Most of us know that plot is the way our story unfolds. In a classic plot, you have a main character (if you're writing novel length work, you may have more than one) and the main character encounters a problem that he/she is strongly motivated to solve. It cannot be easy to solve (though it may look easy at first). There must be struggle - conflict. And through the struggle, the main character changes. Once you have dealt with the problem and the change, your story is done. Such is plot. Plot is not the same as theme. Theme is about what the story means. Plot is about what actually happens to get us from the beginning of the story to the end.

Plots are built. A synopsis is a basic telling of the plot from start to finish - hitting all the high points and highlighting action and character change. In the story I'm going to look at here - the plot is simple so a synopsis could be very short: A little girl must go to a new preschool but she's resistant to new things. Although the day starts off badly, it gets better. But synopsis is not what gets published. Editors aren't clamoring for plots well TOLD, as much as they are hungry for plots well SHOWN. And to show a plot, you build it from scenes.

A scene is a unit of time, examined closely. All scenes will have location, limited time, and purpose. In this story of Penny, she doesn't really want to start at a new preschool and we need to know a bit about her to understand how she reacts to new things, in general. The first scene I created had Penny choosing what she would wear. So I set the scene in her bedroom. The span of time was only minutes. The purpose was to show that this little girl didn't like change:

Naturally, all this could have been accomplished more quickly with telling: Penny didn't like change. When her mother laid out new clothes, Penny chose old instead. But by showing, we connect better with Penny. We remember why we like old clothes - they're comfortable. The reader is instantly on Penny's side in this one because the kitten dress does sound cozy and the shoes do sound like fun. For the reader to care what happens to Penny, we need to (1) believe in her as a real kid and (2) connect with her because she is, in some way, like us.

Technically, the quoted material above is actually two scenes but I cheated a bit on the second one. Clearly, her mother didn't see her clothes until after she put them on so we have an implied passage of time - thus taking us from one scene to another. You'll see I didn't set the second scene in a place at all. I used action to transition and then just let the mom and Penny speak. I would not use this kind of "talking heads" scene for more than a two-line exchange because readers quickly become frustrated when they don't know where your characters are. This tiny scene passes so quickly that readers don't have time to wonder, but if I had added more lines to Penny and her mother, I would have had to set the place. I used this tiny cheat scene to save words - always a necessity in writing preschool fiction with its tight word counts.

My next scene, though, is longer so I had to transition into a very specific place and set the scene:

In this scene, the setting is a sunny classroom. The time frame is very short - an introduction to the teacher and the class. The purpose is to reinforce Penny's feelings about new things. Again, I show enough to make us understand Penny's feelings. Miss Linda is nice, but Penny isn't willing to give up the "specialness" of her old teacher. Penny's new class, on the other hand, is clearly unsatisfactory. And again, I used a universal situation - entering a new group who stares at you - to move the reader to relate to Penny. I do slip in some very obvious telling "Penny did not like being new." I do this because it offers two things - we transition from Penny facing new things, to Penny being a new thing, which is fairly important. Plus, I use understatement to pull something from the reader. I'm not just feeding Penny's feelings to the reader; I'm inviting the reader to input also by remembering how uncomfortable it really is to be new.

After this, the tight confines of preschool writing forced me to make a fairly long transition. I had to cover some time quickly so I slipped into synopsis mode and out of scene mode - notice the point when I switch back into scene:

During game time, they played Duck, Duck, Goose. Penny didn't know how to play. Ryan ducked her hard on the head. Penny ducked him back even harder. They both got time out. Penny never got time out at her old school.

Dialogue always marks a scene, even if the setting hasn't been defined. So, the pace slows down from transition to scene when the children speak. In this scene, Ryan sets the game but he isn't playing with anyone. Olivia is the first person to actively play with Penny and Penny plays back. It's the first moment of Penny's loosening up about school. Whatever comes next - we begin to feel that Penny might be okay. In some ways, this is a climax scene (even though it's tiny) because it's the point of change for Penny. After this, I have no more need of specific scene so I reinforce slightly with transition before hitting the last scene.

Out of respect for my character, I didn't make Penny change too much. She still loves things that are old and comfortable and predictable. She's still a small child. But she's changed enough to accept some news things also. When creating change in a character, it's important to make it believable change. Rarely to any of us experience something that changes us completely - more often, like Penny, we make room for the new without totally giving up the old.

I rarely allow a character to sum up the theme of a story the way Penny did in this one. The reason I used it here is because (1) it's mildly funny and (2) Penny basically doesn't give in completely. Penny needs to retain that personal control - the right to make her own decision about what she likes. So, I let Penny tell us the theme because Penny would have us remember that the theme here is limited.

Summing up a theme doesn't work when it sounds like a lesson. If could have ended it this way:

But that ending would feel like a cheat. Penny isn't likely to have changed that much. And she's still likely to be worried and resistant in new experiences. What she gained was some perspective -- not a total turn around. There is nothing wrong with a story in which a character makes incremental change.

Another favorite ending for this kind of story among newer readers would go like this:

I call this the "I guess I learned" ending. Again, an ending like this (1) focuses too much on the lesson of the story and (2) pushes the character a little too far. Penny is accepting new things in - but she would still just as soon keep the old. Be very careful of how far you push a character, especially if you've set them up to be very resistant to the change you have in mind. The more the character resists - the more carefully you have to motivate change. Penny is set up as a character with a strong preference for the comfortable and the familiar - she isn't going to suddenly change into someone who seeks out new things just because she made a friend.

So, try deconstructing your story today. Do your scenes have (1) clear setting, (2) time limit, and (3) purpose? If not, why not? Do your transitions move quickly and serve a purpose? Does your character change seem appropriately motivated? Can you name your climax scene? Is your ending fair and respectful of your main character? Every writing choice you make needs to have a reason - so, go ahead, deconstruct, and see if you've built a story that works.