Overview of Plot Progress Types

“No progress without struggle”.

PLOT PROGRESS TYPES

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Enia.

ARTICLE

The concept of clear plot progress in the following sense is from Brandon Sanderson’s Writing Lectures available on YouTube.

What Plot Progress is

According to Brandon Sanderson, plot progress is about creating an illusion for the reader that your story is leading toward an exciting and inevitable outcome. So the plot progess is the change that happens in the story. This progress is often illustrated through clear milestones which takes the plot and the characters forward. The plot progress ties into the promises that are made to the reader at the beginning of the story, and leads towards the final payoff of the story.

The idea of this post is to create an overview of different progress types found in popular stories and make this a starting point to look at, as inspiration for your own stories and possible progress types in them.

How to identify plot progress in stories

What is progress and how to distinguish it from promise, payoff and other plot or story engagement factors when trying to find it in existing stories?

Progress is change and it leads toward an outcome (payoff). This change can be measured by milestones which are sometimes clearly measurable or sometimes more subtle achievements. For example, Goku going Super Saiyan for the first time was a clear and measurable milestone in his power level and his journey to being the strongest fighter in the universe. Two potential lovers, one extroverted and very open that they want to make something happen, and the other very introverted and shy, the shy one giving the extroverted one a smile in response to being flirted with is a more subtle milestone and can’t be as clearly measured but it is just as much progress.

So figuring out what progress type a story has, if it isn’t blatantly clear at first glance, should work by defining what the outcome (payoff moment) is and then identifying the milestones that lead there.