, Margarita’s trip to the ball and Pontius Pilate’s meeting with Yeshua.
What is a decoupling?
The denouement refers to the event in which the conflict between the heroes of the work is resolved. In it, the character can achieve his goal or be left with nothing and die. 
Sometimes it happens that there is no resolution in the work - in this way the author leaves space for readers to think.
Returning to Dumas, the denouement can be called the scene last meeting d'Artagnan with the cardinal, in which Richelieu awarded the brave hero a patent for the rank of lieutenant of musketeers.
Offers several definitions of the concept “plot”. According to Ozhegov, plot in literature is the order and connection of events. Ushakov's dictionary suggests that they be considered a set of actions, the sequence and motivation for the unfolding of what is happening in a work.
Relationship with plot
In modern Russian criticism, plot has a completely different definition. The plot in literature is understood as the course of events against the background of which the confrontation is revealed. The plot is the main artistic conflict.
However, other points of view on this issue have existed in the past and continue to exist. Russian critics mid-19th centuries, supported by Veselovsky and Gorky, considered the compositional aspect of the plot, that is, how exactly the author communicates the content of his work. And the plot in literature is, in their opinion, the actions and relationships of the characters.
This interpretation is directly opposite to that in Ushakov’s dictionary, in which the plot is the content of events in their sequential connection.
Finally, there is a third point of view. Those who adhere to it believe that the concept of “plot” independent meaning does not, and when analyzing it is quite enough to use the terms “plot”, “composition” and “plot diagram”.
Types and variants of product schemes
Modern analysts distinguish two main types of plot: chronicle and concentric. They differ from each other in the nature of the connections between events. Main factor, so to speak, is time. The chronic type reproduces its natural course. Concentric - focuses no longer on the physical, but on the mental.
Concentric plots in literature are detective stories, thrillers, social and psychological novels, dramas. Chronicle is more often found in memoirs, sagas, and adventure works.
Concentric plot and its features
In the case of this type of course of events, a clear cause-and-effect relationship between the episodes can be traced. Plot development in literature of this type proceeds consistently and logically. It is easy to highlight the beginning and end here. Previous actions are the causes of subsequent ones; all events seem to be pulled together into one node. The writer explores one conflict.
Moreover, the work can be either linear or multilinear - the cause-and-effect relationship is preserved just as clearly, moreover, any new storylines appear as a result of events that have already happened. All parts of a detective story, thriller or story are built on a clearly expressed conflict.
Chronicle story
It can be contrasted with concentric, although in fact there is not an opposite here, but a completely different principle of construction. These types of plots in literature can interpenetrate each other, but most often either one or the other is decisive.
The change of events in a work built on a chronicle principle is tied to time. There may be no clear connection, no strict logical cause-and-effect relationship (or at least this connection is not obvious).
In such a work we can talk about many episodes, the only thing they have in common is that they happen in chronological sequence. A chronicle plot in literature is a multi-conflict and multi-component canvas, where contradictions arise and fade, and one is replaced by another.
Commencement, climax, denouement
In works whose plot is based on conflict, it is essentially a scheme, a formula. It can be divided into its constituent parts. The elements of plot in literature include exposition, setup, conflict, rising action, crisis, climax, falling action, and resolution.
Of course, not all of the above elements are present in every work. More often you can find several of them, for example, plot, conflict, development of action, crisis, climax and denouement. On the other hand, it matters how exactly the work is analyzed.
The exhibition in this regard is the most static part. Its task is to introduce some of the characters and the setting of the action.
The plot describes one or more events that give rise to the main action. The development of the plot in literature goes through conflict, rising action, crisis to climax. She is the peak of the work, playing significant role in revealing the characters' characters and in developing the conflict. The denouement adds the final touches to the story being told and to the characters.
In literature, a certain plot structure has developed, which is psychologically justified from the point of view of its influence on the reader. Each element described has its place and meaning.
If a story does not fit into the scheme, it seems sluggish, incomprehensible, and illogical. For a work to be interesting, for readers to empathize with the characters and delve into what is happening to them, everything in it must have its place and develop in accordance with these psychological laws.
Plots of ancient Russian literature
Ancient Russian literature, according to D. S. Likhachev, is “literature of one theme and one plot.” World history and the meaning of human life - these are the main, deep motives and themes of the writers of those times.
Subjects ancient Russian literature are revealed to us in lives, epistles, walks (descriptions of travel), chronicles. The names of the authors of most of them are unknown. According to the time interval, the Old Russian group includes works written in the 11th-17th centuries.
The diversity of modern literature
Attempts to classify and describe the plots used have been made more than once. In his book The Four Cycles, Jorge Luis Borges suggested that in world literature there are only four types:
- about search;
- about the suicide of God;
- about the long return;
- about the assault and defense of a fortified city.
