Muse & the Marketplace 2019

One of the earliest meanings of the word “plot” is “an area or piece of ground, especially one used for some special purpose.” Whether the setting of your story is a real location, entirely invented, or somewhere in between, learning how to think about place, movement, and territoriality can help you to handle aspects of plot that worry writers, like coincidence, chance, dramatic action, and satisfying resolution. We’ll look at how the map of your story (short story, novel, play, memoir, or narrative nonfiction) can open up scenic invention and opportunities to test and reveal characters, make change plausible, and build underlying coherence and meaning.