Wiktionary wrote:1.The general course of a story including significant events that determine its course or significant patterns of events
So, in short, plot means conflict - Something that the Main Character has to overcome to restore the natural order. Lets look at the conflicts that some characters need to overcome in a few stories.
Dracula: Count Dracula is effecting the life of Johnathan Harker by holding him prisioner and vamping his girlfriend's best friend. Obviously, Dracula is a threat to society who needs to be eliminated.
Star Wars: The Galatic Empire, with the power of the Death Star, will slowly pick off the rebels one by one. Luke and his friends are trying to stop it.
I've underlined what needed to be done in each story for the natural order to be restored.
Now, usually, to have a strong conflict, you need to have a strong antagonist. Remeber to make this antagonist a realistic, belivable character, not someone who goes: OMG I IZ EVIL I LIKE TA KILL THINGS. Now, this can work in some instances, like The Dark Knight, but remeber to be careful.
Although, an antagonist doesn't need to be present for there to be conflict. Just take a look at the movie Rudy. The conflict is him wanting to get into Notre Dame and prove all the people who said that he cant wrong. Are said people antagonists? No, because they are his family/friends/girlfriend/teachers. The "antagonist" would't be physical, but rather more spiritual.
Conflicts need to be real and threatenning. Twilight (Sorry Twilight Fans) is a failed example of this. It is an attempt, a dub at forbidden love. Edward and Bella don't really have obstacles in their relationship: The families love eachother, and Edward can control his "bloodlust" very, very well.
Now, onto rising acition. At the very beginning, as the exposition (where all the characters and possible conflict are introduced) ends, we had the inciting incident. The inciting incident is what distrupts the natural order. Take a look at inciting incidents from a few famous stories.
Harry Potter: When Hagrid tells Harry he is a wizard.
Dracula: When Johnathan Harker enters Dracula's castle.
It is possible for the Inciting Incident to start before the story begins, as in:
Star Wars: When the Galatic Empire is formed in Episode III.
LoTR: When Bilbo Baggins finds the ring in The Hobbit.
After the inciting incident, we move onto the rising action. Bit by Bit, the conflict escalates and becomes more and more apart of the main character's life. Usually, about one-forth to halfway between the rising action, the main character reaches the point of no-return, where it is impossible to give up and quit. For instance, the point of no-return in my novel is when Madeleine signs the Crew Articles and joins the pirates. In LoTR, in could very well be when Frodo, Sam, Gandalf and Aragorn reach the elven village and recruit Legolas and a few other people.
After the point of no return, there is a lead-in to the climax. For instance, maybe your main characters are getting ready to smash an enemy base, or the two sides in he war get ready to battle. Next comes the climax, which is the most intense point of action in the story. This can be the final confrontation between the protagonist and antoginst, a large battle or a sweeping storm. The possibilities are endless. Even if it is not phyiscal, there should always be fight. Maybe some characters will die. Take a look at a few famous climaxes:
Dracula: When Johanthan, Mina, and the rest of the group of vampire hunters travel to Translyvannia and chase Dracula as to trap him and kill him.
Harry Potter: When Harry confronts Quirell in the room that contains the mirror of erised.
After the climax, even though some stories might not have this, there will be a resolution. Resolutions can be lead ins to future books or descriptions of how the characters have been getting along since the natural order was restored. Maybe it wasn't -Maybe there are more things to come.
Well, I hope that helped. I will try to make a post soon about literay techniques and themes, like foreshadowing and flashbacks. Hope this helped.
-El
