Quotes about Plot

By myth I mean the arrangement of the incidents

Two parts, then, of the Plot — Reversal of the Situation and Recognition — turn upon surprises. A third part is the Scene of Suffering. The Scene of Suffering is a destructive or painful action, such as death on the stage, bodily agony, wounds and the like.

Every tragedy falls into two parts, — Complication and Unravelling or Denouement.

In constructing the plot and working it out with the proper diction, the poet should place the scene, as far as possible, before his eyes. In this way, seeing everything with the utmost vividness, as if he were a spectator of the action, he will discover what is in keeping with it, and be most unlikely to overlook inconsistencies.

T[he rules of writing] require that the episodes in a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help to develop it.

For many years, I read mystery novels for relaxation. But my tastes were too narrow - and, having read all of Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr, I discovered that the implausibility and the thinness of the people distracted me unduly from the plot.

Life has no plot. It is by far more interesting than anything you can say about it...

I say--I've thought of a good plot for a detective story. Really? Top--hole. You know, the sort that people bring out and say 'I've often thought of doing it myself, if only I could find time to sit down and write it.' I gather that sitting down is all that is necessary for producing masterpieces.

No unemployment insurance can be compared to an alliance between a man and a plot of land.

If you have a beautiful story, it has to have conflict. If you don't have conflict, it can't be a good story.