Plot structures and writing resources

I'll be adding to this over time. If you have any questions or observations, please feel free to contact me.

Important Terms

This is only to ensure we're all on the same page. My definitions of these terms may have slightly different interpretations. Some of these terms I made up.
JOURNEY
This plot structure is very focused upon a hero making a journey in order to complete a goal (which will also change their character), facing obstacles, achieving a climax, and bring the world back to a state of calm equilibrium. Characters around the hero assume a pyramid like structure of importance; those of lesser importance tend to be flat and not important enough to pay attention to. Characters appear in the story to help or hinder the hero’s goal. All actions have meaning. Everything that is happening has an overarching meaning. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. It is closely aligned with Realism.
STORY
A collection of organized information that one entity imparts to another through a medium. There is always a point, even if it is not intended by the author.
EVENT
Events are when something happens, such as killing the bad guy and defusing the nuclear device. These are concrete actions with clear, observable endings. You know when the bad guy has been killed because he will be dead.
REALISM
This genre is the most common form of storytelling. It is considered the best. It is very often married to a Journey plot structure. Realism attempts to create and convey a world that resembles the world that we all agree exists, and does it in as much detail as possible. Characters are psychologically complex. Settings, props, costumes, cultures, and events are historically accurate to a “museum” level of detail.
PLOT
This is the skeleton of a story. The skeleton of a story denotes its species. The plot organizes the events included, the order they are in, characters, etc. The plot is also the philosophy of the story: how a story is told has meaning and makes statements about the nature of experience and life.
NEVER-ENDING EVENT
Unlike an event, an NEE has no concrete action. There is no linear, organized chain of actions. NEEs aren’t driven by physical action, but, often, emotional events. NEEs convey emotion, texture, subtly, nuance, unknowns, suggestions, mystery, confusion, and so on.
ACTION
It is a clear, physical movement with physical repercussions and also advances the plot. It may be an incremental step forward, but there is a point to it.
GENRE
If a plot is the frame of a house, genre is the decor of the house. Genre has nothing to do with a work’s quality. Genre’s are not a class structure. Genre is a system of labels we use in order to talk about a piece of writing. They can be arbitrary, complicated, contradictory, and legion.
SOFT AND HARD OPENINGS
SOFT OPENING: A plot that begins with Never-ending events that tell the audience almost nothing about what the structure of the plot is.
HARD OPENING: Almost immediately the plot reveals itself with the major goal to be achieved. In Oedipus, it is the discovery and punishment of the murderer of the King of Thebes, which will end the plague and cleanse the world.

Characteristics of Neurodivergent Writers

Delusions of Fiction
Avalanche Thinking
Plot Structure Struggles

nontraditional plot structures for neurodiverse writers

Overview of Plot Structures for neurodiverse writers
A Chaos structure is bound by a single string. The events and characters presented seem unintelligible, confusing, or nonsensical. A complete understanding of the text isn't necessary, but can be achieved. The most mainstream version of Chaos is Surrealism. Surreal art is bound by the unconscious or dreams.
Information is one of the most popular nontraditional-traditional structures. In fictional form, it usually manifests as a murder mystery. In its purest form, it is a documentary. Combining this genre with fiction would make an Information plot very nontraditional.
The story is about exerting power and will upon another power. It doesn’t need to be violent. The core of Force is a person’s ability to do something. Sports, dance, cooking, building, etc. are all events that can form a Force plot structure.

RITUAL

A ritual is a pattern of actions. It is repeated over a specific period of time. It doesn’t need to be exactly the same every time it’s performed. Strictly speaking, no two rituals are perfectly alike and are different in the smallest details. All that truly matters is that the pattern is respected and followed. The enacting of the ritual creates something. Making coffee in the morning creates alertness and mental fortitude and pleasure. A ritual doesn't need to be successful. A common Ritual structure that occurs in film and literature is revenge: a series of specific actions occur which create an offense that must be avenged. Only when the guilty are punished is the ritual complete and the offense cleansed.
Events and/or characters are arranged together as if on a shelf. Through analyzing juxtaposition can one find a coherent meaning. Often an Object plot occurs in art in the form of collages or sculpture. In a story, an Object plot can have objects as characters (think Disney's Beauty and the Beast) or people can be treated as objects. A person as an object speaks and acts in an unrealistic way with only vestiges of a complex psychology.
Abstract Journeys are mental journeys. It is moving from one feeling or belief to another. There is a change that occurs caused by a catalyst. There are physical actions that can happen to fulfill the Journey, but they may not seem helpful or successful. For example, planting a tree in someone’s name.
By labeling an experience a Journey, there is an implication that there is a destination, an endpoint.
I think it’s important to make clear distinctions about an Abstract Journey and a Journey, by using a different term for an Abstract Journey.
An Abstract Journey is an Asymptote. An Asymptote structure is a Journey without an end and possibly without a beginning. It approaches an end, but never attains it. It also seems to start in the middle of a story.
A Cycle plot is a form of an adaptation. Adaptations in general aren't Cycles. An adaptation uses one text to create another, but in a fairly standard and faithful one-to-one format. Comic book movies, for example, adhere to this structure. A Cycle would take an original text and make changes, usually adding to the original story, developing new themes, or chopping it to pieces and using only shards of the original. The recent film, Grand Theft Hamlet, stages the Shakespeare play within the game Grand Theft Auto. It is also a documentary. This could be considered a double Cycle plot in that both Hamlet and GTA are being broken and reset into something completely new.
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