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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 250 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
- From the "Comment As" drop-down menu, choose Anonymous, then click "Publish."
- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
This is my response
ReplyDeleteIn chapter nine “Figuring the Plot was interesting to read. I never really understood the difference between the plot and the story. I always thought that the plot was a series of events that made up a story. A plot makes a story interesting and keeps the readers intrigued. The pointers they give in this chapter is great, and it's good to know the difference. In order to have great essays we need to know the difference between a plot and story. I like a good plot in a story and I liked how it mentions that the chronology doesn't have to be in a specific order. I love mystery and forensics there is plot events occurring all the time in these kind of stories.
I really enjoyed reading “Sonny’s Blues”. From reading chapter nine you can see exactly what pointers they gave are being used in this story. I liked how the events weren't in chronological order. The detail in this story is awesome. The death of Gracie was a shock something that I wasn't expecting. If anything I thought Sonny would be the one to have died. Gracie’s death came out the nowhere and I really got intrigued at that point. I wanted to know more about the death of his daughter. It takes a while to know her cause of death, and I liked how it was a mystery for a while. The whole plot was really good. There was so much going on but it was close to perfect. The characters were really good as well. The ending was ok, but I wanted more out of it. Like they said on chapter nine you don't always have to give them everything.
Lizette Garcia
DeleteReading chapter 9 on Figuring The Plot was great for me because it showed the importance of and how to learn more about structuring a plot. Showing how rather than explaining why was the best tip for me. In my own writing I often give too much detail in certain situations, and that usually results in some plot explanation. In order to keep my plot interesting and readers on edge I’ll need to work more on letting the reader figure and work things out. Chapter 9 also taught me that understanding causality can help you strengthen your plots and characters better. Causality not only develops the plot and keeps the story going, but it also reflects on your characters (if they are involved), and it’s a good thing to use to bring some characters to life or enhance some of their characteristics.
ReplyDeleteThe plot pointers from chapter 9 were a good reference while reading Sonny’s Blues, it’s especially interesting to see how stories can be told – even when they’re not in chronological order. I could tell in some of these cases, plot pointer 7 and 8 for example, why the writer arranged them there; in order to add background info (the father / last meeting with mother) that will contribute to the current scenario and plot. Sonny’s Blue’s did a lot of this by emphasizing on the “how and not why” and showing us that causality has no timeline, even something that occurred several years prior can have an effect on a character and influence the plot.
-Jesus Pena
Upon reading Chapter 9, It was most certainly a breath of fresh air realizing that plot and story are two different things. The plot helps make the story happen. Knowing that each one on their own makes the world we create come to life. What I really enjoyed in the chapter was the part about not answering why but simply describing the situations that help develop the story. Often time I find myself needing to force what the plot is instead of just letting it show itself and unfold on its own with the actions of the characters. Tying it all together with the conflict all while not having a clichéd plot is what seems really challenging. Its up to us as writers to make it convincing. In reading this chapter its helped make clear what it is exactly to be descriptive in a way that’s still intriguing
ReplyDeleteIn Sonny’s Blue, I could see examples of the “not telling us why”. The events placed in chronological order as stated in pages 285-286 made it easy and cliché for us as readers to determine what Sonny and the protagonist were going through in their development as characters. Putting the events out of order allowed the plot to take a whole new form because we as readers could get involved in the story and put two and two together. Had the events not been in order it would have been obvious where the story was going in the narrators situation. We would have anticipated that because of the death of his parents sonny went down a path of misery and despair.
- Victoria Vielma
This chapter was essential for me in the sense that it broadened my views on plot. I knew there was a difference between a story and a plot but, I feel like I don't develop each separately. My favorite part in this this chapter would be where the author speaks about not revealing the "why." For a long time, I was focused on keeping my readers asking "and then?" when in reality, I should be focusing on challenging my readers to figure out why exactly my characters do the things that they do. I suppose there are times where a larger explanation is needed for a story but, I feel like I do this too frequently throughout my writing. I also appreciate the discussion about conflict and how it has negative connotations. Conflicts are mostly subjective and people react to things differently. I feel like it is our job as writers to emphasize the conflicts in our stories, no matter how minuscule they may seem or be.
ReplyDeleteReading the chapter befor "Sonny's Blue's," was extremely helpful when it came to noting how James Baldwin utilized the "why," factor instead of revealing things to his audience. He also chose not to write the story in chronological order, which helps the plot more than the story. It took a few reads to catch things that I didn't catch at first but, it had me wondering why certain things were happening instead of me wanting to find out what's next. I feel like we should strive to confuse our readers a little bit, but not to much. To me, figuring out what an author means is a liberating thing.
