Plots Béton Pour Poteaux

You’ve probably heard a lot of people talk about the A plot, B plot, and sometimes C plot when referring to TV shows, episodes and general TV writing.
So, what does “A/B/C stories” mean in the context of scripts?

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Simply put, the term refers to the different narrative and story threads in your TV episode.

The “A story” will be the primary focus of your story. Meaning it will usually be about the lead and have the most amount of scenes (i.e. screen-time).
The “B story” is generally a parallel storyline headed by more secondary characters.
The “C story” (and deeper in the alphabet), also called a “runner“, are about ongoing/macro stories that pay off long-term (or, in the case of some comedies, quick gag scenes).

In procedurals, rule of thumb is that the A story will be centered on the “case of the week”, while the B story is the personal aspect of the leads. The C story is almost always some kind of “runner” that will have a long-term impact on the season arc.
For example: a detective is investigating a crime of passion (A story) while dealing with her own messy divorce (B story) and the precinct is trying to add new blood to the team (C story).
Even serialized or “macro” procedurals (like The Missing, The Fall or Broadchurch) have their A stories dedicated to the crime of the season, and how they impact the leads.

In more serialized shows, the A/B/C stories will often be divided based on characters and themes.
The Game of Thrones pilot has an A story all about Ned Stark and his family, while the B and C stories are split between Jaime/Cersei and Daenerys/Viserys.
Breaking Bad‘s pilot is almost a complete through-line A story about Walt, with some looser threads with Jesse and Skyler.

How much weight do you give each thread?

The real focus of your episode should be the A story. That’s the meat of the episode since it’s about your main character — and therefore requires many story beats to achieve a compelling character’s journey. Once you’ve figured that out, you can work from your other characters and fill in other narrative needs.

Some B and C stories directly come from the A story. Maybe the main character generates a problem in her A story, which snowballs into a secondary character having to deal in the B story with something related to that A problem.
Watch 24 and its pilot for an excellent illustration of the A story spiraling out into more threads.

The pacing of a TV show is often dictated by the A/B/C stories, and how quickly you alternate (or “cut”) between them. The shorter the scenes and faster the cuts, the more fast-paced it will seem. This is a trick used in “montages” (think of any show with a pop music montage at the end).
On the flip side, you can stay with a singular scene or storyline for a long time, and build up the tension.

Ideally, those A/B/C threads will echo one another, and connect with each other at some point in the episode.
If you do cut back-and-forth at a furious speed, then there needs to be some kind of correlation between the threads — otherwise you’ll leave your audience and reader completely lost.

Should you limit yourself to three threads?

Well, once again, it depends on the show you’re writing.

For half-hours/comedies, you’ll find an A and B story, with at most a C “runner” of one or two scenes. There just isn’t enough real-estate to have more.
The A story will already have, say, three beats an act (meaning upwards of nine for an entire episode), while the B story will have two (so six scenes total). There’s only going to have room for a couple of C scenes if need be.

For one-hours/dramas, the amount of threads varies greatly based on the genre and format of that series or episode.
You can take a look at How to Get Away with Murder for an extreme example of a serialized show that runs the gamut of the alphabet. It’s juggling with so many side-storylines (since it’s a primetime soap) to burn through story and keep its narrative momentum going. Whether or not it’s successful at pulling off this pacing is up to your preferences.
Better Call Saul is a good counter-example of a show very focused on its A (and occasionally B) storylines, which rarely deviate into other threads. That’s because Saul (or whoever the episode’s focused on) is truly the driving lead of the story. Look at Dexter for another idea of A stories filling almost all the episode.

Very few dramas (perhaps only single-episode anthologies) just have an A story for that hour. That’s because, to maintain dramatic tension, you’ll want to cut away to something else.
The fewer the stories, the more important it is to have a compelling narrative and characters that propel you through the script. You don’t have the luxury to “cut away” to something else, which can be a double-edged sword.
The first half of Breaking Bad‘s “Ozymandias” episode makes the best case for an A-only episode, but it has the benefit of being the payoff to a 5-year-long journey. In other words, not something you’d want to bank on in every episode.

You may think that TV structure seems very rigorous and pragmatic — and in some way it is.
It’s a bit like musical composition. There are rules to creating a music sheet, but it’s up to you to fill that abstract document with a fun and unique melody.

Write on.

So, what is a plot in fiction? Let's check your understanding with a pop quiz: which of the following is the best example of a plot?

a. A boy finds a new family in a traveling circus run by orphans.
b. An immigrant comes to the United States to start a new life.
c. A king dies and then the queen dies out of grief.
d. A high school girl discovers love from an unexpected source: a centuries-old vampire.

