Dramatic Structure Shape

[polymath]

Aristotle first attempted to analyse the shape of plot, circa 350 B.C.E. He locates causation (cause and effect) as the principle force of narrative movement. He says a complete action has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. The plot begins to move from the First Cause through to the Final Cause in a succession of causes and effects, which in turn become causes themselves. A First Cause does not necessarily follow some other cause, nor does another cause follow a Final Cause. Aristotle does not describe a narrative's shape, though he does reach for other influences without quite realizing them. A narrative's causation can be visualized as a line segment between two points, the opening introduction point, and the ending point. That's pretty much where the state of the art endured up through the mid Nineteenth century when another poeticist analysed the shape of plot.

Aristotle's Poetics at the Internet Classics Archive (also available at Project Gutenberg);
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.1.1.html

Gustav Freytag came out with The Technique of the Drama, Die Technik des Dramas, 1863. He builds upon Aristotle's work. Freytag locates tension as the principle force of narrative movement, as the second axis along with causation. He does graph a simple line drawing or plot's shape, known as the Freytag Pyramid;

Freytagpyramid.jpg (30.81 KiB) Viewed 3480 times

Freytag notes an inciting crisis occurs during or soon after the introductions and leads into rising action. A tragic crisis falls at or about the climax, and a final crisis occurs after the falling action and leading into the denouement. He reaches for but doesn't quite realize a third axis of narrative's shape.

Elias MacEwan's 1895 English translation of Die Technik des Dramas at The American LIbraries Internet Archive;
http://www.archive.org/details/freytagstechniqu00frey

And here's how I conceptualize plot's shape, as a tetrahedron. The tetrahedron's face on the right is a representation comparable to Freytag's Pyramid with unmarked similar A, B, C, D, and E parts and inciting, tragic, and final crises;

All rights reserved.

graphic01.jpg (30.02 KiB) Viewed 3480 times

[Down the well]

Very nice, polymath. Unfortunately, it is easier to draw the dramatic arc on paper than it is to replicate it with words in a story. At least for me. :(

[Margo]

It would look better as a template. :)

[polymath]

Down the well,

I like being able to visualize plot as a shape. When I first began reading for entertainment so long ago, I had an intuitive sense there was more to it than a linear progression of words. Stumbling onto Freytag gave me the insight to develop a fully realized shape. I have shapes for other literary attributes besides plot too, but they're thought exercise representations because they're plus-3 N-dimensional. They're difficult to render as two-dimensional graphs with axes beyond four dimensions.

And, yes, sketching a plot shape out on paper is a whole 'nother ball of wax compared to writing to it as guidance. Structure is one of narrative's three main literary attributes. Aesthetics and nuances, although they are distinguishable yet not divisible, per se, they defy graphic analysis. A well-structured narrative can be perfectly conformed, but emotionally flat without the intangible influences of aesthetics and nuances.

I recently reread Aristotle's Poetics for the umpty-ump time investigating why I could outline a mystery plot so easily and not fully understand the inciting opening's impactful contribution I'd suggested to Mike Dickson. There it was staring me in the face like a riled-up water moccasin. The protagonist's purpose must be self-serving and proactively lead up to the main dramatic complication or vice versa: complication then purpose. Proactive, single-minded action, like all the dramatic action of a narrative, though tempered by self-sacrificing nobleness for empathy's sake. Purpose as the opposing force of complication pertaining to antagonism.

Margo,

Basic templated plot shape based on Freytag's eight attributes;

Introductory outset (or setup) of the Main Dramatic Complication
Inciting crisis compelling efforts to address the MDC
Rising action efforts to address the MDC
Climax of efforts to address the MDC
Tragic crisis realization (recognition or anagnorisis) of the MDC's full ramifications
Falling action efforts to accommodate to the MDC's full ramifications
Final crisis realization of the inevitable outcome of the MDC
Denouement final outcome of efforts to address the MDC

[Margo]

Margo,

Basic templated plot shape based on Freytag's eight attributes;

Introductory outset (or setup) of the Main Dramatic Complication
Inciting crisis compelling efforts to address the MDC
Rising action efforts to address the MDC
Climax of efforts to address the MDC
Tragic crisis realization (recognition or anagnorisis) of the MDC's full ramifications
Falling action efforts to accommodate to the MDC's full ramifications
Final crisis realization of the inevitable outcome of the MDC
Denouement final outcome of efforts to address the MDC

Ah, thank you. I feel better now.

[poptart]

The thing about dramatic structure is it is descriptive rather than prescriptive. By that I mean it describes what happens naturally in a story. It wasn't invented by Aristotle or anyone, it was discovered.

No one should feel intimidated by it. If you've ever read fairy tales or watched films and tv dramas you will have absorbed the salient points of dramatic structure without all this theory.

[polymath]

Secondary Discourse, among its many cultural applications, discusses literature. The term criticism labels literature's secondary discourse with a blanketing brush. From the vitrolic diatribes of dissenting and disapproving critics to the evidentiary interpretations of close reader responses as well as critiquing discourse, and all the promotional and review discourse in between, literature's secondary discourse contributes to the dialogue that is literature as well as to the economics of the writing marketplace. Writing about writing is big business and no less writing than creative writing. Poetics, at least, provides a reasonably common language for discussing writing. In this digital age and its consequent widespread networking, a shared writing language is ever more significant for sharing information about writing.

Something-something about secondary discourse; Thinking-Writing: "Discourse, Linguistics, Instruction"
http://edcalamia.livejournal.com/27598.html

[J. T. SHEA]

(A) Introduction. Freytag stands at the foot of the pyramid. 'Cripes!' says Freytag. 'It's hot! And high! And steep!'