Michael Perez
ReplyDeleteI enjoy stories with subtle plot points that LaPlante describes. Simplistic cause and effect don’t have the same emotional depth and impact in a reader that can be achieved with ambiguous suggestions of how something has happened. The examples in this chapter were wonderful, though I was confused by the all-too-brief mention of metafiction. Or, rather than confused, I was left wanting to know so much more. I googled a list of examples and discovered that several books I’ve read (The Handmaid’s Tale, The Incredible Lightness of Being, The Never-ending Story, Misery) have been classified as metafiction. I re-read LaPlante’s section of metafiction and was baffled by her statement that metafiction is “a type of fiction that can frequently avoid character all together” because the novels I’ve read which are categorized as metafiction- with the exception of The Never-ending Story- seem thoroughly character driven to me. But I suppose I’m getting off-topic.
The most useful section in the chapter was “Avoiding Scenes a Faire: Recognizing Clichéd Plot Twists” LaPlante’s description of Hollywood court battles was illuminating because I had wondered before why/how so many movies repeat exact same scene (for example the scene where a boss makes an underling who hates him shave his beard for him) without copyright conflict. Yet despite these movies being allowed to use scenes like that it’s a good point that no writer should want to use them. Ever.
I also found Sonny’s Blues to be an excellent example of how to navigate flashbacks smoothly. I often avoid going out of chronological order in my own works because the transition from present day to past is tricky to do well. With this example in mind, I might tackle the task in my next story.
Andrea “Andy” De Llano
Chapter nine and James Baldwin’s, “Sunny Blues” were important readings for me. I learned quite a bit about story and making a plot. I never thought about plotting out a story, and I learned that writing doesn’t have to be spontaneous; you can map it out. Character-based plot will be a tremendous aid in my writing. I enjoy writing about characters and putting them in out of the norm scenarios. I find that character driven stories are usually the most fun to write about. The story, “Sunny Blues” was exactly what the chapter was referring to in the sense that the story did a great job at establishing the character as well as his dilemma with his brother, who refused to conform and be like him. The story isn’t really clear, but if I were to classify it, it’s about a man with a younger brother who wants to play music. I know it’s sounds straightforward, but the story was more than that. It’s about a brother’s duty and dealing with the grief that comes from losing a loved one. Theme also played an important role in this story. In the end the younger brother, Sunny, plays at a show and the older brother realizes his brother is meant to play music. I understand now how plot and story are one in the same. To plot out what the journey of the character is and why he has a hard time with his brother became a revelation. It’s not just about a journey but a demonstration of two people who are the compete opposite but are bonded by blood.
ReplyDeleteMathew Betancourt
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteChapter Nine is definitely one I would need to look over again and again (I mean I own the damn textbook, might as well get the most use from it when I can). Plot is something I feel I struggle with a lot more – and maybe my story from earlier is probably a good indicator of that – but not so much because I can’t do it but more of a lack of trying. See, I always felt that plot was just something that kind of goes in the background; that is to say that it isn’t what makes a story. I identified more with John Cheever and Charles Baxter’s quotes under the “On Conflict” section of the chapter (I should probably buy them a beer one day). I believed – and still do, to a certain extent – that plot is just a cheap way to surprise the reader; as a matter of fact, I felt that nowadays it’s all the rage just to throw in a plot twist or something just for the sake of it, rather than it actually having any narrative purpose. And this to me was a big no-no. I didn’t really care about surprise so long as the story I was telling was organic and the characters lived and breathed. I understand a little bit better now that plot is a good tool to really helping your characters reach their full potential. But at the same time we must have our characters act on the story. Tit for tat; vice versa; it takes two to tango – whatever you want to call it, it’s important to have a healthy balance of characters driving the plot and the plot driving the character
ReplyDeleteChano Martinez
I found various points which I think are important for me as a reader. One point, according to the book, mentioned is how we shouldn’t really concentrate on the why but rather on the how. One example the book illustrates is why we shouldn’t try to explain why an engagement ended, but rather how it ended. The book also discusses about analyzing plot points which changes the order of the story we read. The plot points and the events set in chronological order were quite different which I didn’t really expect to see. I assumed it would be the same. Avoiding cliche twists is also important, yet, I feel like sometimes we do it because how much we see it, so we sort of unconsciously start using it in our stories.