If you picked c, you’re right.

But what about a, b, and d? Well, strictly speaking, those are a mix of themes and premises, but the confusion is entirely understandable. Storytelling theory is packed with confusingly similar terms — and as you get further into the nuts and bolts of writing narrative, it helps to know the difference.

This post is here to help make sure that you don’t lose the plot when you’re writing your own story. But before we get that far, let’s first define plot.

What is plot?

Plot is the chain of connected events that make up a narrative. It refers to what actually occurs in a story and is one of storytelling’s major pillars. Some will say that if characters are the who and theme is the why, then the plot is the what of the story.

It is not a series of random incidents. Generally, there must be a cause-and-effect relationship between the events and the plot points. The king died and then the queen died, for instance, is not a plot, as E.M. Forster notes. But the king died and then the queen died out of grief is one because it reveals a causality in the sequence of scenes.

Plot is an incredibly complex thing. It is a key element of establishing your book in the literary community and into the hearts of readers. We as humans have become increasingly story aware—especially within the internet age, where countless stories are only a click away—and readers come to a story with high expectations, both on the conscious and subconscious level.

— Chersti Nieveen, editor of multiple NYT bestsellers

You might be thinking that that sounds very similar to a recitation of events. You’d be correct. To get it closer to being a story, we need to consider its partner-in-crime: the plot structure.

Identifying the plot structure

If you’re exposed to a lot of stories, you’ll notice that most of them — from Westworld and Jane Eyre to your grandma’s favorite anecdote — will share a similar architecture: one with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

This takes us straight to plot structure: the organization of events in a story. There's a reason why no good story has its climax at the start — or resolves its major conflicts in the middle and spends the last half filling in the exposition! On the contrary, it’s the structure that determines the order of events, racks up the tension, and sets the peaks and plateaus of the story.

PRO-TIP: To learn more, you can read this post on how to start a story and how to end a story.

Therefore, if plot is the “what” of a story, its structure is “how” the author chooses to tell it. One of the most prevalent theories for a universal plot structure comes from German novelist Gustav Freytag, who proposed a five-stage architecture for all stories:

• Exposition: The de-facto introduction that brings out the story’s cast of characters and plants the seeds of conflict.
• Rising Action: In which a series of events (usually triggered by an inciting incident) escalates and sets the rest of the story in motion.
• Climax: The moment of peak tension in a story — in other words, what everything else builds up to.
• Falling Action: The bridge between the climax and the resolution in which subplots and mini-conflicts are resolved.
• Denouement: the wrapping up of the whole story.

We dive deeper into each of these five stages in this article on story structure. Or, if you’re keen to discover ways to incorporate the “beats” into your own writing, go this way for further analysis of the three-act story structure!

Free course: Mastering the 3-Act Structure

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So what is a plot diagram?

Structuring a story is a bit like a puzzle: it’s easy to jumble up all the moving pieces if you keep them all in a list (or, god forbid, in your head). That’s why many authors find it useful to turn to a plot diagram to visualize the structure and track every major “beat” in a story.

Now that you’re all caught up, it’s time to dive into some of the most popular plots in the history of literature. As you go through these plot examples, see if you can use the plot diagram to understand where each falls in the context of its plot structure.

What are some typical examples of plot?

Since the dawn of time, there have been millions of unique stories by writers, bards, and raconteurs. But can all of them be grouped into just a few master plots? According to journalist Christopher Booker, they can. We’ve taken a leaf from his book to show you some popular examples of plot.

Overcoming the Monster

A protagonist must defeat a threat to society. Sound familiar? If that rings a bell to you, that’s because this plot type is old as time: you can trace it all the way back to Beowulf (who needed to destroy Grendel) and Theseus (who needed to kill the Minotaur). That said, it doesn’t need to be an otherworldly monster. The “monster” could be, for instance, the villain in James Bond, or the big bad weasel in Redwall.

Further examples of this plot type: Jurassic Park, Little Red Riding Hood, King Kong, Frankenstein, Hunger Games

Rags to Riches

Someone poor becomes someone rich or successful. You might’ve encountered this (generally) feel-good story in such classics as My Fair Lady and Aladdin. It gives readers a chance to participate in a universally beloved pastime: rooting for the underdog.

Plots Beton Pour Poteaux Bois

Further examples of this plot type: Great Expectations, Cinderella, Slumdog Millionaire, Jane Eyre

Quest

The protagonist and friends go out in search of something. It could be a MacGuffin (such as Indiana Jones searching for the Crystal Skull), which is by far one of the most famous variations. Or it could be a fellow fish, such as in Finding Nemo! No matter what, the object at the end of the journey is the Holy Grail of this plot type, so to speak.