(B) Rising action. Freytage climbs the pyramid. Slowly. Luckily, the smooth outer casing was stolen centuries ago, so Freytag can use the uncovered stones as steps.

(C) Climax. Freytag reaches the summit of the pyramid. 'Wheeee!' he exults. 'I made it! Well, Pharoah Khufru made it really. But I climbed it! What a view! But why are all those Egyptian policemen shouting and waving up at me?'

(D) Falling action. Freytag trips on a stone and falls down the other side of the pyramid, bouncing off every step. The Egyptian policemen cheer and applaud and kick him when he's down.

(E) Catastrophe. Freytag barely survives the fall, the landing, the kicking, the Egyptian hospital, the Egyptian prison, and the deportation from Egypt.

(F) Epilogue. Freytag decides Polymath's Tetrahedron looks even more dangerous than Khufru's Great Pyramid.

[polymath]

(A) Introduction. Freytag stands at the foot of the pyramid. 'Cripes!' says Freytag. 'It's hot! And high! And steep!'

(B) Rising action. Freytage climbs the pyramid. Slowly. Luckily, the smooth outer casing was stolen centuries ago, so Freytag can use the uncovered stones as steps.

(C) Climax. Freytag reaches the summit of the pyramid. 'Wheeee!' he exults. 'I made it! Well, Pharoah Khufru made it really. But I climbed it! What a view! But why are all those Egyptian policemen shouting and waving up at me?'

(D) Falling action. Freytag trips on a stone and falls down the other side of the pyramid, bouncing off every step. The Egyptian policemen cheer and applaud and kick him when he's down.

(E) Catastophe. Freytag barely survives the fall, the landing, the kicking, the Egyptian hospital, the Egyptian prison, and the deportation from Egypt.

(F) Epilogue. Freytag decides Polymath's Tetrahedron looks even more dangerous than Khufru's Great Pyramid.

You neglected the crises.
(A-1) Inciting crisis. Purpose: to get to the other side, before villainous priests dogging his journey flay Freytag's hide, complication.
(C-1) Tragic crisis. Reversal: Villainous priests behind, policemen ahead, Freytag decides it's half a dozen of one and six of the other.
(E-1) Final crisis: Recognition: The other side he got to was realizing the journey was more fun than the destination.

polymath's tetrahedron is a daunting edifice. Below is what Freytag would see if he chose to scale it. The antagonism triangle, the rising action slope and what he would fall down on the opposite side of the climax, the falling action slope. And yes, Freytag's Pyramid or polymath's tetrahedron, they are idealized shapes. A stair-stepped pyramid or ziggurat-terraced tetrahedron more closely resemble a narrative's realized internal structure. On the other hand, externally, readers experience a more arc-like structure, a ballistic flight with a precipitous plummet close to the ending.

antagonism.jpg (15.23 KiB) Viewed 3432 times

[J. T. SHEA]

But Polymath, Freytag climbs the pyramid simply because it's there, like Mount Everest! Mind you, there could be villainous priests waiting to flay our hides on Mount Everest too...

The Final Crisis? Yes. Luckily, the only bone in Freytag's body NOT broken was his funny bone.

I omitted an 'r' from my earlier post. What a castastophe! Luckily there's one in this month of Octobe.

[Down the well]

The protagonist's purpose must be self-serving and proactively lead up to the main dramatic complication or vice versa: complication then purpose. Proactive, single-minded action, like all the dramatic action of a narrative, though tempered by self-sacrificing nobleness for empathy's sake. Purpose as the opposing force of complication pertaining to antagonism.

I'm in final, final, really the final, edit mode of my WIP at the moment, and I'm at the point where I can appreciate the shape of my story's arc. What you posted makes so much sense, especially since my story is told from the first person perspective. It really is her self-serving need and self-sacrificing nobleness -- those two things competing -- that lead to the main dramatic complication. Interesting. Thanks.

[polymath]

I'm in final, final, really the final, edit mode of my WIP at the moment, and I'm at the point where I can appreciate the shape of my story's arc. What you posted makes so much sense, especially since my story is told from the first person perspective. It really is her self-serving need and self-sacrificing nobleness -- those two things competing -- that lead to the main dramatic complication. Interesting. Thanks.

Cool, Down the well, sounds to me like the plot moves along nicely. I'm thinking if there's a common shared human experience it's the crisis of conscience dueling between self-serving need and self-sacrificing nobleness. A narrative doesn't have to beat readers over the head with that one. It can be subtle.

I lean toward agreeing first person is ideal for crises of conscience, though they can be written in third-person intimate. The other factors I look for in first person's strengths, more aesthetics than structure, are closeness to the center of all the dramatic action, closest reporter and intepreter of the action, most at stake, most transformation, and subjective attitude's delicious unreliableness and biases.

Also, because of the crisis of conscience, I would place the narrative in the character genre camp. Character genre allows for a complex plot. Aristotle, again, in Poetics defines a simple plot as one where a protagonist single-mindedly pursues an external goal, surmounts all complications, and reaches a final outcome without an internal transformation. Mickey Spillane's mystery novels pretty much follow that definition of a simple plot. In their favor, simple plots allow for an ongoing franchise with one central character who experiences no notable character change.

A complex plot is one where an anagnorisis (profound recognition) or peripetia (abrupt reversal) or both take place. Aristotle implies those changes occur internally to a character, though I can name contemporary narratives where they are externally driven. Tom Clancy's novels for starters. When those changes are internal to a character, as they ought best be in character genre, the emotional payoff of a narrative I believe reaches its greatest potential. Aristotle cites Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus as an example of a complex plot. Oedipus recognizes he's killed his father and married his mother, and experiences an abrupt reversal of conscience.