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

Revision as of 18:30, 20 January 2025

Revision as of 18:34, 20 January 2025

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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. Many episodes of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', for instance, involve the main characters getting captured and escaping repeatedly in the middle portion of the adventure. Although such events aremay 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.

''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 omit almost all of the important passagesdetails. and confuseOn the readers.other Even though they may know howhand, the ''Odyssey'' ends,contains it'svarious hardscenes towhere saypeople thatrecount theymyths understandto theeach workother wellwhich enoughhave little importance to appreciatethe itsmain contextplot, and impactthus might be skipped entirely.

The three basic elements of a story are plot, charactercharacters, and themethemes. Anything that is not necessary for a reader's understanding of these three elements, or is not widely recognized as an integral or iconic part of the work's notability, should not be included in the summary.

The ''Odyssey'' contains various scenes where people recount myths to each other which have little importance to the main plot. If most of these are left out or consist of only a sentence or two, that is not a problem as long as they help to keep the focus on the main story. In works less vital to the foundations of academia and the founding of the Western literary tradition, details and lengthy subplots could be left out due to being relatively unimportant.

The three basic elements of a story are plot, character and theme. Anything that is not necessary for a reader's understanding of these three elements, or is not widely recognized as an integral or iconic part of the work's notability, should not be included in the summary.

===Length===