Plot is not merely “a chronological arrangement of incidents” but a careful crafting of events so that they appear to be in “a causal and inevitable arrangement.” The plot of a story should represent a clear beginning, middle, and end, of the action according to Aristotle in his Poetics.
― A Handbook to Literature, 11th edition, by William Harmon
Shapes of Plots
Gustav Freytag’s pyramid is the most ubiquitous visual representation of plot structure.
Kurt Vonnegut on the shapes of stories
Kurt Vonnegut lecturing on the shapes of stories University of South Carolina Aiken Lecture Series September 23rd, 1997 Etherredge Center, Aiken, SC
Example of a plot summary
Freytag’s Pyramid used to provide a plot summary of George Orwell’s 1984 (spoilers, of course).
