Over at Taliesin, Taryn Tyler examines the intersection between logical argumentation and narrative plot. Excerpt: While studying for finals this week I ran across this list in my logic notes:Read the whole thing. Tyler’s analysis of plot types (simple, linked, convergent, divergent, serial and unstated) is both elegant and useful, aiding in both composition and analysis. For example, after Neuromancer William Gibson almost always used a convergent structure in his books, typically twining three seemingly unrelated threads together before pulling them tight in an unexpected -- but coherent -- climax. A follow-up post on plot-related fallacies proves equally enlightening, although it seems to give short shrift to the horror genre. Still, useful reading for those who want to keep their narrative action neat and in order.
Simple Plot
Linked Plot
Convergent Plot
Divergent Plot
Serial Plot
Unstated Plot
I probably don’t need to clarify that my logic professor wasn’t talking about plot structure when I jotted that down but, well she wasn’t. She was talking about argument structures. Still there are a lot of similarities between arguments and plots.
Definition of argument: A set of two or more statements, one of which follows from the other.
Definition of story: A narrative that follows a course of events (implying that one must follow from the other)
(Picture: CC 2009 by RabiD Son)
4 comments:
"A follow-up post on plot-related fallacies proves equally enlightening, although it seems to give short shrift to the horror genre."
Does it? He separates between slasher films and horror novels, and is (from my experience) right on. All the horror novels and short stories I can think of focus on the protagonist's psychology, while the (very few) slasher flicks I've seen are more interested in creative and disturbing visuals. So warning would-be horror novelists against that fallacy seems a good idea.
"Still, useful reading for those who want to keep their narrative action neat and in order."
Precisely.
As an addendum, I think the best (or at least most formally experimental) authors combine plots. Pat Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind is the best fantasy book in the past 10 years or so because it not only manages excellent serial plotting (event after event climaxing neatly but unexpectedly) but he positions the little events within a grand order with rhythms approaching a musical composition.
For instance, a tragic episode might be followed by a heroic episode with a hint of tragedy and then another episode which starts heroic but ends on a hilariously comic note. People read through his 1000-page tome in a day or two because the episodes don't get old--each one gives the reader something new, and often the very thing they want to refresh and delight their hearts following the last episode.
This is also why it took him four years to revise the sequel, after a seven-year process of writing full drafts of the trilogy.
Regarding the "horror flick" bit, I suppose I'm chafing a little at the (very common) default perception of horror as slasher, which is just a small subgenre. There's some division in Taryn's original post, although not as much as I'd like. Still, that's a pretty small quibble.
You keep bring up this Rothfuss fellow. Guess I'd better read some of his stuff, eh?
I'll second the Rothfuss. It's big. It's good.
Okay, then it's going on my list.
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