Further examples of this plot type: The Lord of the Rings, Le Morte d’Arthur, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Voyage and Return

The protagonist and friends go out on a journey — with a return ticket. This differs from the Quest in that there’s no ultimate item to find. Instead, they’re simply on an adventure.

Let’s take Chronicles of Narnia as an example. When the Pevensie siblings walk through the wardrobe, they’re thrust unexpectedly into the magical world of Narnia. It’s up to them to navigate this new reality before they can return a bit older (and a bit wiser).

Further examples of this plot type: Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Star Trek, Where the Wild Things Are, The Odyssey

Rebirth

Is that. . . the smell of redemption in the air? That’s the gist of this plot type, in which “rebirth” is metaphorical for somebody coming good in the end. You’ll commonly find themes of new beginnings and renewal — The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is a great example.

Further examples of this plot type: A Christmas Carol, The Secret Garden

There are infinite variations

As you might be able to tell, there’s no definitive way to categorize plots in fiction. This is just one sample. Author John Gardner once said that there are only two stories in the world: a man goes on a journey, and a stranger comes to town. Meanwhile, writer Ronald Tobias came up with 20 total master plots while French author Georges Polti topped that with 36 dramatic situations that can be found in fiction.

That said, it goes without saying that there are infinite ways to actually write a plot. Slumdog Millionaire and Jane Eyre might both, for instance, involve rags-to-riches stories. However, no-one would take one look at them and shout, “Twinsies!” That’s because the uniqueness of the story largely depends on how you plot the book.

Tips from Our Editors: How to plot a book

Since you now know what a plot is (and what forms it can take), let’s visit a few of our top editors for some practical advice on plot-writing.

Do…

Ask, “And so.”

Plotting a book invariably brings up the controversial topic of outlining. Should you properly outline a book or not? It depends on whether you’re a plotter or a pantser — each will approach writing differently.

That said, Randall Klein, a former editor at Penguin Random House, recommends all writers to try and have a rough sketch of the “big picture” before they start writing. This means “getting the big moments down on paper,” he says. This will help you make sure that the “and so” thread is prevalent between each your big events.

“Does your narrative drag in between the action set pieces? Is there a build-up missing here and there? It's easier to tell when you've outlined the main discoveries that the reader (and the character) will make.”

If you're interested in learning more about the outlining phase, you can read this post that's all about how to outline a novel.

Make the stakes high enough.

A story needs stakes to get a reader invested. If Frodo needed to drop off the Ring at Mount Doom because he just didn’t like rings — and not because the fate of Middle Earth was hanging in balance — we wouldn’t exactly be gripping the edges of our seats, would we?

That’s why you need to “make the reader worry,” says Hannah Sheppard, an editor and literary agent. “Make them care whether the protagonist succeeds. To ensure that happens, the stakes must be significant. Why should the protagonist care beyond generally being a decent person?” Take that as a reminder that character and plot are inextricably connected — which leads us to our next point.

Know what your character wants and why.

As Ray Bradbury famously once said, “Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.” So if you want to get your characters sprinting, you first need to understand them inside and out.

That means knowing why they want something, advises editor Fiona McLaren: “Before you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, find out why the character is going to go after their goal — not just on a superficial level, but down to their core beliefs. The deeper you dig, the more you develop your character’s motivations in life.” For a cheat sheet, we have a character template here you can download for free.

Free course: Character Development

Create fascinating characters that your readers will love... or love to hate! Get started now.

Remember that Goal + Flaw + Stakes = Compelling Narrative.

Plot Beton Pour Poteau Pergola

Don’t forget about your character’s flaw, says editor Katie McCoach. “The flaw of a character must be the thing about them that needs to change in order to reach their goal at the end of the book, or another way of viewing it is to ask: what is their fear that keeps them from reaching their goals?” This should feed into the conflict of the story, which will be instrumental in guiding the structure.

Don’t…

Plot in a vacuum.

Ever watch a movie or read a book where you shook your head because the characters were acting “out-of-character”? That author probably fell into one of the biggest temptations of plotting: letting the plot drive the characters. Avoid that, warns Aja Pollock, a former editor at Simon & Schuster:

“A lot of authors get the outline in their minds, but when the desires of their characters don't align with where the plot is going, rather than adjusting the plot or rethinking the characters, they shoehorn their characters into situations that don't make sense.”

In other words, even plot twists need to make sense first and foremost. Forcing the plot along will result in characters who behave falsely in readers' eyes — which will make the whole story seem hollow.

What's your experience with plotting a book? Have any questions about anything related to plot? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below!