ReplyDeleteAs for the story, it was a really good story, and I enjoyed it. It did very well with following the rules which the chapter mentions, great example. I think the writer did very well by using the first point of view, and did avoid a chiche twist. I really liked how descriptive, how real the story is and how close it feels like by the writer using first point of view versus another. I enjoyed the ending, and I was glad the story ended the way it did, in a satisfying point. And I don’t know, but I liked the following lines from the story, “For, while the tale of how we suffer...we’ve got in all this darkness.” (all lines in between as well.)
Lizbet Cantu
While all the chapters we have read so far are interesting and helpful, I find chapter nine to be the most helpful one. When I first began writing stories, I remember I would start writing the beginning by setting the scene and introducing my characters, then a day in their lives. The problem with this is that I never thought ahead with a plot. I would create conflict as I go without even giving thought about the whole story in general. This chapter is very helpful in terms of thoroughly explaining plot and the dos and don’ts. The section on conflict surprised me because the author uses “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, which I have read a couple of times, and how the author explains the opening conflict of the story, I couldn’t believe it. The story “Girl” is so elaborate and it’s almost easy to miss the fact that it’s just a mother telling her daughter when to wash certain clothes. It’s not the conventional term of conflict, which is why I found it very interesting. While conflict is not as difficult to write, the ways the author provides to try in our own stories are much more helpful rather than trying to come up with one myself.
ReplyDeleteThe short story “Sonny’s Blues” is another short story I have read several times. Due to how the story is structured, this story was perfect for the chapter about plot. The story does not use the conventional chronological order, but instead is told out of sequence. This story reminds me of the film Memento, not because of the story but because of the out of sequence. They’re both a book and film you are better off reading and seeing out of sequence rather than the regular chronological order. Because of how it is structured, the characters are better developed because we are shown the “how” this happened rather than the “why” this happened– something also covered in the chapter.
Emily D'Gyves
Before reading the chapter, I compared plot and story to essentially be the same thing. However, the author annotates that story is a chronological order of events, while plot is the unveiling of the interior components of the piece. The book then elaborates in which if a writer is being too direct with their cause and effect events, then that takes away the interior motive that they may have been planning. In other words, the reader is forced to look at everything at an artificial level, rather than a more in-depth perspective on what is occurring in the literary work. In addition, the sections on character-based plotting and on conflict were helpful to me since those portions of the chapter explained that there can be a conflict in which a characters finds themselves in unbearable circumstances and they feel indifferent towards their situations. It seems with a proper narrative approach; the conflict can properly reveal itself to the reader. In regards to the section about chronological order, I have always wanted to attempt a piece in which the reader is required to put together the pieces of the puzzle. However, we are then put in the position to answer the why and how, instead of and then. This reminds me of a hip hop album by Kendrick Lamar, titled “Good Kid, Maad City”. In the album there’s a narrative implemented, but it does not start at the beginning, instead it starts at about three quarters of the way through and then jumps to the beginning and the end. The same goes for The Root’s album, “Undun”. The start of the album starts off at the narrator’s death, and then each track that comes after it, explains what happened to cause this dreary conclusion. In my opinion, there is a unique approach when telling a story that is not in chronological order.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the story of “Sonny’s Blues”, the story does a tremendous job at providing not only a story which is presented on the top layer, but as well as a plot that requires the reader to look into the subtle hints provided by the author. Thankfully, the chapter broke down the plot points in both the chronological and in the way that the narrator explains them. Essentially, the reason why the story being told in a non-chronological order works well in this sense is because we are being shown the backstory of the characters, as well as witnessing events that explains why certain individuals act a certain way. In a sense, the story on an artificial surface can just be about Sonny wanting to be a musician and play the blues. However, seeing the different events and predicaments that the characters have faced, depict that the Blues does not only reference the music, but it is a portrayal of the lives that the characters have gone through.
Patricio Hernandez (P.J.)
"Sonny's Blues" demonstrated a plot that flowed with the story. The back and forth with flashbacks and present time worked leading up to the resolution or resolve of the protagonist. The readers experience the emotions that the brother felt when he saw and heard Sonny playing music again.
ReplyDeleteAlso, to build plot, instead of searching for how something happened in a story, it's better to answer the why. The reader not only begins to unravel the plot, but they peel off the layers of a character. This chapter helps not only in being creative in the sense of plot, but to understand how a real life situation would play out. Not all stories have an ending, and not all stories are planned the way you see it. There are times where a writer will take a different path for a character than originally intended.
