A mere chain of happenings
which do not involve some change or threatened change in the
character, the welfare, the destinies of the leading "people," would
not form a plot. Jack goes to college, studies hard, makes the
football team, enjoys the companionship of his classmates, indulges in
a few pranks, and returns home--there is no plot here, though there
is plenty of plot _material_. But send Jack to college, and have him
there find an old enemy, and at once a struggle begins. This gives us
a complication, a "mix-up," a crisis; and the working out of that
struggle constitutes the plot.
So all dramatic and all fictional plots give the idea of a struggle,
more or less definitely set forth. The struggle need not be bodily; it
may take place mentally between two people--even between the forces of
good and evil in the soul of an individual. The _importance_ of the
struggle, the _clearness_ with which it is shown to the spectator, and
the sympathetic or even the horrified _fascination_ which it arouses
in him, have all to do with its effectiveness as a plot--note the
three italicized words.
_2. Elements of Plot_
Dividing the subject roughly, in this brief discussion, three
important elements of plot deserve consideration:
_(a) The preliminaries_ must be natural, interesting, fresh, and
vivid.
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