Difference Between Plot And Theme

Sometimes plot and theme are confused as beingness basically the same thing. Other times, they're viewed every bit so distinct they don't even belong in the same discussion.

So which is it?

Beginning question commencement: is plot basically the same thing as theme? To some degree, the answer is yep. Or, at least, intuitive phrasing oftentimes links them.

Permit'due south consider, for example, Jane Austen'southwardPride & Prejudice. Ane way of summing upwardly this novel is equally follows:

A poor woman and a rich man improbably fall in love.

Plot or theme?

If you've been following our informal serial of posts exploring the various aspects of theme, then you probably already know the answer. What this premise reveals about Pride & Prejudice is plot. How do we know? Because what's described is all external action; it tells what happens in the characters' world. Even in a romance or social novel, in which much of the "action" is confined primarily to verbal exchanges or even to just the characters' thoughts and emotions, we know we're dealing with plot when we're dealing with anything that references a linear progression of events or realizations.

The theme ofPride & Prejudice, of course, is obvious, since Austen spelled it out in the title.

Pride and Prejudice 2005 Elizabeth and Darcy Pemberley

Now consider another proposed premise forPride & Prejudice, and tell me if this one is about plot or theme:

A poor woman and a rich man are able to fall in love just subsequently overcoming their mutual prides and prejudices.

It's both, right?

And this is where we notice that inherent link between plot and theme.

Plot and theme arenon the same matter. As already discussed, theme is an abstruse argument (moral or existential) that proposes a truth about reality. But without plot, theme is nada but an idea. It's a theory to perhaps be discussed over coffee with friends or colleagues. Just it'due south not a story.

A story is what yous get when a theme meets a plot. In our second premise, nosotros see how vital one is to the other. The plot ("falling in love") provides the exterior activity thatproves (or disproves) the theme's proposed argument ("pride and prejudice are both roadblocks to meaningful romantic relationships"). In turn, the theme provides awhy to the plot'southwardhow.

Plot and theme are neither identical, nor segregated. Rather, plot joins theme and character as the 3rd and most visible of any of storyform's Large Three. Plot is the load-bearer of the partnership. Non only must it produce a story experience that is both convincing and entertaining, it must also accept on the substantial weight of providing the characters with the external conflict that will forcefulness them to appoint with theme.

Plot Should Always BeAbout Theme

What'southward a story almost? That's an extremely broad question. As we talked about last calendar week, the answer any given person provides might be variously plot-, character-, or theme-centric. Just as we've as well talked about earlier, the true answer isalways theme. What this means for writers at its most practical level is that what yourplot is nearly is theme.

Plot and theme must be linked at such a granular level that it becomes difficult to describe the specifics of one without at least hinting at the specifics of the other.

Or put some other way: plot and themewill be linked, whether you plan it or not.

The decisions your characters brand and the actions they perform willalways comment on reality in some way. When a character gets away with murder—or falls in love at showtime sight—or becomes a conscientious objector—or succumbs to alcoholism—all of their stories volition inevitablysay something nearly how reality is or at least how the writer thinks it should be.

Your story will say these things whether you plan it or not, whether y'all even recognize it or not. Sometimes these oblivious breathings of our subconscious minds provide the nigh seamless and powerful themes of all. But even more than often, an writer's lack of sensation nigh his plot'due south bulletin will lead him to one or both of two undesirable outcomes:

ane. The plot ends upwards "proving" something the writer never intended.

two. The writer unintentionally proves 1 thing via the plot, while consciously trying to evidence some other thing through a pasted-on theme that isn't really borne out by the story'south events.

The former tin can ascend from the author's over-reliance on plot conventions. Instead of searching out honest answers from within herself, the author just reaches for the same old familiar stand-past she's seen in a hundred other shoot-em-ups or romances. Equally readers or viewers, we've all experienced these stories—the ones that await us to believe the good guys did the right thingonly because they're the proficient guys or that the romantic leads fell deeply and lastingly in lovejust because they're immature and hot and had a meet-cute.

In contrast, the latter arises from the author's good intentions only poor understanding of what his story wasreally about. He intended ane theme, merely failed to realize the events created in the plot were actually speaking to another thematic argument birthday. The event is an erratic story that,at all-time, presents ii unlike themes. At worst, it fails in its presentation of both.

5 Questions to Align Plot and Theme

Creating a fully-formed story with a mutual plot and theme is ane of the highest aspirations of whatever writer. Doing so requires skill, and that skill requires awareness. Following are five crucial questions you can use to gut-check yourself near whether or not you've married your theme to the right plot—and vice versa.

