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Creating Your Plot

The document discusses key components to consider when creating a plot for a play, including developing believable characters with relationships and conflicts, limiting the number of settings to improve producibility, conveying the time period to the audience, focusing the story on characters' reactions to plot events, and following a typical narrative arc structure of exposition, rising action, and resolution.

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Rachel B. Inting
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37 views

Creating Your Plot

The document discusses key components to consider when creating a plot for a play, including developing believable characters with relationships and conflicts, limiting the number of settings to improve producibility, conveying the time period to the audience, focusing the story on characters' reactions to plot events, and following a typical narrative arc structure of exposition, rising action, and resolution.

Uploaded by

Rachel B. Inting
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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When creating your plot, consider these key components:

Characters: Decide who the main character of your play is. Make an effort to develop them into a
believable person. You may also want to add supporting characters that support or challenge them. If
you want a traditional hero story, you need to create a protagonist and an antagonist. Consider the
relationships between all of your characters, especially ones that have a conflict with each other. Having
a conflict creates more tension in your play and keeps the audience interested in the fate of your main
character.

Settings: Where is your play taking place? How does this add to the story? Determine how the setting
impacts each scene or character and contextualizes themes. Limiting the number of different settings
keeps your play grounded and improves its producibility. Consider how your crew could quickly
transform one setting into another. Creating new settings is more complex for the stage than it is for film
and television.

Time: When is your play taking place? You need to figure out a way to convey this to the audience,
whether that be through narration, costume, or dialogue.

Story: The story of your play focuses on the characters’ reactions and emotions surrounding events of
the plot.

Narrative arc: Many plays follow a structure of exposition, rising action, and resolution.

Exposition: Early on in your play, you need to establish the who, what, where, when, and why of your
plot. If you have a central conflict in your play, this may be the time to present it.

Rising action: Toward the middle of your play, more obstacles or challenges unfold. The conflict may
deepen until you reach the climax of the play. This is the tensest moment, typically when characters fully
address conflicts.

Resolution: After the climax happens, the tension of your play lessens. During the resolution, your
characters may overcome their conflicts or learn to live with them. Even if your ending is tragic, you may
want to include a key takeaway or lesson.

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