The Principles of Plotting Part Two: Oscillation

From The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard circa 1767–68What Are the Principles of Plotting? In January, I started a series on what I’m calling “the principles of plotting” and then got a little sidetracked. Sorry for the delay, but I’m back with Part Two today. I’d encourage you to read Part One first. But I’ll summarize Part One briefly. There is a tendency in some corners of the literary world to mock the idea of plot or even to call it “fascist.” And even when plot isn’t looked down upon, it is often simply overlooked. Lessons in plot are rare in an undergraduate creative writing class or an MFA workshop. I ended up having to teach myself plot before I could publish my first novel, The Body Scout, which was a somewhat surreal science fiction novel with a noirish plot at the core. I think plotting is a narrative element like any other. It isn’t necessary to have a good plot in a story. Some great works resist plot and even would be ruined by plot. I think the same is true of any other…