Christopher Booker identified seven: rags to riches (or vice versa), adventure, there and back again (Tolkien's The Hobbit comes to mind), comedy, tragedy, resurrection and defeating the monster. Georges Polti reduced the entire experience of world literature to 36 plot collisions, and Kipling identified 69 of their variants.
Even specialists of other profiles were not left indifferent by this question. According to Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology, the main subjects of literature are archetypal, and there are only six of them - the shadow, anima, animus, mother, old man and child.
Index to folk tales
Perhaps most of all, the Aarne-Thompson-Uther system “highlighted” the possibilities for writers - it recognizes the existence of approximately 2500 options.
We are, however, talking about folklore here. This system is a directory, an index fairy tales, known to science at the time of compilation of this monumental work.
There is only one definition for the course of events here. The plot in literature of this kind looks like this: “The persecuted stepdaughter is taken into the forest and abandoned there. Baba Yaga, or Morozko, or Leshy, or 12 months, or Winter, test her and reward her. Native daughter The stepmother also wants to receive a gift, but does not pass the test and dies.”
In fact, Aarne himself established no more than a thousand options for the development of events in the fairy tale, but he allowed for the possibility of new ones and left a place for them in his original classification. This was the first index that came into scientific use and was recognized by the majority. Subsequently, scientists from many countries made their additions to it.
In 2004, an edition of the directory appeared, in which descriptions fairy tale types have been updated and made more accurate. This version of the index contained 250 new types.
Every literary work is subject to the laws of the genre. Failure to do this leads to a breakdown in composition. The climax is the most exciting moment in the story. It is very important for every reader, and especially a writer, to understand what this is.
Basic elements of the composition of a literary plot work
TO plot genres include stories, novels, novels. The works included in this group are necessarily built around a conflict that develops throughout the description.
Then he reaches highest point voltage. The climax is the very moment when the denouement is inevitable.
Thus, there are four main plot elements to highlight. These are the “4 pillars” on which the composition of a literary work of this genre is based.
Exposition - a description of the time, place, character of the characters.
The plot is an event that served to aggravate the contradiction or became the starting point of the storyline.
The climax is the moment of critical tension in the situation.
The denouement is the event that served as the resolution of the conflict, the finishing touch in the description.
Example of composition in a work
Turning to the work of Mark Twain, we can consider storyline episode with painting the fence. The plot of the story is that Tom Sawyer was punished by his aunt.
Then a smart thought comes to the head of the smart guy: he decides to “sell” the opportunity to pick up a brush! This is where the climax comes - this is the most exciting moment in the episode, because the reader does not know how the hero’s new adventure will end, his interest is sufficiently piqued.
And here's the ending - the guys vying with each other to offer the most precious things they own in exchange. A few minutes later the fence is painted, and Tom himself becomes a real “rich man”, having received “countless gifts”: boxes and broken toys, dead cat and an apple core.
Place of climax in a literary work
The view on the composition of a literary work is strictly individual. The writer does not necessarily follow classic version, when exposition, plot, climax, denouement appear in his work in this order. Often the author skips exposition altogether, leaving the reader to get to know the characters as they read. Sometimes the climax is placed at the very beginning of an action-packed work. The denouement comes at the very end, stimulating you to read the work to the end. The climax at the very beginning immediately grabs the reader's attention and arouses interest.
“My hands were aching. From somewhere above, vile cold drops dripped onto my head. With difficulty opening his eyes, Mikhail saw the gloomy walls of the basement. And in the opposite corner, a terrible huge rat was brazenly crunching something.
Taking a closer look, Mikhail realized with horror that this was the same basement! And then he heard someone’s steps, then the turning of a key in the keyhole... The end was inevitable. But it doesn't have to be that way. And Mikhail already knew what he would do in the next minute..."
After reading such a beginning, a lover of horror, detective or thriller films will never put the book aside. Why did the hero end up in this situation? What will he do next? Will he be able to escape? Actually, these are only some of the questions that will come to the reader’s mind.
The denouement, its place in the composition
It is worth noting that this element can also appear at the beginning of the story as intrigue. For example, in this form.
“Maria entered the hall and with her peripheral vision noticed that everyone present turned their heads in her direction. Conversations died down for a moment. The delight in the eyes of the males spilled into the soul as a wave of hatred and contempt. All this - both recognition and admiration - is just the hypnotic effect of diamonds, she knew it!”
And then - a transition to the past, a reference to a hungry childhood, when that “hog with a fat double chin, today smiling ingratiatingly and obsequiously catching her gaze,” passing by them, sitting with their mother and begging for help, curled his lips in disgust.