1. Why This Plot? Why This Theme?

Two questions for the price of 1—because, seriously, this is probably the most important query you can make in examining your story's effectiveness. Why must your character endure this detail plot in club to acquire this item theme? If there is no obvious connection, and then either the plot or the theme is the incorrect choice.

2. Does This Plot Facilitate a Grapheme Arc That Proves Your Theme?

Your story inspiration may originate with whatsoever of the Big Three, but assuming for the moment that it originated with theme, y'all need to bring your investigation full circle. The theme must be proven within the character arc (via the Lie/Truth debate at the heart of the character'due south inner conflict), and that grapheme arc must alternatively crusade or be acquired past the plot. For the storyform to work, all three must exist linked.

You can, of course, keep with this same investigation no matter which of the Big Three is your entry indicate. If you're starting with a plot idea (or if you lot've already finished your offset draft), ask yourself just what the events of this plot—and your grapheme's journey through information technology—is saying about reality.

Or, if y'all're starting with character, you can find the Lie/Truth at the heart of her arc and then circle around to find a plot to prove that specific theme.

Very oft, when you are struck with an idea for one of the Big Three, you'll get simultaneous ideas for 1 or both of the remaining ii. Just make sure you're not taking any one of them for granted.

3. Tin Your Plot's External Disharmonize Be a Metaphor for the Character'southward Internal Disharmonize?

Nosotros already know theme and character arc are inherently linked. From there, ane of the unmarried best ways to become your head around the further symbiosis of plot and character is to call back of the story'due south external conflict as ametaphor for the inner conflict.

Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer For instance, if the character is working through behavior about pacifism, the appropriate external and visual metaphor for this disharmonize will very likely exist a theater of war (or a century of wars, as in Anton Myrer's Once an Eagle).

Or perhaps your character is arcing negatively into the deposition of deeper Lies, as in Emily Brontë'sWuthering Heights, in which the antihero Heathcliff spends the second one-half of the book inflicting upon his enemies a grotesque reconstruction of his own childhood humiliations.

Wuthering Heights BBC Tom Hardy Charlotte Riley Heathcliff Cathy Linton

four. How Practice the External Changes of Your Plot Catalyze Your Character's Inner Changes?

For a storyform to work properly, the outer and inner conflicts must mirror one some other. More than that, they must deed upon ane some other. Every beat of the external plot must create enough inner turmoil that the character'south arc inevitably advances. And for every vanquish in the internal arc, the character's changing mindset and motivation must be turned outward to actively affect the outside events of the plot. But through this interweaving of outer and inner causes and effects tin a consistent theme be fully realized.

Proper scene structure tin can be a dandy assistance in harmonizing the inner and outer conflicts. Although the entire structural sequence can apply fully to either the outer conflict or the inner conflict, usually it'south helpful to view the beginning half of the structure (Scene: Goal > Conflict > Disaster) as active in the external disharmonize, and the second one-half (Sequel: Reaction > Dilemma > Determination) as the internal reaction that will, in turn, roll back effectually to bear on the external conflict in the next Scene.

5. Have You Vetted the Thematic Pertinence of Every Scene?

A story is the sum of its scenes. Call up our example, in a higher place, of the author who wanted to write one theme but ended upwardly with a plot that proved a dissimilar theme altogether? Very likely, the problem lay less in the overall plot than in a few private scenes that got away from the writer.

Considerevery scene in your story. Just as each and every scene should sequentially advance plot via its external conflict, each and every scene should also be active in its service to the theme. It's not plenty to ask yourself, at the end of the volume: What is this story saying? You must ask that question of every scene: What is this scene proverb?

If the scene is maxim something tangential to the thematic premise or, worse, at odds with information technology, you lot must reevaluate the scene'south effectiveness at every level. Like a mosaic, all your many dissimilar scenes must eventually combine to produce a meaningful big moving picture.

This is what I call "thematic economic system." If the scene in question doesn't tell something crucial about the theme(s) and the grapheme's relation to said theme(south), then information technology either needs to be reworked or expunged in service of the tale'southward potency.

Quality matters more than quantity.

— Michel Sabbagh (@Watfen64) March one, 2019

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A story that isabout theme is a story that has found its theme deep inside its characters and used that theme to, in turn, create its plot. When an author can pull this off, story's Big Iii become integral to each other in a way that presents a powerful and compelling visual metaphor for even the virtually deeply personal and relatable moral quandaries.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! How have you harmonized plot and theme in your story? Tell me in the comments!

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