Reading Chapter 9, I've realized it not only about a beginning, middle, or end. It's about the quality of the plot. There are different connotations as to story and plot where plot pulls at how the character reacts to the ending or end result. That's what I got in the story "Sonny Blues," where the brother responds to Sonny's music.
Nowadays, art, movies and literature mirror each other in the plot, so often things seem similar. It's okay to try to be original, but a the same time, try to avoid the cliches or plot. Although a writer is trying to be original, the plot still has to make sense and be believable.
Kassandra Salas
Every story needs a plot to make it keep going. Chapter nine even argues plot is the only reason that makes people keep reading them, which I agree with. Moving the plot forward and not making it stall is one of the things I have the most difficult times getting through in my writings. Chapter nine showed me that plot is not what I had always thought it to be. The chapter itself points out that a lot of people think plot is conflict, which is what I defined it as previously. LaPlante shows us that plot doesn’t have to be conflict, it doesn’t even have to change or affect your characters. She writes that it should get the character to “crack” in some way and either develop further by changing somehow or not at all. I like this because it kind of allows some sort of flexibility in our writing. She even gives us examples of some plots that range from the mundane and trivial to the more action packed. “Sonny’s Blues” was an interesting short story to read. The chapter gives us the main plot lines and even arranges them in chronological order for us. At first it made me think the actual short story would be difficult to follow along, but Baldwin does a great job in organizing current events and flashbacks. He also does an amazing job in giving life to his characters. The flashbacks he includes in the story, the loss and pain both brothers went through growing up in Harlem was one of my favorite tools Baldwin used to develop his characters.
ReplyDeleteFlavio Hernandez
In high school I always remember filling in that plot diagram not even thinking of the difference between the actual story vs the plot. I always felt that the plot diagram kind of dumbed down what the plot of the story was. As I read the chapter it intrigued me when LaPlante gave her own definition of plot. I like how she included many different aspects of the plot through the chapter. It was refreshing to see the man v. man, man v. nature, etc, worded different or having options as those given to use in your story. I also enjoyed the part where she explains that as humans we are different and should render the scenes not just answer why. This reminded me of The Underground Man, the author displayed why this man was different and not just stated it.
ReplyDeleteThe story was pretty amazing. I liked the way it flowed smoothly through the different chapters of the narrator's life. The flashbacks were clear and concise and overall gave us a true understanding of the character. The letter from Sonny was enjoyable to read, you could sense the pain and I just imagined him as a child wondering what to do.
Daniela Hernandez
Chapter nine clarified a lot--the difference between plot and story, the way characterization can move plot even more effectively than simply having the writer write "and then this happened, and then this happened..." The importance of enjoying causality to characters is also emphasized in this chapter--telling us to gently weave in hints given in order to determine the causes of a character's personality or an event makes for a better story than just giving everything upfront to the reader. Conflict is also touched upon--conflict is important in moving the plot along as well as creating a more well-rounded character. However, not all conflicts have to be life-or-death.
ReplyDeleteBaldwin does a seamless job of moving plot along in "Sonny's Blues" even though the timeline of the story isn't linear.
Add for scenes a faire, this chapter declares that it's not necessary to add in scenes that are expected to follow, which is a helpful tip for writers who might find themselves snoozing while trying to tie up loose ends in a story--we can imply that something happens instead. This leads into exercises that teach writers how to be descriptive and clever in their approach to telling a story rather than just saying "this happened and then this happened." Baldwin does this throughout "Sonny's Blues," even with the first sentence: "I read about it in the paper, in the subway, on my way to work." He builds suspense rather than just writing, "I saw my brother in the newspaper."
-Nicole Hawke
I really enjoyed reading What happens next, figuring out the plot. I always thought that the plot was the story. I especially liked the section on render how- don’t try to answer the why. This really helped me because sometimes I get to caught up in trying to answer why something happened. And I forget how something is supposed to happen. To me finding a good plot is the hardest part of writing a story I get too caught up in details and trying to make my characters as developed as possible and forget to write a purpose to everything.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading Sonny’s blues. I usually have a hard time trying to stay with a short story because I feel that they move too fast, however with this story I could not keep myself from finishing it. the fact that there were little hints that I as a reader had to pick up on and apply it to try and understand what was occurring with the brother really allowed me to bring out my little detective in me. I feel that was one of the major reasons as to why this story was so well written. This tied down to my favorite section of the chapter where it is more important to show as to how something happened not why it happened. It was an overall a great read.
Evelyn Lopez