Plot and story are often confused with one another. How often have you heard someone say about a move or a book, "Wow, that sounds like a great plot," when what they are referring to is the story? Learn write an essay on plot vs. story that will clear up the confusion between the two and clarify the importance of each of these elements.
Instructions
1. Define the difference between plot and story in the opening of your essay. A story is typically what you read on the back of a novel or DVD case. The plot is the actual structure of the story. Plot is how the story is told. "A man and his dog get lost in the mountains and eventually find their way home" is a story. How they get lost, what happens to them while they're lost and how they find their way back is the plot.
2. Give literary examples of classic story lines and show how each of those stories were told by the application of different plots. This is the best way to illustrate how a plot with new twists can turn an old story into something fresh and special.
3. Use analogies to illustrate plot. A road map is the perfect analogy for this purpose. Use the road map to show how different routes lead to the same destination and produce different results. Many times these results vary due to obstacles in place on one of the routes and not another.
4. End the essay by explaining how plot and story can't exist separately. Every story has a plot. It may be an awful plot, a boring plot or a predictable plot, but the story will have a plot nonetheless. Every plot laid out to its logical conclusion creates a story. An excellent novel or movie happens when plot and story work together.
