Wikipedia:How to write a plot summary: Difference between revisions

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{{Wikipedia how-to|WP:PLOTSUM}}

{{ombox|text=This page is not considered a [[Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines|Wikipedia guideline]], but [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Writing about fiction]] is. Whenever possible, the guidelines should be followed. Furthermore, [[WP:PLOT|policy]] states that a plot summary should not swamp an article.}}

{{nutshell|A plot summary should consist mainly of details essential to understanding the story.}}

An encyclopedia article about a work of [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Writing about fiction|fiction]] typically includes, but [[WP:NOTPLOT|should never be limited to]], a summary of the plot. This will give context to the sourced commentary that should also be present. The plot summary should be thorough yet concise, distilling a large amount of information into a brief and accessible format.

==What plot summaries are not==

{{shortcut|WP:PLOTSUMNOT}} A plot summary is not a recap. It should not cover every scene or every moment of a story, nor should it attempt to re-create the emotional impact of a scene. A summary is not meant to reproduce the experience of reading or watching the work. In fact, readers might be here because they didn't understand the original. Just repeating what they have already seen or read is unlikely to help them.

Do not attempt to re-create the emotional impact of the work through the plot summary. Wikipedia is not a substitute for the original.<ref>As emotionally moving as the end of ''Hamlet'' is, the final fight does not need to be described in exquisite detail that attempts to re-create every emotional beat of the scene. Our article should not try to be a replacement for actually reading the play.</ref>

==Ways of organizing a plot summary==

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[[Michelangelo]] is said to have created ''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]]'' by "taking a block of marble and cutting away everything that was not David". Writing a plot summary is a similar process—you take a long work, and you cut out as much as possible. The question is, what do you cut?

The basic structure of many narrative plots includes a lengthy middle section during which characters repeatedly get in and out of trouble on their way to the climactic encounter. Although such events may be exciting to read or watch, they often clutter a plot summary with excessive and repetitive detail. Cutting less important ones can make the plot summary tighter and easier to understand. Identify the significant story beats; often, briefly stating that the plot progresses from situation A to B rather than delineating ''how'' it gets there, i.e. skipping to the results of a sequence or even entire subplot, is a practical rule of thumb for staying at an efficient high-level overview.

''Necessary'' detail, however, must be maintained. A summary of ''[[Odyssey]]'' as "Odysseus, returning home from the Trojan War, has many adventures which he uses his wits to escape until he reunites with his wife and kills the men who were trying to take over his kingdom" would omitbe almosttoo allsuperficial offor understanding the importantwork's impact and detailscommentary. On the other hand, the ''Odyssey'' contains various scenes where people recount myths to each other which have little importance to the main plot, and thus might be skipped entirely.

The three basic elements of a story are plot, characters, and themes. Anything that is not necessary for a reader's understanding of these three elements should not be included in the summary.

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Citations may or may not appear in a plot summary. The work of fiction itself is the primary source, and doesn't usually need to be cited for simple plot details. [[Wikipedia:No original research#Primary, secondary and tertiary sources|Secondary sources]] are needed for commentary, but that generally shouldn't appear in a plot summary.

CitationsInline citations are appropriaterequired when includingdirectly notable quotesquoting from the work. For consolidated articles, discussing a work published or broadcast in a serial form, a citation to the individual issue or episode is appropriate and should be included to help readers to verify the summary.

==Case study: Little Red Riding Hood==